Ecuador, a jewel of 109,483 square miles in northwestern South America, sits proudly on the Equator between Colombia and Peru. This enchanting land is home to the majestic Northern Andes, the verdant edges of the Amazon Basin, and a Pacific coastline caressed by both warm and cold ocean currents. Farther out, 600 miles offshore, the legendary Galapagos Islands await—a world of wonder and discovery.
From the towering peaks of the Andes to the vibrant biodiversity of the Galapagos, Ecuador promises an experience unlike any other. Here, ancient cultures thrive alongside stunning natural beauty, inviting you to explore, connect, and marvel. Whether hiking among volcanic landscapes, wandering through historic colonial cities, or encountering wildlife found nowhere else on Earth, Ecuador will leave you inspired and transformed.
Different parts of the island have varied origins, some with fresh lavas and spatter cones and others consisting of eroded tuff formations. Baltra Island used to be a US Air Force Base during World War II.
American soldiers in Baltra Island patrolled the nearby waters of the Pacific Ocean, including the entrance to the Panama Canal, for enemy aircraft carriers, warships, and submarines. When the war ended, the facilities in Baltra Island were handed over to the Ecuadorian Government.
Up until 1986, Baltra Island was home to the only airport in the Galapagos Islands. The airport now shares flights to the Galapagos with the San Cristobal Island airport, but it still receives the majority of flights from the mainland. Most cruise operators also start their cruise operations from Baltra Island. Also, because of its proximity to the largest port town in the Galapagos Islands (Puerto Ayora), most tourists who do island-based tours choose to arrive at the airport on Baltra Island.
Santa Cruz Island is composed of two parts: a younger and larger portion is formed by many volcanic cones and basaltic lavas, while the older part is a narrow, 10-mile strip of land along the northeastern coast and consists of uplifted submarine lava flows and tuffs.
Santa Cruz Island is the second-largest island in the Galapagos and something of a hub for the archipelago. Puerto Ayora, located in the southeast of this large, round volcanic island, is the economic center of the Islands.
Puerto Ayora is home to both the Galapagos National Park Service Headquarters and Charles Darwin Research Station, the center of the great restorative efforts taking place in the park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
A highlight of any trip is a visit to Santa Cruz Highlands, where the dry coastal vegetation transitions to lush wet fields and forests overgrown with mosses and lichens. Our destination is the Tortoise Reserve, where we will have chances to track and view these friendly and ancient creatures in their natural settings. This extends to the adjacent pasturelands, where farmers make some profits by allowing visitors into their farms in exchange for payment. The best time to see tortoises here is during the cold or dry season from June through December. Another nearby attraction is the highland lava tunnels. Some of them offer easy access through wooden stairways that descend to the mouth of their arched cave entrances. From there, one can make their way into the caves underground along the cool, dimly lit naturally formed passages with their fascinating rock formations. The tunnels make for a relatively easy and exciting hike. You should bring along non-slip footwear and some hikers prefer to use a flashlight.
As previously described
By definition, this is a bird Island! Also known as Tower Island, this island is home to red-footed boobies, masked boobies, frigate birds and swallow-tailed gulls nesting. Moreover, red-billed tropicbirds nest on the cliffs and short-eared owls are often spotted. The vegetation of Tower Island is typical of the Arid Zone, and the tree called palo santo (holy stick) is small in size and abundant.
Genovesa Island lava originated primarily from a crater found in the center of the island, forming a shield volcano. The crater is circular, approximately 2000 feet wide at the rim and 200 feet deep, with a lake 1150 feet across on its floor.
Genovesa Island is possibly one of the most exciting Islands of the archipelago to visit on a Galapagos cruise! It could serve as a film set for a secret submarine base! The southwestern part of Tower Island is an ocean-filled caldera ringed by the outer edges of a sizeable and mostly submerged volcano. The island sits to the northeast, somewhat removed from the Galapagos archipelago. It is also known as "Bird Island," a name it lives up to in a spectacular way. Landing on the white coral sands of Darwin Bay and walking up the beach, you will be surrounded by the bustling activity of magnificent frigate birds.
Puffball-chicks with their proud papas - who sport their bulging scarlet throat-sacks - crowd the surrounding branches, while both yellow-crowned and lava herons feed by the shore. Farther along, you will discover a stunning series of sheltered pools set into a rocky outcrop, forming another natural film set. A trail beside the pools leads up to a cliff overlooking the caldera, where pairs of swallow-tailed gulls, the only nocturnal gulls in the world, can be seen nesting at the cliff's edge. Lava gulls and pintail ducks ride the sea breezes nearby.
Across the bay is Prince Philip's Steps, named for a visit by the British Monarch in 1964. The 81-foot stairway leads to a narrow stretch of land that opens out onto the plateau surrounding Darwin Bay and extends to form the north side of the island. Red-footed boobies wrap their webbed feet around branches to perch in the bushes, and, in contrast, their "Nazca booby" cousins dot the surface of the scrublands beyond. Crossing through the sparse vegetation, you will come to a broad lava field that extends towards the sea-this forms the north shore. Storm petrels flutter out over the ocean in swarms, then return to nest in the cracks and tunnels of the lava field, where their predator, the short-eared owl, is a frequent visitor.
As previously described
A small, vibrant jewel in the Galápagos archipelago, South Plaza Island is a striking study in contrasts. Its rugged cliffs rise sharply from turquoise waters, while the interior is carpeted with bright orange and green sesuvium plants, creating a kaleidoscope of colours. The island teems with life: colonies of sea lions lounge lazily on sun-warmed rocks, swallow-tailed gulls wheel overhead, and striking land iguanas patrol the sunbaked terrain. Visitors can wander along narrow trails that weave through dramatic cliffs and cactus-studded landscapes, or snorkel in the surrounding waters, where playful fish dart among the waves. The salty tang of the ocean blends with the hum of seabird colonies, offering an intimate sensory experience with one of the Galápagos’ most vibrant and unique islands.
Santa Fe Island is one in which lavas were extruded beneath the sea and later were uplifted (although recent evidence suggests subsequent sub-aerial activity); the island is crossed by several parallel cliffs formed by fault activity. This island has lavas of 3.9 million years of age, making it the oldest island successfully dated in the archipelago.
Santa Fe Island besides offering one of the more beautiful and sheltered coves in the islands it also has endemic species of land iguana, endemic species of rice rat, subspecies of cacti, beautiful landscape. Its turquoise lagoon is protected by a peninsula of tiny islets forming an ideal anchorage. The island lies southeast of Santa Cruz Island within sight of Puerto Ayora. Geologically it is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago and for many years, was thought to be a product of an uplift event. Through satellite imagery, it has been possible to determine the island's volcanic origins.
A Santa Fe Galapagos travel adventure includes a wet landing on a sandy white beach that brings visitors into contact with one of many sea lion colonies. Bulls contend for the right of being the Beach Master, while smaller males mask as females to make stealthy mating moves. Galapagos hawks are often easily approached, perched atop salt bushes, and an ascending trail leads toward the cliffs, where a dense thicket stands to the inland side. The cliffside provides an expansive view of the ocean. The giant prickly pear cactus found here live up to their name, with tree-sized trunks!
Besides land iguanas, South Plaza has one of the most significant sea lion colonies in the archipelago.
South Plaza Island is one of two small adjacent islets uplifted from beneath the sea by faulting or tectonic activity.
This is the southern partner of two small crescent-shaped islands that lie just a few hundred meters off the east coast of Santa Cruz Island. South Plaza Island is one of the most minor yet richest islands in the archipelago. Only 426 feet, it was formed from uplifted seabed, giving it a titled tabletop quality. Our landing is in the channel between North and South Plaza Island, where the island tilts toward the water.
The approach makes for a lavishly, colorful sight! The turquoise waters of the channel contrast brilliantly with the black lava of the shoreline. The rocks have grown thick with green seaweed in places, speckled with bright orange Sally lightfoot crabs. Further up the shore of South Plaza Island, a carpet of scarlet ice plant (Sesuvium) serves as groundcover for a grove of luminescent green prickly-pear cactus. Yellow-gray land iguanas sit beneath, waiting patiently for pears to drop.
The trail on South Plaza Island gradually follows the tilt of the island to the cliffs that overlook the ocean to the south, where swallow-tailed gulls nest. Red-billed tropicbirds, Nazca, and blue-footed boobies ride the windy currents. An overlook is an excellent place for spotting abundant marine life, including manta rays. Surf pounds an inlet at the western corner of the island, where a colony of male sea lions makes their home at what is referred to as a bachelor's site. The oils from their fur leave the surrounding rocks looking polished and shiny.
As previously described
San Cristobal Island is made up of two coalesced volcanoes. The southwestern half is asymmetric shield volcano made up of gently-dipping lavas and capped by a thick, deeply-weathered pyroclastic blanket and numerous satellite cinder cones. The southwestern shield became emergent around 2.4 million years ago; activity continued up to about 650,000 years ago. The northeastern half of the island is a more recently active volcano, dominated by eruptions from NE-trending fissures. The most recent flows are no more than a few centuries old.
San Cristobal Island is the only island with permanent freshwater, located near the highest part of the island (south) in a small lake called El Junco. The southern portion of the island is characterized by its rich vegetation, a result of the more humid climate.
Charles Darwin reported encountering a pair of giant tortoises feeding on cactus during his first landing on San Cristobal Island in 1835. Today the airport of this easternmost island in the chain is increasingly used as the arrival point for flights into and out of the Galapagos. The administrative capital for the province is Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on the southwestern shore, and in 1998 the Galapagos National Park Interpretation Centre opened for the benefit of islanders and travelers alike, presenting a comprehensive exhibit of the islands' natural history, human interaction, ecosystems, flora, and fauna. It is also the place where cultural activities take place, including theatre, exhibitions and workshops. From the Interpretation Center, a 3-kilometer loop trail arrives at Frigate Bird Hill, where both magnificent-frigates” and great-frigates can be seen in the same colony—ideal for learning to distinguish the two bird species. A 45-minute bus ride from town takes you to “El Junco,” one of the few permanent freshwater lagoons in the islands. Its location in the highlands of San Cristóbal ( 2,300 feet or 700 meters ) ensures our passage through a variety of vegetation zones. The lagoon on San Cristobal Island offers a scenic setting for exceptional bird watching including frigate birds that, in spite of being sea birds, go there to rinse the accumulated salt from their feathers.
Heading up the coast from Wreck Bay and Puerto Baquerizo, you will see Isla Lobos across a small channel off the coast of San Cristobal Island. This basalt island outcropping lives up to its name of “Sea Lion Island,” with its noisy population of frolicking and barking beasts. It is also a nesting place for blue-footed boobies and an excellent spot for snorkeling while on Galapagos cruises.
Playa Ochoa is located 6 miles from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of San Cristobal Island and the Galapagos. The beach is small with easy access; here you'll find the Chatham mockingbird and various species of Darwin finches. Toward the rear of the beach is a little hyper-saline pond where white cheek pintails can often be seen wading. The beach also provides a chance for some introductory snorkeling.
Leon Dormido, also know as Kicker Rock, is a spectacular formation that rises 152 meters ( 500 feet ) out of the Pacific 4 miles off the central western coast of San Cristóbal. It takes the form of a sleeping lion or the Sphinx if you look at the rock from the south, but from the north, you can see that the stone is split, forming a large tablet and, piercing the sea, an excellent chisel ready for etching. Small vessels can navigate through the narrow channel between the two rocks that form Kicker Rock.
La Galapaguera is a tortoise reserve in seminatural conditions. This beautiful facility was built by the Galapagos National Park Service to provide the chance for visitors to San Cristobal Island to take a look at another race of giant tortoise, the Saddle Back. To reach the reserve, it's necessary to take a bus across the island from west to east. The ride takes 1 hour and the facility offers a dirt trail of easy access where 25 adult tortoises can be found in company with the very first babies to be born in captivity in this facility.
As previously described
As previously described
As previously described
