Experience Overview
Highlights
- Encounter incredible wildlife
- Snorkel and swim with sea turtles and manta rays
- Take a cycle around Isabela Island
- Hike the Sierra Negra Volcano
Trip Details
Product Code: 38912
Tour Type: Small Group
Accommodation: Budget
Transport: Speed boat, van, pickup truck, local bus, panga.
Guide Language: English
Travel Styles: Budget
Tour Operator: G Adventures
Supplier Code: SEGA.B
Starts: Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador
Finishes: Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador
Duration: 8 days
Departures: Guaranteed
Physical Rating: Average
Includes
Activities
- Your G for Good Moment: Floreana Community Restaurants, Floreana Island Your G for Good Moment: Floreana Community Guesthouse, Floreana Island Your Welcome Moment: Welcome Moment - Meet Your CEO and Group
- Highlands and wild tortoise excursion (Santa Cruz Island)
- Snorkel excursion
- Snorkelling Loberia (Floreana Island)
- Biking excursion (Isabela Island)
- Sierra Negra Volcano hike
- Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre visit
- All transport between destinations and to/from included activities
Accommodation
- Hotels (7 nights).
- 7 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 2 dinners
Transport
- Speed boat, van, pickup truck, local bus, panga.
Group Leader
- CEO (Chief Experience Officer) /Naturalist Guide while in the Galápagos Islands (certified by the Galápagos National Park Authority).
Price
Price per person: (Double Occupancy) CAD $3,179 ($397 /day)
Itinerary
Day 1: Santa Cruz Island/Puerto Ayora
Arrive in Santa Cruz and make your way to the hotel.
As reaching the hotel in Santa Cruz (Puerto Ayora) from the Baltra airport can be tricky, exit the airport and head for the public bus to Itabaca Canal. From there, take a ferry across the canal to Santa Cruz Island. From the ferry terminal, opt to take a taxi or bus to Puerto Ayora, typically a 45-min ride.
Day 2: Santa Cruz Island
Walk from Puerto Ayora along a 2.5 km raised causeway to the stunning white sand and beach of Tortuga Bay with time for snorkelling and swimming. You can also choose to take an optional kayak ride before returning to town for lunch. In the afternoon visit the Charles Darwin Research Station.
Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. Inaugurated in 1964 and based in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, the Charles Darwin Research Station is the one place where visitors can easily see the famous Galapagos tortoises, which can live up to two hundred years. This is a great opportunity to observe many species of tortoises and land iguanas in captivity, brought back from the brink of extinction.
Day 3: Santa Cruz Island/Floreana Island
Spend a free morning enjoying Santa Cruz, before crossing by speedboat to Floreana Island. Get settled at the G Adventures-supported community guesthouse and opt to swim at Black Beach.
After a free morning, depart Santa Cruz and head to Floreana Island. Keep an eye out for dolphins and the magnificent albatross along the way.
Day 4: Floreana Island
In the morning, head on a visit to Loberia, where there are opportunities to swim and snorkel. Opt to explore the area around Black Beach. In the afternoon, enjoy an excursion to the seldom visited highlands of Floreana.
Walk along the black sand beach to Loberia to enjoy beach snorkelling or swimming. Please be sure you are a comfortable swimmer. The water here can be rough and the currents are strong.
Day 5: Floreana Island/Isabela Island
Travel to Isabela Island. Hike to viewpoint of the Sierra Negra Volcano to see the second-largest crater in the world and enjoy a downhill bike excursion. Once back in town, opt to take surfing lessons on the nearby beach.
Take a morning speedboat journey to Isabela Island. Enjoy a full day on Isabela Island that includes a trek up to the viewpoint of the Sierra Negra Volcano—one of the most active volcanoes in Galápagos—boasting the second largest crater in the world. From here, experience a birds-eye view of the magical landscape.
Day 6: Isabela Island
Spend a free morning trying the optional activities in the area. Maybe hit the waves for surf lessons on the nearby beach. Then, enjoy a kayak and snorkel excursion near Tintoreras.
Visit Tintoreras to kayak and observe the whitetip reef sharks found swimming in the channels between the rocks. Get a close-up view of pelicans, frigatebirds, and diving blue-footed boobies. Watch for manta rays and rare Galápagos penguins, of which only 800 pairs exist
Day 7: Isabela Island/Santa Cruz Island
This morning stop by the Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre before traveling back to the island of Santa Cruz. Enjoy a free afternoon and evening in Santa Cruz.
Around midday, set sail for Santa Cruz Island and dock at the town of Puerto Ayora. After a late hotel check-in, enjoy free time to explore this bustling little town and sample some of the local restaurants and bars, or maybe do some souvenir shopping in one of the many shops.
Day 8: Puerto Ayora/Santa Cruz Island
Depart at any time.
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Tour Operator
G Adventures
G Adventures is an operator of small-group escorted tours. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with 28 offices worldwide. It offers more than 700 itineraries in more than 100 countries, and carries 200,000 travelers from 160 countries each year.
In Business Since 1990
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