Galapagos 4 Day Cruise C | Coral I & II

Take a flight from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra. The flight from Quito to the Galapagos is approximately 2 ½ hours and from Guayaquil approximately 1 ½ hours. Arriving in the Galapagos, passengers are met at the airport by our naturalist guides and driven ten minutes by bus to the pier to board the M/Y Coral I or M/Y Coral II.

In the afternoon you will have a dry landing at North Seymour, located just off Baltra Island and not far from Santa Cruz. This landmass was formed by a series of underwater volcanic eruptions, which deposited layers of lava on the ocean floor. An approximately two-hour walk amidst large nesting colonies of blue-footed boobies, magnificent and great frigate birds, and swallow-tailed gulls for an in-depth encounter with sea bird breeding cycles and sea lions. You will also encounter land iguanas, and on a lucky day, you might even come across the endemic Galapagos Snake.

In the morning we will visit Charles Darwin Research Centre on Santa Cruz Island. Once home to the famous Lonesome George, the last tortoise of the Pinta race, the breeding and relocation centre is named in honour of his long-time guardian. The centre is set in the Galapagos National Park Service where various interpretative buildings are available to visit. The grounds, with large stands of native vegetation, are one of the better places to spot some of the Darwin finches including the woodpecker, cactus, and vegetarian finches.

In the afternoon you will arrive at Mosquera Islet. This tiny, low lying islet, covered in coral sand, is set between North and South Seymour Islands. It is home to a group of sea lions that come to laze on the soft white sand. It is a good spot to observe shorebirds as well as herons, lava gulls, and boobies. Snorkelling or diving here one can often see sharks, rays, and barracudas.

In the morning you will arrive at Santa Fe island. After a fabulous snorkel in the turquoise waters of the protected bay, we may have enjoyed time with sea lions, turtles, reef sharks and spotted eagle rays. Landing onto a sandy beach we are immediately distracted by the abundant sea lions there with us. We begin a walk past a forest of island-endemic giant Opuntia cacti. Here we search for another island-endemic the Santa Fe land iguana, paler than its cousins on other islands. Galapagos hawks and even endemic rice rats are also things to look out for.

In the afternoon you will head for South Plaza Islet for a dry landing. There are two plaza islets (north and south) located east of Santa Cruz Island. On the northern part of the Islet, visitors begin the journey along an impressive cactus forest where colourful yellow and red land iguanas live, the population number is around 300 animals; during the dry season, they survive on fruits and flowers of the opuntia cacti. A peculiar thing to see in South Plaza is the hybrid iguana (sea and land). When reaching the highest point, tropicbirds can also be seen. During the dry season (June – January) the usually greenish and yellowish vegetation changes colour creating a bright red landscape which is a great sight to see in this area.

For you last excursion this morning, we arrive to Isla Lobos which is approximately 20 minutes by boat from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Once on the island, the trail is about 850 meters with a couple of different option to take. Witness along the way a small population of blue-footed boobies, as well as great frigatebirds nests which are located at this site. You will also find a colony of sea lions, found in the waters or frocking in the sun. During the boat ride, enjoy seeing brown pelicans and several other species of shorebirds.

Afterwards you will be taken to San Cristobal Airport for a return flight to Guayaquil or Quito.