The Enchanted Islands of Galapagos

( 5 nights / 6 days - Departures: Daily)

• Transfer Baltra / hotel in Puerto Ayora, visiting the highland part of Santa Cruz Island (Includes lava Tunnels and a turtle reserve) + Visit to the Scientific Charles Darwin Station. (Transfer operates at 12h00pm, except on Saturdays at 11h00am)
• 5 nights of accommodation in Galápagos (Santa Cruz Island) with breakfasts
• Excursion to Tortuga Beach & Bay Tour
• 2 Full day Excursion in yacht to one of the following islands Bartolomé, Seymour, Plazas, Floreana or similar ones (Lunch included)
• Transfer hotel / airport & Finca de café. (Transfer operates at 8h30am)
• Hotel taxes

The Enchanted Islands of Galapagos

Prices

**Net Prices per person (subject to change)
**Prices in US Dollars

Hotels	Single Room	Double Room	Triple Room
Hotel Flamingo or Red Booby (Tourist 3*) Additional night	1203	958	958
	114	65	65
Silberstein (Superior 3*s) Additional night	1468	1278	1223
	167	129	118
Isla Sol by SolyMar (First 4*) Additional night	1948	1358	1228
	263	145	119
Sol y Mar (Superior 4*) Additional night	2393	1578	1373
	352	189	148
Royal Palm (Luxury 5*) Additional night	2862	1747	2118
	440	220	295

** Program does not include air ticket from Quito or Guayaquil
** Program does not include the Galapagos National Park taxes or the Transit Tourist Card, a total of US $ 110,00
** Prices are valid until December 15 /2013

Attractions

SANTA CRUZ ISLAND MOUNTAIN TOUR & CHARLES DARWIN SCIENTIFIC STATION

You will visit the Gemelos craters to enjoy the nature diversity of this place. Discover a lava tunnel and see the formation of a cavern and suffers walls. Then walk trough the famous turtles Galapagos paradise, and follow your visit to the scientific Charles Darwin station where you will easily understand the formation of the islands, species and their evolution. Learn and understand the conservation programs for the islands and finally see another giant turtles Galapagos place and visit the famous Solitary George.

BAY TOUR AND TORTUGA BAY (SANTA CRUZ)

You can get to know the island and visit La Lobería named for all the huge sea lion colonies that live there. Here one will be able to do snorkeling and to swim, play with the sea lions, see beautiful fish of all colors and sea turtles In the Canal del Amor you can observe reef sharks and also have the possibility of swimming, snorkeling with them
Tortuga Bay is a beautiful white sand beach, in which you will be able to snorkell, as well as enjoy the beach.

PLAZAS ISLANDS

It’s located in the southern part of two small crescent-shaped islands just a few hundred meters off the east coast of Santa Cruz. The northern island is used for scientific purposes only.

The south area is one of the smallest and richest islands in the archipelago. Only 130 meters wide (426 feet), the Plaza Island was formed from an uplifted seabed, better known as the tabletop. Our destination is in the channel between North and South of Plaza Island, where the island tilts toward the water.

The approach makes an amazing colorful sight! The turquoise waters of the channel contrast shine with the white sand and black lava of the shoreline. The rocks have grown thick with green seaweed in some places, speckled with bright orange crabs. The shore carpet of scarlet sesuvium serves as groundcover for a grove of luminescent green prickly-pear cactus. Yellow-brown land iguanas sit beneath, waiting patiently for pears to drop.

The trail gradually follows the tilt of the island to the cliffs that overlook the ocean to the south, where swallow-tailed gulls nest. Red-billed tropic birds, masked and blue-footed boobies ride the windy currents. It is a great place for spotting large marine life, including manta rays. Surf pounds an inlet at the western corner of the island, where a colony of sea lions bachelors make their home, accounting for the surface of the rocks, polished by the oils of their fur. The shoreline of Plazas Island makes an excellent snorkeling place for the sea lion colony counted nearly a thousand.

SEYMOUR ISLAND

North Seymour Island was lifted from the ocean floor by a seismic event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile. The cliffs are only a few meters high form the shoreline, where swallow-tailed gulls sit perched in ledges. A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo Santo trees stand just above the landing, usually without leaves, waiting for the rain to bring them into bloom.

This island is full of life! You might have to give a way to a passing sea lion or marine iguana; blue-footed booby nests sit beside the trail where mating pairs perform their courtship dance. Further along, the rocky shore displays white sand, and large flocks of pelicans mass for a dive-bomb feeding frenzy, rendering a tableau for us from ages long past. The trail turns inland to reveal the largest nesting site in the Galápagos of the magnificent frigate bird. These huge, dark acrobats have two-meter wingspans, and males, with puffed up scarlet throat sacks; sit precariously perched in low bushes to watch over their equally large chicks.

BARTOLOME ISLAND

Bartolome is famous for the Pinnacle Rock, a towering spearheaded obelisk that rises from the ocean’s edge has the best known landmark in the islands. Galápagos penguins, the only species of penguin found in the north of the Ecuador line walk precariously along narrow volcanic ledges at its base. Sea lions snooze on rocky platforms, ready to slide into the water to play with passing snorkelers. Just below the surface, shoals of tropical fish dodge in and out of the rocks past urchins, sea stars and anemones. A perfectly crescent, pink-and-white sandy beach lies just to the east of the pinnacle. Sea turtles use the beach as a nesting site and can sometimes be found wading in the shallow water near the shore, or resting in the sand to recover from the arduous task of digging nests, laying eggs and covering them over.

Penguins dot the nearby rocks of the next landing site, less than a kilometer along the eastern shore. Here the submerged walls of a tiny volcanic crater give the impression of a fountain pool. This dry landing—no wet feet!—is the entrance to a 600-meter (2000-foot) pathway complete with stairs and boardwalks leading to Bartolome’s summit. The route is not difficult and presents a museum of volcanologist; a site left untouched after its last eruption, where cones stand in various stages of erosion and lava tubes form bobsled-like runs from the summit. At the top you will be rewarded with spectacular views of Santiago Island and James Bay to the west, and far below, Pinnacle Rock and our beach

FLOREANA ISLAND

Island known as the “thousand volcanoes", full of human and natural history. After 2 hours of sea transportation, we arrive to Puerto Velasco Ibarra. Our first view is the sea lion colony, where previously we find a path of rocks and sand of 900 meters long. The main attraction of this area is the presence of sea lions that are on the beach and the bay, as well as iguanas and turtles, in this place it is possible to snorkel. Later, arrive to the long beach of black sand (unique of the Galapagos), possibility to do snorkel. One of the main attractions of the island is its history, the cave of the pirates and the freshwater side, which is located at 450m high. There is also the presence of scalecia forest. Additionaly, this island has a tortoise breeding center, where we found several specimens belonging originally to different islands. While navigation there’s the possibility to observe dolphins and whales during almost all the year.

ISABELA ISLAND

Early departure from Puerto Ayora to Isabela Island, the biggest Island in the Galapagos, breakfast on board and arrive to Puerto Villamil, where you can admire the active volcano Sierra Negra, 5 species of tortoises, Penguins, iguanas and many more exotic animals, besides its spectacular natural sights and beaches, Lunch included and return in the afternoon to your hotel in Puerto Ayora. Isabela is the only island in Galapgos that the equator line pass trough and also where more than the 60% of the species of animals and plants are located in the same Island