Cormorant Evolution 8 Days B

Day 1 – Baltra Island & Santa Cruz Island
AM: Arrival in airport and transfer to the boat. Briefing on board about the boat and the island.
PM: Los Gemelos, Spanish for The Twins, are two volcanic depressions on the highest part of Santa Cruz. The larger of the two volcanic pits is featured here. In contrast to the dry coastal lowlands, the highlands are covered by mist in the garua (foggy) season and receive thus much more moisture and support a more luxuriant vegetation.
The highlands are located in the northern part of the island and can reach elevations up to 1500 meters. On a journey into the higher elevations of Santa Cruz you will experience all seven different vegetation zones. The vegetation here is abundant and lush and the weather moist.

Day 2 – Isabela Island
AM: A short distance from Puerto Villamil is the small island known as Las Tintoreras. Here a colony of white tip sharks can often be seen resting in a lava canal. You can snorkel or swim in the unique habitat of these animals. On the nearby sandy beaches, sea lions play and relax in the sun. This is one of Isabela’s most beautiful visitor sites.
Sierra Negra is a large shield volcano at the South eastern end of Isabela Island. It is the habitat for the Sierra Negra giant tortoise, which has a saddleback shell. On the way up to Sierra Negra you can see tall trees and lush highland vegetation and the summit offers a spectacular view of the lowlands.
PM: The Tortoise Breeding center was created to protect animals in their first years of life from the threats of foreign species such as pigs and donkeys. Giant tortoise eggs are collected and brought to the center where they are hatched and kept for five years before being released to their natural environment.
The Wetlands of Isabela Island are located just outside of Puerto Villamil. The Wetlands consist of lagoons, swamps and mangroves and are home to a variety of unique bird species such as common stilts, whimbrels, white-cheeked pintails and gallinules. The Wetlands can be visited on foot via a path that winds through the swamps.

Day 3 – Isabela Island
AM: At the Moreno Point you can see beautiful rocky shores where penguins and shore birds, including great blue herons, are usually spotted. You can also enter a grove of mangroves, where oysters can be seen at the base of the trees. A trek traverses the sharpest lava rocks in the Islands where dry lava is interspersed with lagoons and small ponds containing abundant wildlife.
PM: Elizabeth Bay is a marine visitor site. As enter you the bay Galápagos hawks can soar overhear and schools of pompanos and dorados can be seen swimming underneath you. Las Marielas, the small islets just outside the bay, are home to the largest concentration of Galápagos penguins living in the Islands. You can also see a red mangrove cove, passing through the red root and green leaf breeding ground for fish.

Day 4 – Fernandina Island & Isabela Island
AM: A visit to Mangle Point allows visitors to witness the amazing views and wildlife on the Coast of Fernandina Island. This is a small inlet on Fernandina’s coast where you can snorkel to your hearts delight and watch playful sea lions, curious penguins, and also catch a glimpse of where flight less cormorants reside.
PM: The waters of Urbina Bay are a good place to see turtles and rays and ashore is a short trail leading to a coral reef, which is evidence of an uplift from the sea which occurred in 1954. This provides the rare experience of walking in the middle of a bed of coral. Marine iguanas, flightless cormorants and pelicans can be seen at this site.

Day 5 – Fernandina Island & Isabela Island
AM: Punta Espinosa is a narrow stretch of land where hundreds of marine iguanas gather largely on black lava rocks. The famous flightless cormorant inhabits this island and Galápagos penguins, pelicans and sea lions are also abundant. Different types of lava flows can be compared and the mangrove forests can be observed. 
PM: At the Vicente Roca Point the remnants of an ancient volcano form two turquoise coves with a bay well protected from the ocean swells. The spot is a popular anchorage from which to explore the cliffs, where masked and blue-footed boobies perch while flightless cormorants inhabit the shoreline. The upwelling of coldwater currents in this part of the Galápagos give rise to an abundance of marine life, which make Punta Vicente Roca one of the archipelago’s sough after dive spots.

Day 6 – Santiago Island
AM: Puerto Egas, with its black sand beaches, was the site of small salt mining industry in the 1960s. A hike inland to the salt crater is an excellent opportunity to sight land birds such as finches, doves, and hawks. A walk down the rugged shoreline will turn up many marine species. Iguanas bask on the rocks and sea lions laze in the tide pools. At the end of the trail there is a series of grottoes or sea caves where fur seals and night herons are found.
PM: Buccaneer Cove is a testament to the fact that Santiago Island was once a refuge for British buccaneers. These pirates would anchor in the protected bay to make repairs and stock up on tortoise meat among other things. The steep cliffs, where hundreds of seabirds perch in front of the dark red sand beach, are a magnificent site.
This large coffee-coloured sand beach is just north of the prized fresh water supply that once attracted pirates and whalers. A short walk inland will take you through a mangrove forest normally inhabited by the common stilt. Sea turtles also visit these mangroves to nest. Beyond the mangroves is a brackish lagoon where flocks of pink flamingos and white-cheeked pintails can be seen. Sea turtles often lay their eggs on Espumilla Beach.

Day 7 – Genovesa Island
AM: Prince Phillip´s step is an extraordinary, steep path that leads through a seabird colony full of life, up to cliffs that are 25m high. At the top the trail continues inland, passing more seabird colonies in a thin palo santo forest. Leaving the forest you can overview a rocky plain. You could get a view of masked and red-footed boobies, great frigate birds, swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropicbirds and hundreds of storm petrels at the edge of the cliff.
PM: The beach of Darwin Bay is a coral beach where a 750m trail takes you through more seabird colonies. You get to see the cliffs from the seaward side, which are home to a large red-footed booby colony. Once ashore the number of birds seems overwhelming – Nazca boobies soar overhead, great frigatebirds display their pouches while resting on the nearby rocks and plants, and mockingbirds scamper quickly across the sand.

Day 8 – North Seymour Island
AM: The 2km trail crosses the inland of the island North Seymour and explores the rocky coast, passing colonies of blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds. Daphne Major and Minor can be spotted in the distance and body surfing sea lions play close to the shore. Along the shoreline marine iguanas, white coral and black lava rocks complete the visit to North Seymour.

Transfer to the Airport.

Departure	Arrival
Saturday 1st of June 2024	Saturday 8th of June 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 15th of June 2024	Saturday 22nd of June 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 29th of June 2024	Saturday 6th of July 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 13th of July 2024	Saturday 20th of July 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 27th of July 2024	Saturday 3rd of August 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 10th of August 2024	Saturday 17th of August 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 24th of August 2024	Saturday 31st of August 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 7th of September 2024	Saturday 14th of September 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 21st of September 2024	Saturday 28th of September 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 5th of October 2024	Saturday 12th of October 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 19th of October 2024	Saturday 26th of October 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 2nd of November 2024	Saturday 9th of November 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 16th of November 2024	Saturday 23rd of November 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 30th of November 2024	Saturday 7th of December 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 14th of December 2024	Saturday 21st of December 2024	[request availability]
Saturday 28th of December 2024	Saturday 4th of January 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 11th of January 2025	Saturday 18th of January 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 25th of January 2025	Saturday 1st of February 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 8th of February 2025	Saturday 15th of February 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 22nd of February 2025	Saturday 1st of March 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 8th of March 2025	Saturday 15th of March 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 22nd of March 2025	Saturday 29th of March 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 5th of April 2025	Saturday 12th of April 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 19th of April 2025	Saturday 26th of April 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 3rd of May 2025	Saturday 10th of May 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 17th of May 2025	Saturday 24th of May 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 31st of May 2025	Saturday 7th of June 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 14th of June 2025	Saturday 21st of June 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 28th of June 2025	Saturday 5th of July 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 12th of July 2025	Saturday 19th of July 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 26th of July 2025	Saturday 2nd of August 2025	[request availability]
Saturday 9th of August 2025	Saturday 16th of August 2025	[request availability]