Estrella del Mar – 8 Days A

Day 1 – San Cristobal Island
AM: Arrival in airport and transfer to the boat. Briefing on board about the boat and the island.
PM: Isla Lobos is a small island named after the sea lions that rest and play on its rocky shores. It is also home to blue-footed boobies, great frigate-birds, brown pelicans, lava gulls, common noddies, yellow warblers and small and medium ground finches. There is good snorkeling in the clear waters of the channel and this is one of the best sites at which to swim with sea lions underwater.  

Day 2 – San Cristobal Island
AM: At the Pitt Point are endemic species such as lava lizards and red-footed boobies. The view is impressive when you walk up to the high part of the island. You may be lucky to see the red footed booby, the least seen of the boobies. It is also the home of the Chatham mockingbird, only found on San Cristobal Island.
PM: One of the first sites visited by Charles Darwin, Cerro Brujo is a beautiful white-sand beach where brown pelicans, blue-footed boobies, sea lions, and marine iguanas can all be found. An onshore version of nearby Kicker Rocks, Cerro Brujo is a very striking, eroded tuff cone. There is also fantastic snorkeling in the turquoise waters.
León Dormido is a small, distinctive island that comprises two rocks which jut out of the ocean and is home to a large colony of sea birds. Kicker Rock is an excellent dive site where you could see many reef fish as well as hammerhead and Galápagos sharks. Sightings of large rays and turtles are common but not guaranteed.

Day 3 – Española Island
AM: Gardner Bay has a magnificent beach with turquoise waters. Around the small islets nearby, snorkellers will find lots of fish and sometimes turtles and sharks. The bay is also frequented by a transient colony of sea lions which like to swim with you. Birds, like the endemic Hood-mockingbird and different species of Darwin finches, are omnipresent.
Osborn Islet is a small island to the southeast of Española Island is a marine visit where you can enjoy fantastic snorkeling and swimming.
PM: Suárez Point is one of the most outstanding wildlife areas of the archipelago, with a long list of species found along its cliffs and sand or pebble beaches. In addition to five species of nesting seabirds there are the curious and bold Española Island mockingbirds, Galápagos doves and Galápagos hawks. Several types of reptiles, including the marine iguana and the oversized lava lizard, are unique to this island.

Day 4 – Floreana Island
AM: Noted for the volcanic green olivine crystals found in the beach, Cormorant Point offers a trail overlooking a saltwater lagoon that is a favourite of flamingos. Beyond the lagoon the trail leads to a magnificent white-sand beach. Green sea turtles lay their eggs in the sands here during the night and their tracks leading to and from the sea mark the beach.
Arguably the best snorkeling site in the islands, Devil’s Crown is a collapsed volcanic cone that boasts an extraordinary number and variety of fish. It is a popular roosting site for seabirds such as boobies, pelicans, and frigates. In addition, sharks, sea lions, sea turtles and eels can be found amongst the rocks and corals.
PM: The best known site on Floreana is Post Office Bay, a white-sand beach where in the past sailors used to leave and receive their letters in a barrel. The tradition continues – leave your postcard in the barrel and see how long it takes to be delivered, and at the same time if there is a postcard with an address close to your home, please take it with you.
The Baroness´ Observatory is a site that shows a breath-taking view of La Lobería and the inland features of Floreana Island. You can also learn about the mysterious disappearance of Baroness Eloise Wehrborn de Wagner-Bosquet, an attractive young Austrian, who lived on Floreana with her two lovers.

Day 5 – North Seymour Island & Bartholomew 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.
PM: Bartholomew is the most photographed island in the Archipelago, and its pictures are the most shown next to Galapagos’ name. In fact, a walk through an unusual lava landscape, and then up some wooden stairs, will take you to the top, from where the view is more spectacular than what the images suggest.

Day 6 – Genovesa Island
AM: As it is the furthest north of the Islands, the Humboldt Current has little effect here and the waters are warmer than in the south; as such there are more corals here than the other Islands. The quality can be overwhelming. Darwin’s Arch sits just above the surface on an underwater plateau and the steep barnacle covered walls drop off to the deeper ocean. The water it is thick with hammerheads and on the ridge side there are large schools of fish.
PM: 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.

Day 7 – South Plaza Island & Santa Fe Island
AM: South Plaza has one of the largest populations of land iguanas in the Galápagos. It is also home to marine iguanas and a hybrid iguana whose fathers are marine iguanas and mothers are land iguanas. There are cliffs with spectacular views and a rocky trail circumnavigates the island displaying the combination of dry and coastal vegetation zone. The island is home to enormous prickly pear cactus and the endemic succulent sesuvian.
PM: Santa Fe is a volcanic uplift and hosts a forest of Opuntia cactus, which are the largest of the archipelago, and palo santo. Weathered cliffs provide a haven for swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropic birds, and sehar-waters petrels. The Santa Fe species of land iguanas are often seen, as well as lava lizards. There is a picturesque turquoise lagoon and calm waters where you can snorkel amongst sea lions.

Day 8 – Santa Cruz Island
AM: El Chato is a reserve in the highlands of Santa Cruz, where you have the amazing opportunity to observe the magnificent giant tortoise in the wild. This area is vegetated with transition zone vegetation and is located in the humid zone of the highlands of Santa Cruz. The walk to the reserve is one of the best places to observe ground birds, tree and ground finches, the vermillion flycatcher, cattle egrets and occasionally Galápagos rails.
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.

Transfer to the Airport.

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