Galapagos Cruises

San Cristobal Island is a starting point for many cruises, with daily flights arriving from Quito and Guayaquil. It’s home to the Galapaguera Breeding Center, where you can see Galapagos Giant Tortoises in their natural habitat. This center, run by the Galapagos National Park Authority, allows us to watch these magnificent tortoises, as well as to see some of their eggs. San Cristobel has fabulous volcanic landscapes with opportunities for bird watching, hiking, and exploring the terrain before embarking your cruise.

Once cruising, enjoy the scenery from the deck or try snorkeling to observe many colorful fish, manta rays, sharks, seahorses, and other species. Kicker Rock is a highlight of San Cristobal.

North Seymour Island was formed by uplifted submarine lava and is home to a huge colony of some 2,500 land iguanas and large populations of sea lions, blue-footed boobies, common noddies, and frigate birds. Along the coast it is possible to see land and marine iguanas and the biggest colony of Magnificent Frigate birds.

Rabida Island is unique because of the red color of the rocks and sand. Here you can observe land birds such as finches, doves, yellow warblers, and mocking birds. Thee is also a colony of flamingos. Snorkeling is good, and the beach is often full of sea lions.

The island of Santa Cruz features an airport, and is another starting point for many cruises. Pre- or post-cruise you can explore The Highlands, with rich wildlife, hills, ferns, volcanoes, and lava tubes. The island itself has several different agricultural zones, including a rainforest. An interesting site is Twin Craters, which are two caved in magma chambers of a previous volcano. After years of erosion and extinction, the once-full chambers caved in, leaving two similar craters that can be seen on a short hike that passes by a Scalesia forest. A must-do is a visit to Charles Darwin Station, where the Galapagos giant tortoise breeding program takes place as part of the efforts to preserve the fragile Galapagos environment. The Darwin Station also works providing environmental education to communities and schools within the islands, and to tourists visiting the Galapagos Islands. The town of Puerto Ayora offers restaurants, hotels and shopping.

Las Bachas are two small beaches near Baltra airport with soft sand made of decomposed coral, making it a favorite nesting site for sea turtles. Behind one of the beaches there is a small brackish water lagoon, where occasionally it is possible to observe flamingos and other coastal birds, such as black-necked stilts and whimbrels. The other beach is longer with two old barges that were abandoned during the Second World War, when the USA used Baltra Island as a strategic point to protect the Panama Canal.

Darwin Bay was created when the crater of this island collapsed below sea level. This is a favorite island for birdwatchers: red footed-boobies, masked boobies, wandering tattlers, lava gulls, Yellow-crowned, black-crowned and lava herons, and yellow warblers can be seen in the area. Prince Philip’s Steps, named for Prince Philip who visited Galapagos in 1965 and again in 1981, takes visitors to a plateau with marked trails and stunning views.

Known for James Bay, Sullivan Bay, and the Chinese Hat, Santiago Island offers marked trails, and an abundance of varied wildlife. Puerto Egas, at the south end of James Bay, provides one of the best opportunities for visitors to see the Galapagos fur seal. Espumilla Beach is located an important site for nesting marine turtles, and at the nearby Buccaneers Cove there is a a great snorkeling location. At Sullivan Bay, visitors can walk across a recent lava flow and study its unique colors and breathtaking characteristics.

South Plazas Island has some of the most interesting and outstanding species of the Galapagos. The Plazas land iguanas are smaller than its relatives found on other islands. Throughout the island there are several hybrid iguanas, a result of crossing a male marine iguana and a female land iguana. See Swallow Tailed Gulls nest in the rugged cliffs, and view other sea birds such as Audubon shearwaters, red-billed tropicbirds, frigate birds, and brown pelicans.

Bartolome Island is home to the famous Pinnacle Rock and some of the most spectacular scenery of the Galapagos Islands. Its otherworldly lunar-like landscape features volcanic cones, craters, and lava fields. Snorkeling and swimming is possible at its beaches, where if you’re lucky, you’ll see some of the Galapagos penguins. A walk to the top, made possible for most people by a sturdy, wooden staircase, presents you with a breathtaking, 360* view of your surroundings.

Floreana Island has a very interesting history. It is the site of the first “post office”, established in 1793 by whalers, and it was the home to the first Galapagos resident — a bold Irishman named Patrick Watkins who lived there from 1807-1809. The current residents are mostly farmers.

Devil’s Crown is a volcanic crater that has been eroded away by the waves where snorkelers can find an underwater oasis of coral reefs and marine species such as sea lions, colorful King Angel Fish, Balloon Fish, hawkfish, Yellowtail grunts, Tiger Snake Eels, White-tipped Sharks, Eagle Rays, amberjacks, wrasses, Hammerhead Sharks, and sea turtles. The rocky remains of the volcano create a haven for seabirds such as boobies, pelicans, and frigatebirds. Now extinct on the main island of Floreana, the Floreana mockingbird can only be found in two small populations located on two small satellite islands off the coast of Floreana.

Both islands are inhabited only by sea birds and is rarely visited by tourists other than master divers. Darwin Arch is one of the best dive sites in the archipelago with Whale and Hammerhead Sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, dolphins, large schools of pelagic fish species, as well as other species of sharks.

Española is the southernmost of the Galapagos Islands and is also one of the oldest. Geologists estimate it is about four million years old. Española is a classic shield volcano, created from a single caldera in the center of the island. Because Española is one of the most isolated islands in Galapagos, it has a large number of endemic species — the Española mockingbird, the Española lava lizard, and the waved albatross, to name a few.

A highlight is the waved albatross breeding colony. With a population of 25,000 to 30,000, nearly the entire world population of the adult birds can be found on Española between April and December. They mate for life and perform an elaborate mating dance, a spectacle that can last five days and may include stumbling, honking, and beak-fencing. Snorkeling highlights include tropical fish, reef sharks and sea lions.

The largest, and one of the younger islands, Isabela Island was formed by the joining of six shield volcanoes — from north to south — Ecuador, Wolf, Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra Negra, and Cerro Azul. All of the volcanoes except Ecuador are still active. Isabela residents make their living by fishing, farming, and tourism. Islabela offers snorkeling opportunities, as well as land activities including hiking to the Sierra Negra volcano and exploring lava tubes.

No shore landing options, but there are many Hammerhead and Galapagos sharks, dolphins, sea lions, sea turtles, rays, and many fish species.

Santa Fe Island is one of the oldest volcanoes, with rock formations below the surface of the water that date back 3.9 million years. Visitors at Barrington Bay will find large numbers of sea lions on the beach.