Our Galapagos Coral Cruise itineraries offer unforgettable experiences, with our weekly departures allowing you to experience 3-, 4-, 7-, and up to 14 –nights tours including: full board, two daily guided excursions with optional activities such as snorkeling, kayaking, dinghy rides and our new feature daily diving tours for license-holding divers.
First day on board and you already wonder how the week is going to be in your adventure through the islands.
AM – Baltra Airport
Departure from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra Island (approx. 2½-hour flight). Arriving in the Galapagos, passengers are picked up at the airport by our naturist guides and taken on a ten-minute bus drive to the pier to board the M/Y Coral I or M/Y Coral II.
PM – Charles Darwin Research Station & Fausto Llerena Breeding Center (Santa Cruz Island)
Dry landing. Once home to the famous Lonesome George, the last tortoise of the Pinta race, the breeding and relocation center is named in honor of his long-time guardian. The center 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 seldom seen Darwin’s finches such as the woodpecker, cactus and vegetarian finches.
AM- Dragon Hill (Santa Cruz Island)
Dry or wet landing. Arriving to a small lava dock our first encounters are with marine iguanas that blend-in perfectly to the dark rock. As we walk past large prickly pear cacti we arrive to one end of a long, sickle-shaped, beach with Dragon Hill standing in the distance. Our walk takes us on a circular path, past a shallow lake where flamingoes frequently come to feed. Waders such as stilts, turnstones and sandpipers work the muddy edges frenetically looking for food as we continue inland to a dry, forested habitat where land iguanas nest and burrow.
PM – Bartolome Island
Dry or wet landing. Considered the most iconic landscape of the entire archipelago the view from the top of Bartolome Island, overlooking the famous Pinnacle Rock and the austere Santiago Island beyond, is well worth the climb up the wooden boardwalk. This volcanic scene has often been likened to a lunar landscape. Our subsequent snorkel here might put us face to face with Galapagos penguins, white-tipped reef sharks and playful sea lions.
AM– Rabida Island
Lying at the heart of the archipelago this dramatic island, with its distinctive red-sand beach, is home to sea lions, mockingbirds, finches, endemic Galapagos doves and vermillion flycatchers. A walk takes us through a forest of palo santo and cacti to a beautiful overview of the bay. Snorkeling here can be excellent, often with large schools of black-striped salemas, sea lions and the
ubiquitous turtles.
PM – Buccaneers Cove / Espumilla Beach ( Santiago Island)
This is an amazing location, featuring the remains of an eroded shoreline that is home to seabirds, fur seals and the playful sea lions. Its different shapes have been made throughout a process caused by erosion of the waves and the wind. Espumilla Beach is a white-sandy beach in James Bay and is a popular place among visitors. There are mangroves and a small palo santo forest that lead to salty-water lagoons that are home to wading birds like flamingos. In the upper dunes are a nesting site for sea turtles. A good place to snorkel to see rays.
AM – Black Turtle Cove (Santa Cruz Island)
Here, we can find four species of mangrove in the extensive tidal lagoon system that stretches for almost a mile inland. During our panga ride through the labyrinth, we will spot many turtles, herons of several species, sharks and rays. The experience is otherworldly and seems to transport us back to the beginning of time.
AM- Baltra Airport
After the visit, passengers will be transferred to the airport to their return flight to Guayaquil or Quito.
| A | CENTRAL | 4 days / 3 nights | |
| Sunday - Wednesday | |||
|
Flight to / from Baltra: AV1632, departing Quito 7:00 / Guayaquil 8:35, arriving Galapagos 9:45. Return flight: AV1633, departing Galapagos 10:20, arriving Guayaquil 13:10 / Quito 14:50. |
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| DAY | TIME | VISIT | ISLAND | HIGHLIGHTS | TERRAIN | DIFFICULTY LEVEL |
ACTIVITIES | ||||
| TYPE | DIVING | ||||||||||
| SITE | LEVEL | ||||||||||
| SUN | AM | Baltra airport | Baltra | Meet and greet, bus transfer to the port, check-in on board. Transfer to Puerto Ayora. |
- | - | - | Gordon Rocks or Daphne & Mosquera |
- advanced - medium |
||
| PM | Fausto Llerena Breeding Center | Santa Cruz | Giant tortoises, Darwin finches, prickly-pear cactus forest, interpretation center | flat | easy |
|
- | - | |||
| MON | AM | Dragon Hill | Santa Cruz | Dry zone vegetation, endemic land iguanas, Darwin finches, mockingbird. | rocky | moderate |
|
- | - | ||
| PM | Bartolome | Bartolome | Landscape, Pinnacle Rock, penguins, blue-footed boobies | 372 steps | moderate |
|
- | - | |||
| TUE | AM | Rabida | Rabida | Incredible landscape, brown pelicans, nesting spot of seabirds, red sand beach. | sandy | easy |
|
- | - | ||
| PM | Buccaneer Cove & Espumilla Beach | Santiago | Eroded shortline home to seabirds, fur seals and sea lions. | sandy | easy |
|
- | - | |||
| WED | AM | Black Turtle Cove | Santa Cruz | Four species of mangrove, declared as a “Turtle Sanctuary”. | water | easy |
|
Seymour & Daphne | medium | ||
| Baltra airport | Baltra |
Check-out, transfer to airport 7-night guests Baltra’ shore. |
- | - | - | ||||||
