Galapagos Tip Top III
ITINERARY DAY BY DAY
8 days / 7 nights
Friday to Friday
Day 1
Baltra Island arrival / Bachas beach (Santa Cruz Island)
Flight to Galapagos to Baltra Island where you will start your cruises aboard the Tip Top II after a short drive to the harbour. The deserted, picturesque beach Las Bachas at the northern shore of Santa Cruz invites you for a swim in the crystal-clear water or to relax in the sun. Afterwards you will be visiting the bay Caleta Tortuga Negra which is close by. This bay is surrounded by mangroves where you can spot pelicans and herons. While snorkelling you can have a swim with the turtles, white-tip sharks and rays.
Day 2
Prince Philip's Steps / Darwin Bay Beach (Genovesa Island)
Genovesa is a collapsed volcano and ships sail directly into its large breached caldera to anchor at the foot of the steep crater walls. Genovesa attracts vast numbers of pelagic seabirds that come here to nest and breed: great frigate birds, red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and storm petrels. A trail leads from a coral beach past tidal lagoons where lava gulls and yellow-crowned night herons are seen, then along the low shrubs populated by frigates and boobies, and eventually to a cliff edge where seabirds soar. A second trail called Prince Philip Steps, leads to an open area for masked boobies, frigates, and red-footed boobies. At the end of this trail are thousands of band-rumped storm petrels at the cliff's edge, where they nest in crevices. Short-eared owls can sometimes be seen here, hunting the storm petrels during daylight hours.
Day 3
Puerto Egas (Santiago Island) / Bartolome Island
From the visitor center at James Bay on the Island Santiago a small path leads you in southern direction along the coast. Passing by the ruins of a former salt mine company and the many inhabitants of the bank area, like sea lions, lizards, herons, and cancers, you arrive at the famous fur seal grotto, the best place at Galapagos in order to observe these elegant animals.
Arriving at Bartolome you will ascend a lookout point from where you can admire the spectacular panorama of the Sullivan Bay and the famous needle shaped rock, the so called Pinnacle Rock. The beaches at the foot of the Pinnacle Rock boast some fine snorkeling spots from which you can discover the marvelous underwater world with a good chance to encounter penguins or the softly gliding turtles.
Day 4
Charles Darwin Station / Highlands (Santa Cruz Island)
Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos. The small town of Puerto Ayora is the economic centre of the archipelago, with the largest population of the 4 inhabited islands (approx 10.000). Santa Cruz is also the only island where six different zones of vegetation can be seen: Coastal, Arid, Transition, Scalesia, Miconia, and Pampa Zones. The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park offices are based here. You will have an opportunity to visit some of the best scientists of their kind. Scientists, park rangers and park managers among others, who make huge efforts to preserve this Unesco World Heritage Site, conduct the conservation of the islands. The station is also a tortoise breeding and rearing centre, where tortoises of different subspecies are prepared for reintroduction to their natural habitats. The most popular inhabitant of this island will probably be Lonesome George. He is the only survivor of the specific turtle species.
The lush greenery of the Santa Cruz highlands is a welcome contrast with the arid scenery of the smaller, lower islands. Points of interest are the famed lava tunnels, a fun and geologically informative visit. The trip to the highlands ends with a visit to the Twin Craters.
The vegetation around these is very special and is renown for its about 300 fern species and the many sunflowers.