Tourist superior cruise aboard Archipel I

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San Cristóbal Island Airport, San Cristobal

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San Cristóbal Island, Interpretation Centre, Santa Fe

During you excursion at Santa Fe island, you will get surprised at how close to you some curious sea lions waddle. Likewise approachable for a close-up are Galapagos hawks that usually perch at their outlooks, ready to snatch away a baby marine iguana or lava lizard. We start next a cactus forest trail, that gives a close-up view on how these surrealistic, house-high giant opuntia prickly pears have grown out larger than on any other island and tell a fascinating evolutional story. At the calm, turquoise Barrington Bay, you can swim in close company with Galapagos sea lions, fluorescent blue chin parrot fishes, yellowtail surgeon fishes, whiptail stingrays, Pacific green turtles, whitetip reef sharks, and more.

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Seymour

North Seymour is a flat islet that is actually part of the seabed lifted to the surface by the clashing of tectonic plates. Upon disembarking there, you will ascend a trail that passes through the largest colonies of frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies. Then, at the Seymour Channel (one of the Galapagos' premier deep-sea dive sites), you can swim among plunge-diving blue-footed boobies, sea lions, colourful reef fish, green sea turtles, and even hammerhead sharks.

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Santa Cruz Island, Los Gemelos - Highlands, Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a huge island with different climates and ecosystems. You will disembark at its sunny coast and be driven to the rainy highlands. Your first stop there will be at Twin Craters, impressive lava formations that appeared during a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago, and are now covered by scalesia forest. The endemic woodpecker finch, considered a holy grail of evolution, can seldom be seen in these areas using tools to feed. Later you will visit a ranch visited by wild giant Galapagos tortoises. Since these magnificent reptiles do not stop their migrations at the official boundaries of the National Park, dozens of them enter the private properties on the island, taking mud baths, devouring fallen fruit and carrying birds on their shells.

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Isabela Island, Punta Moreno, Isabela

During the night we navigated to the northwest coast of Isabela, where two huge volcanoes are found, the Sierra Negra and the Cerro Azul. In between these two is located our visit point, Punta Moreno. There, we will follow a trail that runs along a solidified black lava flow until we reach a complex of tidal lagoons, where sharks and marine turtles are often seen. Several species of birds can also be visible, including flamingos, which are found around the lakes and mangroves.

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Fernandina Island, Punta Espinoza, Fernandina

After breakfast you will disembark to Fernandina, the Galapagos’ westernmost and youngest island (less than one million years old). It is so remote and pristine that has only 1 visitor site, Espinoza Point, where you will find some of the most bizarre animal species, products of natural selection. Among them is the flightless cormorant, a bird which had to adjust its way of survival after arriving at the Galapagos Islands and being isolated here for thousands of years. It had to learn how to find food in the ocean, so its wings slowly lost the ability to fly and now work as fins. You are witnessing evolution! The endemic marine iguanas can also be found conglomerated in the thousands, one over another to maintain their body heat, when they are not swimming near the shore or blocking the way.

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Santiago Island, Puerto Egas, Santiago

We will disembark to the Puerto Egas, where you will enjoy a very unique guided walk along its coastline, masterly sculptured with black basalts and polished multi-coloured ash-layers. All this scenery forms a photogenic location with collapsed lava tunnels, natural arches, caves and blowholes known as ‘Darwin’s toilet’. The site is called Puerto Egas because at the beginning of the previous century, there was an attempt by a man named Hector Egas to extract the salt of the lagoons. The enterprise failed but it left traces of the infrastructure amidst the island’s wilderness.

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Santa Cruz Island, Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz

You will disembark the cruise for the last time, to get en route to the airport. Right on our way, we will stop to explore Black Turtle Cove from the dinghy. This place is a living illustration of how mangroves alter the marine environment to create a rich and unique habitat. Three mangrove species crowd the area from the shore out into the lagoon, which reaches almost a mile inland. As we drift through quiet waters in the zodiac, you are likely to see spotted eagle rays, which swim in a diamond formation. White-tipped reef sharks slip beneath the boat and Pacific green turtles come to the surface for air.