Upon arrival in the Galapagos Islands, our specialized guide will pick you up at Baltra Airport and assist you in the transfer to Santa Cruz Island. Once on Santa Cruz Island, you will be taken on your first visit. You will visit the upper part of the island, on the way we will observe the change from dry vegetation in the lower part to a tropical rainforest in the upper part. The characteristic trees in the upper part are the Escalecías and the Palo Santos. Here you will visit a farm, where you will have the opportunity to observe the famous giant tortoises in their natural environment. After the tour you will enjoy a typical lunch. You will continue the tour to an impressive tunnel of almost 300 meters long, formed by lava flows (the outer part of the lava cooled faster than the inner part and therefore this tunnel was formed). In the afternoon you will take a short walk through the Charles Darwin Station: scientists from all over the world meet here for environmental protection projects (such as water analysis, animal welfare, influences of tourism). Here you can visit the turtle hatchery, where the animals are bred before being released back into the wild. Land iguanas can also be seen here. Afternoon arrival at the hotel.
In the morning you will travel (approx. 2.5 hours) from Santa Cruz in one of the public boats to Isabela Island. In the afternoon, take the boat across the harbor bay and visit the small Tintorerasisland where you can also snorkel. You can usually see pelicans, penguins, blue-footed boobies, sea lizards and white-tip sharks at Tintoreras. You will also see iguanas and sea lions. A short hike will take you through a strange volcanic landscape that has been formed mainly by AA lava, in contrast to most of the other islands, which were formed by lava.
An adventurous hike leads from Puerto Villamil to the Sierra Negra volcano (1,490 m) with a van or minibus, first about 20 km to Santo Tomás and then following a small trail of 9 km to the crater rim of the volcano. From the rim of the crater there is an impressive view of the caldera of approximately 10x9 km. From here, the trail leads in a semicircle around the caldera to some parasitic cones from which the vapors of the active volcano Chico rise. Darwin's finches, short-eared owls, flycatchers and Galapagos hawks can often be seen. Afternoon at leisure. Overnight at the hotel.
In the morning a small fishing boat takes you to the underwater tunnels of Cabo Rosa, located on the south coast of Isabela. It is a beautiful place to dive (snorkel) and see large lava formations above and below the water. Here you can also see penguins, sea turtles and sharks. In the afternoon you will take a public boat to return to Santa Cruz Island, Puerto Ayora.
After breakfast you will head to Baltra airport to take your flight back to mainland Ecuador.