Welcome to Quito! The largest, best-preserved colonial city in America -was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. The city is considered the Cultural Capital of South America and is located on the equator in a valley at the foothills of the Pichincha volcano. Depending on your arrival time, you can spend your day exploring the old town of Quito and the surrounding area. ADVENTURE JOURNEYS can help you to organize a day trip (please request in advance). In the evening, one of our trip leaders will meet you at the hotel’s lobby for a welcome briefing at 18:00 hours. At this time, we will discuss the details and questions you may have regarding the adventure. Our first day is an acclimation and information day.

Today we get ready to explore the most amazing archipelago on the Pacific
coast and the place where Charles Darwin based his theory of the evolution of species. We will board a morning flight from Quito to the island of San Cristóbal. Once arrived, we have a transfer to the hotel in the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and a short briefing about the next days before the adventure begins. In the afternoon we will head to “La Loberia”, which is a home beach for large Galapagos sea lions. We will hike for approximately 1 hour, the ground in this hike is flooded along the shoreline at high tide, it is a fairly leisurely walking activity that takes you through a lot of lava rocks and some mangroves. During this excursion, we will have the possibility to spot the red-billed tropicbird, blue-footed bobbies, and Nazca bobbies. We also get to see yellow warbler birds, frigate birds, and several species of Darwin’s finches along the beach. In between the rocks, we can find marine iguanas, which you can only see in Galapagos. After that, we will enjoy a shallow-water snorkeling activity to spot sea lions and sea turtles. Sea lions are very curious and approach to swim next to you underwater. They may also be lazing over rocks or just lazy dozing in the sand. We also have the time to go for a refreshing swim, explore the waters with our snorkel equipment and enjoy the beach.

Accommodation: Blue Marlin or Similar

The Espanola island (or Hood, in honor of the British admiral Samuel Hood) is, at 60 km ², one of the smaller that form the Ecuadorian archipelago of the Galapagos islands. It is the oldest of all, with about 300 million years of existence. Uninhabited, there live several animal species of interest, such as the endemic mockingbird of Hispaniola, the Galapagos dove, the Galapagos Gull, the marine iguana, the albatross, and pinnipeds.

Two places are especially popular with visitors: Gardner Bay, which has a beach renowned for its beauty, and Punta Suarez, of interest for its variety of birds.

Gardner Islet is the most beautiful in all of the Galapagos. It is home to many colonies of sea lions and turquoise water makes a beautiful contrast with white sand consisting of shell dust. On the rocks are mixed large marine iguanas and zayapas.

Cucuves fight for their territory and inspect the backpacks of tourists. About 50m from the shore is a rock where you can find tropical fish and rays while doing surface diving. But more spectacular is Gardner Rock which can be reached with a panga. This is home to white-fin reef sharks and other colorful sea dwellers very popular among divers.

Punta Suarez is located on the west end of the island. The tourist trail is about 2km long and goes from one end of the island to the other while revealing the spectacular life of the birds. There are many blue-footed boobies nesting, you should be careful not to step on one of their nests (depending on the season). You can observe red marine iguanas that are spread in the sun or the buzzards on the top of the trees. They hunt juvenile blue-footed boobies. Following the path you can find masked boobies that are nesting almost all year round on the cliffs.

The culmination of the tour is undoubtedly the colony of Galapagos albatrosses, which are endemic to this island, finding them nowhere else on the islands or in the world. In the middle of March and the end of December, there are around 12,000 of these fascinating birds with wings of about 2.40 m. On the cliffs, they seem to be really uncomfortable but when they fly they are the kings of the sky.

A very short distance from the colony of albatross is the Hollow Blower. This is a water source up to 20m (50-75 feet) high that has been created by the waves. All the energy is pressed through a small hole between the cliff. The phenomenon resembles a geyser.

In the morning, hop to Isabela Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and where most of the volcanic activity in the Galapagos is reported. The island was formed by six shield volcanoes, Alcedo, Cerra Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negra, and Wolf; five of them are still active which makes the island one of the most volcanically active places on earth, once we arrive enjoy an incredible hike to The Arnaldo Tupiza breeding center, located 1.2 km from Puerto Villamil. The trail passes through mangrove ecosystems, wetlands, lava fields, carob forests, and Manzanillo. The center will cover the different pens where turtles observed populations: Casserole, Five Hills, Roca Union, San Pedro, Five Hills, Caleta Iguana, Tables, and Cerro Paloma and belong to the species present in the volcanoes Cerro Azul and Sierra Negra.

In the afternoon, we will visit Tintoreras Islet, located a short distance from Puerto Villamil and home to a great variety of wildlife. Its turquoise, crystalline waters are inhabited by white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos Penguins, marine turtles, and sea lions. One of its beaches, surrounded by mangroves, is one of the few sites where marine iguanas can reproduce successfully.

The checkpoint to visit Santa Fe is the northwest of the island. It is a beautiful turquoise bay with two white sand beaches populated by sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) sunbathing. The landing is made at any of the beaches and the trail begins behind the vegetation, such as saltbush, Galapagos thornbush, leatherleaf trees, palos santos. The path is rocky, but it is not a quick or difficult hike, it takes about an hour and a half to look at the different such as Santa Fe lava lizards, Darwin finches, Galapagos doves, Galapagos snakes, rodents, and perhaps the Galapagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) looking for potential prey. The star on Santa Fe is the pale land iguana (Conolophus pallidus), endemic to the island, this means that it is the only place where you can find it. Santa Fe Island also has a type of cactus found only there (the cactus Opuntia echios var Barringtonensis) larger and thicker than any other in Galapagos,
reaching a height of twenty-five feet and a circumference of about five feet. The trail ends at the second beach.

This is a flat, rocky island, that requires comfortable shoes for hiking, the trail is only 2 miles, but do not forget a bottle of water and sun protection because the visit is about an hour and a half.

North Seymour is a small island located at the north of Baltra (also known as South Seymour, by the location of the airport) the land is quite barren and rocky and the vegetation consists mostly of cactus, palo santo trees, green sticks, muyuyos, and sesuviums. The island is one of the most beautiful attractions in the Galapagos, and we can find the most iconic animals on the islands. It is one of the few places where we can enter and visit the colony of frigate birds (Fregata minor), nesting in the bushes near the trails. The male frigate birds in their mating season, inflate their red gullar sack to attract females. Later, we find the famous blue-footed boobies (Sula nebouxii), which also nest on the island. They can be seen performing courtship, which is one of the most amazing spectacles of nature. They are seen incubating eggs, feeding their chicks, or juveniles training to become strong and able to fly and fish on their own.

We can also find land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) around the cactus patrolling their territories, Darwin finches, Galapagos doves, lava herons, sally light foot crabs (Grapsus grapsus), and playful sea lion pups on the banks.

After our final breakfast on the Galapagos Island and the last photos taken of sea lions, we have a transfer to Baltra’s airport in time to catch the flight back to the mainland.

Today we will start this adventure at 6:30 am departing from Quito, our first stop will be the Antisana, which is located at 5758 meters (18891 ft) over sea level, in here our adventure will start by hiking in this volcano while trying to spot an Andean Condor in their natural territory, after this we will drive to the cloud forest.

After arrival, we will start our hike to this cloud forest, where we will be able to see many birds in their natural habitat, you will see hummingbirds, cock of the rock, and many other species.

Then we will head back to the lodge to have lunch and do a second hike to look for more animals, especially one of the newer species discover, the olinguito which is part of the raccoon family.

For those who are birdwatching fans, this is the perfect location to see some unique birds, that is why this day starts really early in the morning when the birds are more active.

Also, you will be able to see a Kinkaju which is a carnivorous animal, you will see them walking and feeding around the cloud forest, and also you cannot miss the opportunity to see a Tayra, which is a very unique mammal.

These two first days of this adventure are full of different animals that are pretty special and cannot be found in many places.

Today we will have the opportunity to watch one of the emblematic births of Ecuador, the Andean Condor, you will find this magnificent bird close to the Hacienda where they have a project to protect the specie, this is a black big bird and it is the official Ecuador and if we are lucky we can see them flying around the forest and even standing on a three.

This is a predaceous bird and it characterizes because it has a partner for all its life, it is very active during the day which increases the possibility of watching them and it is an easy task because of their size they can be spotted from a long distance.

Today our trip will end and you will have your International departures. Take with you your memories and photos and leave a piece of your heart, as you will want to return to Ecuador soon to experience more of this enchanted land. We wish you a “buen viaje”!

Accommodation: None