Ecuador Galápagos Birding & Naturalist Cruise

Begin your journey with an arrival in Quito, where an airport meet-and-greet and transfer to the hotel are provided. You are met by the guide and transferred to a hotel in the Hotel José de Puembo area, with a customs-declaration address supplied by the source. This first day focuses on a smooth welcome and comfortable settling in, setting the tone for your time in Quito.

Day 2 is a hacienda buffer day before the cruise, based around a hotel in Quito in the Hotel José de Puembo area. On the hacienda trails you can experience hummingbird photography, then take in Chiche River Gorge lookouts and visit a pre-Inca underground tunnel. The day also includes preparations for the cruise ahead.

Begin with an early breakfast before the included flight from Quito to Baltra, Seymour Airport, where Galápagos Biosecurity Control, Transit Cards, park entrance and quarantine formalities take place, along with first ground-finch views. A water taxi then crosses to Santa Cruz and Puerto Ayora. In the Media Luna highlands, look for Miconia, tree ferns, Galapagos Martin, Galapagos Petrel colony, Galapagos Crake, and tree and warbler-finches. Lunch at El Chato is followed by Western Santa Cruz Giant Tortoises, a Puerto Ayora finch scan, and boarding the M/V Samba.

Day 4 aboard the M/V Samba centres on Floreana, beginning with a four-hour crossing and a wet landing on the olivine green-crystal beach. At Punta Cormorant lagoon, look for flamingos, pintails, whimbrels, herons and noddies, plus green turtles and rays on the far beach. A 25-minute dinghy snorkel at Champion Islet targets the rare Floreana Mockingbird and Medium Tree Finch. Post Office Bay’s letter system, kayak or zodiac islet-and-mangrove exploration, and Baroness Lookout, with Dark-billed Cuckoo and Galapagos Flycatcher, complete the day.

Spend Day 5 of the Galapagos tour on Española, the oldest island, with the M/V Samba and its naturalist guide. At Punta Suarez, follow the trail past Española Marine Iguanas, sea lions, Blue-footed and Nazca Boobies, Swallow-tailed Gulls, Red-billed Tropicbirds, the Waved Albatross rookery, Galapagos Shearwater, Elliot’s Storm Petrel, Española Mockingbird, Española Cactus Finch and Grey Warbler-Finch. Gardner Bay offers snorkel or kayak sessions with sea lions, mockingbirds, Galapagos Dove and Galapagos Hawk.

On day six in San Cristóbal, the M/V Samba positions you for a pre-breakfast circumnavigation of Kicker Rock, where frigatebirds, gulls, tropicbirds, boobies, Brown Noddy and storm petrels gather along the tuff walls, with optional snorkeling among Galapagos Sharks, turtles and eagle rays. Punta Pitt then offers kayaking and a large mixed seabird colony, plus Mangrove Yellow Warblers and the San Cristobal Mockingbird at the point closest to South America. The 78-foot M/V Samba, a locally owned Dutch classic, hosts 14 guests with a naturalist guide and crew.

Spend Day 7 exploring Santa Fe and South Plaza aboard the M/V Samba, a locally owned 78-foot Dutch classic carrying 14 guests with a naturalist guide and crew. At Santa Fe, Barrington Bay’s turquoise inlet and Opuntia cactus forest are home to sea lions, Santa Fe Land Iguanas, Galapagos Hawk and Lava Heron. South Plaza offers a dry landing among Sesuvium color fields, with land iguanas, Swallow-tailed Gulls and Red-billed Tropicbirds. Together these islands pair striking coastal scenery with close encounters with Galapagos wildlife.

Explore Santiago Island’s Chinese Hat, where a turquoise channel offers snorkeling alongside sharks, sea lions, Galapagos Penguins and rays. Continue to Bartolomé, whose north beach near Pinnacle Rock hosts a Galapagos Penguin breeding colony, sea lions and green turtles, with eagle rays and sharks visible from the shore. The day’s experiences are part of a Galapagos journey aboard the M/V Samba, a locally owned 78-foot Dutch classic accommodating 14 guests with a naturalist guide and crew.

Day 9 begins with a zodiac circumnavigation of Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela, where Cromwell Current-fed waters bring boobies, gulls, storm petrels, Brown Noddy, Flightless Cormorant and a Galápagos Fur Seal colony. The afternoon is spent on pelagic navigation toward North Seymour, targeting Galapagos Petrel and Waved Albatross. The journey takes place aboard the M/V Samba, a locally owned 78-foot Dutch classic accommodating 14 guests with a naturalist guide and crew.

Begin day 10 with a sunrise dry landing at North Seymour among the largest Blue-footed Booby colony in the Galápagos, with Swallow-tailed Gulls and tropicbirds on basaltic walls. After the final breakfast, farewell the Samba and transfer from Puerto Ayora to Galápagos Camp in the Santa Cruz Highlands, stopping for lunch at the highlands lodge. Spend two nights at the camp, a favorite of Western Santa Cruz Giant Tortoises, and enjoy an afternoon on the grounds.

Spend the morning exploring the Santa Cruz Highlands, where Miconia expanses and tree ferns frame the search for Galapagos Martin, Galapagos Petrel colonies, crakes and finches. In the afternoon, visit the Charles Darwin Station to learn about the archipelago’s climate, geography and evolution, then take a boardwalk or strand walk. The day is based at Galápagos Camp in the Santa Cruz Highlands, with two nights there.

Spend the morning birding around the highlands lodge before packing up and returning to Baltra Island. From Seymour, take the included domestic flight back to Quito. The day ends with the night at Hacienda Jimenita, wrapping up the Galápagos portion of the journey with a peaceful stay near the capital.

On the final day of the tour, the journey concludes with a transfer to Mariscal Sucre International Airport for flights home. The route begins with a transfer from Hacienda Jimenita to Quito, followed by the departure from Quito. This day is focused on a smooth and straightforward farewell, ensuring travellers reach the airport for their onward journeys after the experiences of the tour.