East & Central Islands

You will arrive at San Cristobal Island in the morning. After passing through immigration and baggage claim, you will be met by a Horizon staff member and transferred to the yacht. You will be shown to your cabin where you will have some time to settle in before lunch and a welcome briefing.

Breeding Center David Rodriguez - “La Galapaguera”, in Cerro Colorado, is a new visitor site in the southeast part of San Cristobal Island and can now be reached in roughly one hour by road from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. On the trees and shrubs surrounding the site, you may see land birds like warblers, finches, and mockingbirds. Giant tortoises can be observed on the trails. They live there wild but in a protected area to ensure their survival by sealing them off from introduced predators like pigs and goats.
Possible Activities: Hiking
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Giant tortoises, finches, warblers, mockingbirds

Pitt Point, situated on the north-eastern tip of the San Cristobal island, hosts frigate birds, storm petrels, and all three types of booby birds: the Nazca, blue-footed and red-footed boobies. A steep trail goes up a cliff and through a ravine leading visitors to an area with an abundance of birds.
Possible Activities: Dinghy ride, snorkeling, kayaking & hike (1.5 miles / 2.5 km)
Difficulty: Moderate/Difficult
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: Frigate birds, storm petrels, Nazca boobies, blue- and red-footed boobies

Located on the northern coast, this eroded hill and its surroundings present one of the most picturesque beaches in the Galapagos with its white powdery sand and the abundance of animals. Wildlife includes sea turtles, rays, and various types of booby birds. The clear water provides an excellent opportunity for enjoying swimming and snorkeling.
Possible Activities: Hike, dinghy ride, snorkeling & kayaking
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: Beautiful rock formations, sea lions, shore birds, finches and mockingbirds;
Snorkeling: nice tropical fish, anemones, sponges, coral

This striking rock formation is located a couple hours off the western shore of San Cristobal. Jutting out of the water, the rocks stand vertically at hundreds of feet above the ocean divided by a small channel. Although there are no landing areas, circumnavigation and dinghy rides allow visitors to spot a variety of marine life.
Possible Activities: Dinghy ride
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: No Landing
Highlights & Animals: Sharks, tropical fish, turtles, manta rays (occ.), hammerhead sharks, spectacular rock formations; sea birds: blue- footed boobies, Nazca boobies & frigate birds.

On the trail to Suarez Point you will have the chance to spot blue-footed boobies, albatrosses, and Nazca boobies. This island is the breeding site of nearly all of the world’s 12,000 pairs of waved albatrosses. You will also visit a beautiful site on the ocean front where there is a cliff that the large albatrosses use as a launching pad! You will have the chance to see the famous blowhole that spurts sea water into the air. The landscape is great for photography.
Possible Activities: Hike (1.9 miles / 3 km)
Difficulty: Difficult
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Hood mockingbirds, Nazca boobies, waved albatrosses (approximately from the last week of April until the last week of January), red-billed tropicbirds, lava lizards, Galapagos hawks, blowhole, amazing landscape and maybe blue-footed boobies.

This excursion takes you to the spectacular Gardner Bay. After landing, you can walk across a lovely white-sand beach amongst a busy sea lion colony or dive into the water to swim with sea lion pups. You may also see curious mockingbirds on the beach. 
Possible Activities: Snorkeling, panga ride, short hike (0.6 miles / 1km) and Kayaking
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: White sandy beach, sea lions, mockingbirds; snorkeling: colorful fish, sea lion nursery

Bachas Beach is located on the north shore of Santa Cruz and is a beach for swimming. One of the few remnants of the U.S. World  War II presence in the Galapagos, a floating pier, can be seen here. You may see flamingos, Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black-necked stilts, and whimbrels. Sea turtles also nest on the beach.
Possible Activities: Hiking
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: World War II remnants. Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black-necked stilts, whimbrels, sea turtles.

You will head to Bartholomew Island where the famous Pinnacle Rock is found. Bartholomew consists of an extinct volcano with a variety of red, orange, black and even green volcanic formations. You will take a trail of stairs to the summit of the volcano (about 30 or 40 minutes) where you will enjoy one of the best views of the islands! You will also visit a small, beautiful beach surrounded by the only vegetation found on this barren island. The beach is perfect for snorkeling where you may even see and swim with Galapagos penguins.
Possible Activities: Dinghy ride, snorkeling & hiking (1.2 miles/ 2 km)
Difficulty: Moderate/Difficult
Type of Landing: Dry & Wet Landings
Highlights & Animals: Pinnacle Rock, panoramic view, moonlike landscape, penguins, pioneer plants, lava cactus; snorkeling: penguins, reef sharks, rays, and great colorful fish.

Egas Port, also known as James Bay, on Santiago Island is home to the curious Galapagos hawks and quick-footed Galapagos lava lizards. The trail leads to the coastline with gorgeous tide pools and grottos full of fauna. Here the Galapagos furseals bathe in the sun. This is also a great snorkeling site.
Possible Activities: Snorkeling, hiking (1.2 miles/2 km)
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: Fur seals, Galapagos sea lions, tidal pools and grottos, Galapagos hawks, oyster catchers, marine iguanas, finches; snorkeling: reef sharks, turtles, rays, nice underwater formations.

You will visit Rabida Island (or Jervis) which is one of the most colorful and volcanically varied islands in the archipelago as well as a great snorkeling site. You will start on Rabida’s famous maroon/red sand beach, and after an easy hike, you will arrive to a stunning lookout to enjoy the amazing landscapes. The island is a birdwatcher’s delight. Some species are abundant such as a few varieties of finches, Galapagos vermilion flycatchers, Galapagos hawks, and brown pelicans.
Possible Activities: Snorkeling, panga ride & short hike (0.6 miles / 1km)
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: Snorkeling: white-cheeked pintail ducks, colorful fish, sea lions, brackish water lagoon, pelicans
 

Visit the white-sand coral beach of Darwin Bay which includes a half mile trail (0,75km) that winds through mangroves filled with land birds. Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, and swallow-tailed gulls, which can easily be spotted here. Further down the path you'll find tidal pools where sea lions swim playfully. At the end is a spectacular view of a cliff.
Possible Activities: Hiking (0.9 miles / 1.5 Km), snorkeling, kayaking, and dinghy ride
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Wet Landing
Highlights & Animals: Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, swallow-tail gulls, mangroves, coral pebble beach, snorkeling: rays, colorful reef fish, and hammerhead sharks occasionally

El Barranco, also known as Prince Phillip’s Steps, is a steep, rocky path that leads up a high cliff rock face. A marvelous view can be appreciated from here. This site is also home to Palo Santo vegetation as well as red-footed boobies, short-eared owls, Galapagos storm petrels, and Galapagos doves.
Possible Activities: Hiking (0.9 miles / 2 Km)
Difficulty: Moderate
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Red-footed boobies, short-eared owls, storm-petrels, Galapagos doves

Mosquera Islet is located between the islands of Baltra and North Seymour. This reef of rocks and coral (the result of an uprising) is only 160 meters across at its narrowest width. This island has one of the largest populations of sea lions and is home to many shorebirds. There have been occasional reports at this site of orcas feeding on sea lions.
Possible Activities: Dinghy ride, snorkeling
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: No Landing
Highlights & Animals: Orcas, sea lions, shore birds

Accessible by bus from Puerto Ayora, the highlands of Santa Cruz are a deep green which contrast beautifully with the dry, lower part of the islands. The predominant vegetation in the highlands are Scalesia trees which create a lush green forest. The lava tunnels, over half a mile long, are underground and walking through them is a unique, surreal experience. At this place you’ll have lunch.
Possible Activities: Hiking (1.5 miles / 2 ½ km)
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Lava tunnels, Finches, wild tortoises, tortoise nesting site.

You will visit “Fausto Llerena” Tortoise Breeding Center in Puerto Ayora, where giant tortoises are bred in captivity. This is home to tortoises ranging from 3-inches (new hatchlings) to 4-feet long adults. Subspecies of the giant tortoises interact with one another, and many of the older tortoises are accustomed to humans stretching out their heads for a photo opportunity. The babies are kept until they are about four years-old and strong enough to survive on their own.
Possible Activities: Walking
Difficulty: Easy
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Giant tortoises, finches, Galapagos rails

In North Seymour you may see Galapagos sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and magnificent frigate birds which are abundant on this island. North Seymour was formed by a series of submarine lava flows containing layers of sediment that were uplifted by tectonic activity. The island is characterized by its arid vegetation zone.
Possible Activities: Dinghy ride & hiking (1.5 miles / 2.41 km)
Difficulty: Moderate/Difficult
Type of Landing: Dry Landing
Highlights & Animals: Land & marine iguanas, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, sea lions; snorkeling: rays, reef sharks, fish, garden eels.

After this final visit, you will be transferred to the Baltra airport in time for your flight back to the mainland.