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In addition to five species of nesting
seabirds there are the curious and bold Hood Island
mockingbirds, Galapagos doves and Galapagos hawks.
Several types of reptiles, including the brilliantly
colored marine iguana and the oversized lava lizard,
are unique to this island.
Monday Afternoon: Hood (Española)
Island—Gardner Bay. Gardner Bay is on the eastern
shore and has a magnificent beach. This beach is frequented
by a transient colony of sea lions, and is a major
nesting site for marine turtles. Around the small
islets nearby, snorkelers will find lots of fish and
sometimes turtles and sharks. On a trail leading to
the western tip of the island you'll pass the only
nesting sites in the Galapagos of the waved albatross,
huge birds with a 6-foot wingspan. These huge birds
nest here from April to December and represent the
majority of the world’s population of this species.
Day 3. Tuesday Morning:
Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island—Puerto Ayora
Town. Santa Cruz is the only inhabited island to be
visited during this Galapagos cruise. Puerto Ayora,
with a population of about 10,000 people is the location
of the Charles Darwin Research Station, world famous
for its tortoise breeding programs. After touring
the Station, journey by bus into the highlands to
Los Gemelos the two deep pit craters situated in the
Scalesia forest with lots of interesting bird life.
Tuesday Afternoon: Santa Cruz (Indefatigable)
Island—Highlands. The lush greenery of the Santa
Cruz Highlands is a definite contrast with the arid
scenery of the smaller, lower islands. A point of
interest is the famed lava tunnels, a fun and geologically
informative visit.
Day 4. Wednesday
Morning: Tower (Genovesa) Island. A second trail called
Prince Philip Steps, leads to an open area for masked
boobies, frigates, and red-footed boobies. At the
end of this trail are thousands of band-rumped storm
petrels at the cliff's edge, where they nest in crevices.
Wednesday Afternoon: Tower (Genovesa)
Island—Darwin Bay Beach. Tower is a collapsed
volcano and ships sail directly into its large breached
caldera to anchor at the foot of the steep crater
walls. A trail leads from a coral beach past tidal
lagoons where lava gulls and yellow-crowned night
herons are seen, then along the low shrubs populated
by frigates and boobies, and eventually to a cliff
edge where seabirds soar.
Day 5. Thursday
Morning: Fernandina (Narborough) Island. It is the
youngest and most active volcano in the Galapagos
with eruptions taking place every few years. The flat
lava of Punta Espinosa offers a stark and barren landscape,
but here flightless cormorants build their nests on
the point, sea lions sprawl on the beach or play in
the tide pools and marine iguanas dot the sand.
Thursday Afternoon: Isabela (Albemarle)
Island - Tagus Cove. A favorite site of the early
pirates and whalers, Tagus Cove has a continuing historical
tradition (now discouraged), evident as one reads
the names of hundreds of ships which were first carved
and now are painted on the high cliffs that enclose
the protected cove.
Day 6. Friday Morning:
Santiago (San Salvador, James) Island. This island
has several sites to visit at the western end of James
Bay. Puerto Egas with its black sand beaches was the
site of small salt mining industry in the 1960s and
a hike inland to the salt crater is an excellent opportunity
to sight land birds such as finches, doves, and hawks.
A walk down the rugged shoreline, especially at low
tide, will turn up many marine species as iguanas
basking on the rocks and sea lions lazing in the tide
pools. Just north of James Bay is Buccaneer Cove,
a particularly scenic area of steep cliffs and dark
beaches.
Friday Afternoon: Bartolome (Bartholomew)
Island. Bartolome is a small island that has beautiful
white sand beaches, luxuriant green mangroves and
a colony of penguins. Activities will include swimming
and snorkeling and a climb to the summit of the island
for one of the most breathtaking views in all the
Galapagos. From the summit you will have the best
view of the often-photographed Pinnacle Rock.
Day 7. Saturday
Morning: North Seymour (Seymour Norte) Island. North
Seymour is an uplifted (as opposed to volcanic) island
and so is generally flat and strewn with boulders.
There are good nesting sites here for a large population
of magnificent frigate birds. Blue-footed boobies
perform their courtship dance in the more open areas
and swallow-tailed gulls perch on the cliff edges.
Despite the tremendous surf that can pound the outer
shore, sea lions haul out onto the beach and can be
found together with marine iguanas.
Saturday Afternoon: Santa Cruz (Indefatigable)
Island—Black Turtle Cove
The panga will take you into a tidal
lagoon to see three kinds of mangrove plants, red,
white and black. White-tipped sharks, spotted rays,
mustard rays and Pacific marine turtles frequent the
waters here.
Day 8. Sunday: San
Cristobal Island. Kicker Rock is a magnificent rock
in the middle of the sea. Rising 500 feet strait from
the ocean, this giant uplifted rock has the shape
of a sleeping lion. It has a split with towering vertical
walls on either side, forming a narrow channel through
which small vessels can navigate.
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