We only book you onto the best 8 days cruises on deluxe, first class and tourist class yachts or motor boats.

There are thirteen large islands, defined as being over 10 square kilometers in area, and over forty small islands, islets and rocks (many of them unnamed) that make up the Galápagos Archipelago. Here, you can snorkel with penguins and sea lions, watch giant 200kg tortoises lumbering through cactus forest and enjoy the courtship display of the blue-footed booby and frigate bird, all in startling close-up.

Baltra Island

Baltra is now a main airport on the islands, but not so long ago it was a US Airforce base. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, however, it was clear that the Panama Canal needed the protection, and the Ecuadorian Government gave the US permission to use Baltra as an air base. After World War II, the Americans returned the base, and the runway there remains one of the island’s main points of access. This island is most affected by human habitation. But in the north of the island there is a sandy bank, home to a large colony of sea lions.

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Bartolomé Island

Bartolomé is a small island that has beautiful white sandy beaches, luxuriant green mangroves and colonies of penguins. It is probably the most easily recognized, the most visited and most photographed of all the islands in the Galápagos. It holds the best-known landmark, the teetering dagger of Pinnacle Rock. The trail leads steeply up to the summit, taking 30-40 minutes, from where there are panoramic views. Activities can also include swimming and snorkeling.

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Daphne Major Island

West of Baltra, Daphne island has very rich birdlife, in particular the nesting boobies. Because of the possible problems of erosion, only small boats may land here and are limited to one visit each month.

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Española Island

Española is small and flat, with no visible volcanic crater or vent. Gardner Bay, which is in the northeast, is a white sand beach with excellent swimming and snorkeling opportunities. This beach is frequented by a visiting colony of sea lions, and is a major nesting site for marine turtles. Around the small islets nearby, snorkeling aficionados will find lots of fish and with luck, 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.

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Fernandina Island

Fernandina 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. You can also see here where 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.

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Floreana Island

This is the longest inhabited of the islands and the site of the mysterious “Galápagos affair” in the 1930s, which made the Galápagos even better known than Darwin had once done years earlier. Another famous place in the island is Devil’s Crown, a dramatic snorkeling site to the north of Punta Cormorant-an almost completely submerged volcano. Erosion has transformed the cone into a series of jagged peaks with the resulting look of a crown. There is usually a wide selection of fish, sharks and turtles easily visible in about 6m of water.

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Genovesa Island

This island is an outpost for many sea birds. Here you will see the “Tower” which is a collapsed volcano and ships sail directly into its large breached caldera to anchor at the foot of the steep crater walls. The Tower attracts vast numbers of pelagic seabirds that come here to nest and breed: giant frigate birds, red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and storm petrels. 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. Another famous site to visit is Prince Philip’s Steps, leading to an open area for masked boobies, frigates, and red-footed boobies. At the end of this trail are thousands of band-rumpled storm petrels at the cliff edge, where they nest in crevices. Short-eared owls can sometimes be seen here, hunting the storm petrels during daylight hours.

 

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Isabela Island

The largest of the Galápagos islands, Isabela is not so well-developed for tourism, but it fits most people’s image of a South Pacific island: coconut palms, azure ocean, white sand beaches, mangroves, rocky inlets and a wonderful laid-back feeling! It is just the place to pursue serious relaxation while the more energetic can take an excursion. Tours can be arranged to visit Sierra Negra Volcano, which has the largest basaltic caldera in the world. Five of the six volcanoes on Isabela are active and each have (or had) their own separate sub-species of giant tortoise. You can also take a tour to Tagus Cove. Located to the west coast across the channel from Fernandina island, it is an anchorage that has been used by visiting ships going back to the 1800s, and the ships´ names can still be seen painted on the cliffs. A trail leads inland from Tagus Cove past Laguna Darwin, a large lagoon saltwater, and then further uphill to a ridge with superb views. Urbina Bay is an easy wet landing on a gentle sloping beach. This area is very interesting in that it is a perfect example of the geological activity of the islands. In 1954 over 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the marine reef at the edge of the shore were uplifted by 13 feet (4 meters)

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Plaza Sur Island

This island is an example of geological uplift and the southern part of the island has cliffs with spectacular views. It has a combination of both dry and coastal vegetation zones. Walking along the sea cliffs is a exhilarating experience as swallowtail gulls, shearwaters and red billed tropic birds nest here. There are also lots of blue-footed boobies and a large population of land iguanas on the island.

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Rábida Island

This is a small island that has a salt water lagoon, occasionally home to flamingos. There is an area of mangroves near the lagoon where brown pelicans nest. This island is said to have the most diversified volcanic rocks of all the islands. You can snorkel and swim from the beach.

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San Cristóbal Island

This is the oldest island with the principal town Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, named so after Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno, the first Ecuadorian President to visit the islands. It is also the capital of the province of Galápagos. Despite being the capital, the town is pretty sleepy, but Puerto Baquerizo Moreno has become the focus of the Galápagos´ growing reputation among South Americans as a surfing hotspot, and the waves are best at the beginning of the warm-wet season, when the water is warm enough not to need a wet suit.

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Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz is the main inhabited island. Puerto Ayora, the largest town of the Galápagos and main tourist center on the island, has a population of more than 10,000. It offers a wide range of restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops and all kinds of activities, such as bicycle rental, visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station, hiking, beaches, snorkeling and flora and fauna watching. A journey by bus into the highlands to Los Gemelos can also be organized: two deep craters situated in the Scalesia forest with a wealth of interesting bird life. Walk through the giant lava tubes and visit the Tortoise Reserve to see giant tortoises in their natural surroundings.

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Santa Fé Island

Santa Fé has a stunning cove with brilliant-blue water and white sand that is protected by a partly submerged peninsula. The bay is good for swimming – though give the bull sea lions here a wide berth – and snorkeling may yield up spotted eagle and stingrays, white-tipped reef sharks and a number of colorful reef fish. There are two trails. The first is short and easy, circling through the forest of giant Opuntia cacti, many reaching 10m in height with trunks 4m in circumference. The second is more strenuous, heading up a steep hill which affords spectacular views of the island. You might be lucky enough to see one of the three surviving endemic species of rice rat rustling in the scrub, they often appear in the daytime. This is a good island to spot other endemic species, including the Galápagos hawk, Galápagos dove and Galápagos snake.

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Santiago Island

This island also known as James, has several sites to visit at the western end of James Bay. Puerto Egas, with its black sand beaches, was the site of a 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 such as iguanas basking on the rocks and sea lions lazing in the tide pools. At the end of the trail there is a series of grottoes or sea caves where fur seals and night herons are found resting on shady ledges. Just north of James Bay is Buccaneer Cove, that was a haven for the pirates during the 1600s and 1700s, and now has a particularly scenic area of steep cliffs and dark beaches.

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Seymour Norte Island

Being only two square kilometers in size and created by geological uplift, this island makes frequent appearances on the tour-boat itineraries. Along the shore you’ll find barking sea lions and marine iguanas: take care where you put your feet as they nest here. This is also one of the best places to see frigate birds.

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Sombrero Chino Island

This is just off the southeastern tip of Santiago, and its name “Chinese hat” refers to its shape. It is most noted for its volcanic landscape including sharp outcrops, cracked lava formations, lava tubes and volcanic debris. This site is only available to yachts of fewer than 12 passengers.

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