4 days cruise Yacht Monserrat – C

Morning – Arrival at San Cristóbal Airport: Your TCC (Transit Control Card), also known as the Ingala card (US$20 per person), will be issued digitally after you complete an online form. At the airport, this digital card will be checked, and your luggage will be inspected to ensure that no non-native plant or animal species are introduced. In addition, the Galápagos National Park entrance fee (US$200) must be paid upon arrival if it has not already been paid.

Your guide will welcome you at the airport, assist with your luggage, and transfer you to the yacht. After meeting the crew and captain, you will be shown to your cabin and enjoy your first lunch on board.

Afternoon – Lobos Islet: Lobos is a small island located about one hour from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. It is home to a small colony of blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds nesting in the area. Along the beach, you will encounter numerous sea lions, and various shorebirds can also be observed.

Morning – Gardner Bay: Located on the northeastern coast of Española Island, Gardner Bay offers the perfect setting to relax in turquoise waters and admire colorful reef fish. Snorkel alongside green sea turtles or enjoy close encounters with playful Galápagos sea lions.

The white sand beach is also an important nesting site for green sea turtles, and during certain seasons, whales may occasionally be spotted offshore.

Afternoon – Suarez Point: This rocky site is home to some of the most impressive and diverse seabird colonies in the Galápagos. The endangered waved albatross returns to Española Island each year between March and December, allowing visitors to observe their spectacular courtship dances, especially in October.

Blue-footed and Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, and red-billed tropicbirds also inhabit the island. Along the southern coastline, dramatic cliffs provide breathtaking views of soaring seabirds and powerful ocean blowholes spraying seawater high into the air.

Morning – Cormorant Point: Cormorant Point forms the northern cape of Floreana Island and is surrounded by several small volcanic cones covered with palo santo dry forest vegetation. At the landing beach, you will be welcomed by a small colony of Galápagos sea lions.

The green-colored beach contains large amounts of olivine crystals ejected from surrounding tuff cones, while the opposite “flour sand” beach is made of extremely fine white coral sand produced by parrotfish feeding on coral skeletons. Stingrays are often seen resting beneath the sandy seabed, and during the first months of the year, green sea turtles come ashore here to nest.

Afternoon – Post Office Bay: In the afternoon, you will sail to historic Post Office Bay. Visitors can continue the centuries-old tradition of leaving postcards and letters inside the famous wooden barrel originally placed here by whalers in the 18th century.

Besides sea lions, sea turtles, and golden cow-nosed rays, this is also the only location in the southeastern Galápagos where Galápagos penguins can be found. You may explore the coastline by dinghy or kayak around a submerged volcanic crater near Baroness Lookout.

After climbing the small basalt cone, you will enjoy panoramic views over the coastline. This viewpoint was once the favorite place of Eloisa von Wagner Bosquet, the eccentric “Baroness of Galápagos,” whose mysterious disappearance became part of one of the islands’ most famous legends.

Morning – Charles Darwin Research Station: After breakfast, dinghies will take you to the main dock of Puerto Ayora, from where you will continue to the Charles Darwin Research Station. This internationally renowned center is dedicated to scientific research and the conservation of the Galápagos ecosystem.

The complex includes the National Park and Marine Reserve interpretation and information center. One of the highlights of the visit is the successful giant tortoise breeding program and the opportunity to observe Galápagos giant tortoises up close.

After the excursion, you will be transferred to Baltra Airport for your flight back to mainland Ecuador.