TIP TOP II ITINERARY

15 Day Galapagos Cruise (Friday - Friday)

*Please note the itinerary may vary due to changes in air schedules, weather, national park regulations, local conditions, safety or unforeseen emergencies.

DAY 1 - Friday / Galapagos Arrival, Bachas Beach

We begin our morning with a flight to the Galapagos Islands.  Our crew meets us at the airport and assists us with our luggage and transfers with us to the Tip Top II. Once on board we have lunch and set sail for Las Bachas Beach.

Located west of Caleta Tortuga Negra on Santa Cruz, Bachas Beach is a favorite nesting site for sea turtles. The lagoon behind the beach offers the opportunity to view coastal birds like pink flamingos, black-necked stilts and whimbrels.  Bachas also is home to hundreds of blue-footed boobies who can be seen hunting in the waters just off the coast.

DAY 2 - Saturday / Rabida & Bartolome

Located just off Sullivan Bay east of Santiago, Bartolome, a desolate island with few plants is the most visited and most photographed island in the Galapagos. Bartolome's Pinnacle Rock has become one of the best recognized and most photographed sights in the islands and was the back drop for the motion picture Master and Commander.

Located south of Santiago, Rabida is one of the most volcanically varied islands in the chain. Geologically consisting of eroded hills and lava emitted from spatter cones that have resulted in island's striking colors. A visit begins with a wet landing on the deep maroon colored northern beach.

Marine iguanas and sea lions are often seen resting in the shade of the caves nearby. Behind the beach is the salt brush home where the brown pelicans make their nests. On the cliffs above the pelicans, blue-footed boobies and masked boobies can be seen. Following the path visitors arrive at a small saltwater lagoon where pink flamingos, Bahama pintail ducks and common stilts are frequently seen feeding.

DAY 3 - Sunday / Darwin Bay & Prince Philips Steps, Genovesa (Tower)

Tower is a collapsed volcano and the yacht sails directly into its large caldera to anchor at the foot of the steep crater walls. Tower attracts an enormous number of pelagic seabirds that come there to nest. Great frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls and storm petrels all breed here by the thousands.

DAY 4 - Monday / Leon Dormido, Punta Pitt & Isla Lobos, San Cristobal

Punta Pitt is probably the least visited site in all of Galapagos.  Located on the far side of San Cristobal this is one of the few places you are able to see red footed boobies.

Located just up the coast to a small islet known as Isla Lobos for the many sea lions who live here.  The tranquil waters make it the perfect spot to snorkel with these fun loving animals.

DAY 5 - Tuesday / Plazas & Santa Fe

Located off the east coast of Santa Cruz, South Plaza is a small island with an interesting collection of species. Home to a noisy colony of sea lions, South Plaza is known for its lazy land iguanas who can be seen waiting under the prickly pear cactus for some of the delicious fruit to drop. Swallow-tailed gulls can be seen nesting along the cliffs. While yellow-tailed mullets, Audubon shearwaters, frigatebirds and brown pelicans can all be seen flying past.

Visits to Santa Fe begin with a panga ride across the lovely turquoise lagoon. Once ashore you are brought into contact with of of the many sea lion colonies in the Galapagos. Bulls vie for the right of beach master while cows laze in the sun. The loop trail around the islands leads past the salt bushes where Galapagos hawks can easily be approached. Continuing along the cliffs leads you to a forest of the largest prickly pear cactus in Galapagos.  Santa Fe is home to an endemic land iguana. These iguanas are the largest in the islands and they are beige to chocolate brown in color and resemble small dinosaurs.

DAY 6 - Wednesday / Punta Suarez & Gardner Bay, Española

Española's two visitor sites offer an exceptional island visit. Gardner Bay is a favorite destination for swimming and snorkeling as well as offering a great beach. Punta Suarez is one of the highlights of the Galapagos Islands. The variety and quantity of wildlife assures a memorable visit. Visitors find migrant, resident, and endemic wildlife including brightly colored marine iguanas, Española lava lizards, Hood mockingbirds, swallow tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies, masked boobies, Galapagos hawks, a selection of finch, and the waved albatross.

DAY 7 - Thursday / Punta Cormorant, Devil's Crown & Post Office Bay, Floreana

Floreana is best known for its colorful history of buccaneers, whalers, convicts, and colonists. In 1793 British whalers established the Post Office Barrel to send letters to and from England. This tradition has continued over the years, and even today visitors may drop off and pick up letters, without stamps, to be carried to far destinations. Punta Cormorant offers two highly contrasting beaches. The landing beach is of volcanic origin and is composed of olivine crystals, giving it a greenish tinge. At the end of the short trail is a carbonate beach of extremely fine white sand. Formed by the erosion of coral skeletons, it is a nesting site for green sea turtles.

DAY 8 - Friday / Darwin Station & Highlands, Santa Cruz

Located near the center of the archipelago, Santa Cruz is the center of tourism in the Galapagos. A ten minute walk from the center of town, the Charles Darwin Research Station is the working Galapagos based branch of the international, non-profit Charles Darwin Foundation, a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station is included in all cruises of the islands. Visitors learn about natural history, issues concerning the islands, and see the Tortoise breeding and rearing project at work.

A trip to the highlands offers an excellent opportunities for viewing wild tortoises. As you walk through the forest, listen carefully for the sound of heavy foot steps and the sound of shrubs being slowly crushed as the tortoises make their way through the brush to enjoy a meal. The Highlands also offers plenty of lava tubes, sinkholes and craters to explore. Theses eerie formations offer a fascinating hike into the belly of the island to view its volcanic make-up.

DAY 9 - Saturday / Puerto Villamil, Sierra Negra & Interpretation Center, Isabela

Isabela Island, the largest and one of the youngest in the Galapagos. Arriving in Puerto Villamil, we head up into the highlands where horses await us for the trip to Sierra Negra Volcano. At 6 miles by 5 miles Sierra Negra's Caldera is the second largest in the world. From the summit you have excellent views of Isabela, the other islands, and the geological forces that formed the Galapagos.

Returning to the coast we visit the small islets just outside Puerto Villamil.  Here we have the opportunity to view heron, Galapagos Penguin, masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, pelicans, sea lions, piles of marine iguanas and the sleeping white-tipped reef sharks that give this area its name.

DAY 10 - Sunday / Punta Moreno & Elizabeth Bay, Isabela

A visit to Punta Moreno begins on the rocky shoreline surrounded by black and red mangrove lagoons. Here we are treated to excellent views of some of Isabela's volcanoes including Alcedo, Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul.  The area has an abundant bird population including Darwin finch, Galapagos doves, mockingbirds, penguins, flightless cormorants, brown pelicans and blue- footed boobies.

A marine visitor site, a visit to Elizabeth Bay is a panga ride around the Marielas islets home to the largest colony of penguin in the Galapagos. The nearby mangrove lined cove is home to sea turtles, flightless cormorants, spotted eagle rays, golden rays, brown pelicans and sea lions.

DAY 11 - Monday / Urbina Bay & Tagus Cove

Lying at the foot of Alcedo Volcano, south of Tagus Cove, is Urvina Bay (Urbina Bay) one of the best and the most recent example of Geological Uplift in the Galapagos. Seasonally Urvina Bay provides a nesting area for many of the Galapagos creatures. Female tortoises journey down from Alcedo to lay their eggs in the sand. Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants and brown pelicans nest in the area as well.

Lying directly east of Fernandina on the west coast approximately 2/3's of the way up Isabela is the narrow channel of Tagus Cove. Arriving here the boat will sail through the Bolivar Channel, these are the coldest most productive waters in the Galapagos, the upwelling of the Cromwell Current, where dolphins and whales are frequently seen. The coves quiet waters make for an ideal panga ride beneath its sheltered cliffs, where blue-footed boobies, brown noddies, pelicans and noddy terns make their nests, and flightless cormorants and penguins inhabit the lava ledges.

DAY 12 - Tuesday / Punta Espinoza, Fernandina & Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela

The youngest of the Galapagos Islands, Fernandina is approximately 700,000 years old. It's location to the west and on the far side of Isabela makes it one of the least visited islands. Fernandina is home to the largest colony of marine iguanas. Flightless cormorants nest in along this rocky area near the high water line, and recently Galapagos penguins have been spotted nesting in the area.

Located on the mouth of the seahorse that forms Isabela, Punta Vicente Roca is the remains of an ancient volcano. A panga ride along the two turquoise coves and bay provides an excellent opportunity to view masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, and flightless cormorants.

DAY 13 - Wednesday / Puerto Egas & Chinese Hat

Puerto Egas is home to some of the Galapagos Island's best tide pools. Sponges, snails, hermit crabs, barnacles and fish including the endemic four-eyed blenny can be seen. The walk also presents visitors with a variety of shore birds, marine iguanas, sally light foot crabs, sea lions and fur seals.

Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) is a small island off the coast of Santiago, here on the rocky shoreline Galapagos penguins, eagle rays, sea lions and marine iguanas are frequently seen. The small cove offers and excellent snorkeling site.

DAY 14 - Thursday / Sullivan Bay & Cerro Dragon

In the early 1900's the volcano on Santiago erupted, lava flowed eastward towards Bartolome. The extreme heat created by the flow would cause obstacles like trees to evaporate, leaving behind only an imprint of the life which once existed. The Sullivan Bay lava field is a variety of interesting patterns. The shapes and textures of trees, which once existed there and Hornitos caused when pockets of gas or water trapped under the lava exploded.

At Cerro Dragon you can observe flamingoes in the “Humedal” lagoon, migratory birds, Darwin finches, mocking birds and lava lizards. The arid vegetation consists mostly of prickly pear cactus, rosewood or Palo Santo. The beach zone there are lots of native plants and animals such as marine iguanas, sea lions, oystercatchers, pelicans and small colonies of blue footed boobies.

DAY 15 - Friday Morning / North Seymour & Galapagos Departure

The small flat island of North Seymour is home to colonies of colonies of blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds. Sharing the same nesting area on North Seymour blue-footed boobies nest on the ground making their nests from the twigs of the palo santos trees, while the magnificent frigatebird nests just above them in the saltbushes. North Seymour is an excellent site to view the endemic Galapagos land iguana. We then return to the airport for our flight back to the Ecuadorian mainland.

View the 8 day itinerary (Friday - Friday)

View the 5 day itinerary (Monday - Friday)

View the 5 day itinerary (Friday - Tuesday)