Down to earth holidays

Description

For any wildlife enthusiast or nature lover, a Galapagos Islands cruise is one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ trips which, if you’re going to Ecuador (or even Peru), you just HAVE to make time and budget for. It’s not a cheap experience, but it is absolutely worth the money. A Galapagos Islands cruise has to be one of the very best wildlife experiences on the planet. Where else in the world does the wildlife, even the birds, have no fear of man?!

Each yacht has a highly qualified naturalist guide on board, and each day you will visit one or more different islands. There are trails on all the islands, and you have to stick to these for the sake of the wildlife, but this is no detriment to your experience, and you still get very close to the animals and birds. Your guide will tell you all about the flora and fauna, and the history and geography of the islands.

In addition to island visits you can enjoy swimming and snorkelling, which often attracts curious onlookers such as sealions, penguins and turtles who come and swim alongside to see what strange creature you are.

All itineraries include a visit to Santa Cruz which has the largest human population (in Puerto Ayora), and which is also the home of the Charles Darwin Research Centre. Here you can meet giant tortoises and learn about some of the conservation issues of the islands. You might also go up to the Highlands here, to see giant tortoises in the wild.

In between island visits you will be cruising from place to place. In the daytime, it is not uncommon to get dolphins swimming alongside the yacht, which is magical. Longer journeys will often be undertaken at night, so please note that on smaller yachts you will be very aware of the sound of the engine. In our view though, this is a small price to pay for the positives of choosing a smaller yacht (ie about 20 people or under), though there are a few excellent medium-sized yachts too, such as the Mary Anne (32 people).

Being part of Tribes Travel, Down to Earths Holidays can offer you a huge choice of yachts on which to base yourself for a Galapagos cruise. You can see the full range by going to the Tribes site for descriptions, itineraries and prices of each yacht. You will also find descriptions of the islands here too. Click here for more detailed Galapagos Islands information.

Of course we’re also very happy to advise you about which yacht might suit you (eg if you get seasick certain yachts are better than others), and we will also have to check availability for you, as lack of space is often an issue when choosing a yacht. If you have any questions, please just call us. Our experts have been planning and booking Galapagos Islands cruises for many years and they know the information inside out.

You can easily combine a Galapagos Islands cruise with other holidays and service in Ecuador, and it can also be linked with Peru. Do ask us if you’d like advice on this.

Detailed Itinerary

This itinerary is based on using the Samba which is our best value yacht. Other yachts have different itineraries, departure days and prices. Please see our Tribes Travel Galapagos Islands yacht pages for a full choice.

1. DAY 1: TUESDAY. Depart from Quito or Guayaquil by plane. You land at Baltra airport. On arrival you’ll be met by crew from the yacht. You’ll have to first pay your national park fees ($120 pp) and transit card fee ($10), and then you’ll be taken to the awaiting yacht. You’ll be shown around the yacht and you set sail. Your first stop will be South Plaza. This island is like a massive tilted plate with one side dipping into the water and the other raised into the air to form a cliff edge. The main attractions here are land iguanas, sea lions including a bachelor colony, swallow tailed gulls, red billed tropic birds and Audubon’s shearwaters.  D
   
   
2. DAY 2: Today you have a full day on Santa Cruz to explore the highlands where giant tortoises roam and also visit the Charles Darwin Research centre. Tonight you will cruise south so that you are close to the next island you are visiting by morning. FB
   
   
3. DAY 3: Espanola is a fascinating island and you have two landing spots here. Punta Suarez is one of the most interesting visitor sites in all of the Galapagos. The landing point is covered with sea lions and their young, and thousands of marine iguanas bask on the rocks. This is also the only island where you find waved albatross and there is a large breeding colony of them here during the mating season (April to Dec). The island’s other visitor site is a long white coral beach at Gardner Bay. The beach is frequented by sea lions and the endemic long billed mockingbird or Hood mockingbird, and colourful lava lizards. FB.
   
   
4. DAY 4: Floreana is next door to Espanola. At Punta Cormorant there is a lagoon where you can usually see flamingoes and other species of shore birds. There is a submerged volcanic cone called the Devil’s Crown which is a fantastic place for snorkelling. At Post Office Bay there is an old wooden barrel ‘post office’ originally used by 18th century whalers, but now a quirky feature for all visitors. Tonight you head north west to the large island of Isabela. FB
   
   
5. DAY 5: Isabela is the largest island in the archipelago, it has the biggest volcanoes and largest tortoise population. The four landing sites are on the west of the island, a long way from most of the other islands in the archipelago. However, between them there is lots to see - flamingoes, ducks, waders, moorhens, penguins, brown noddy terns, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, herons, and of course blue-footed boobies and sea lions. FB.
   
   
6. DAY  6: After visiting Urbina Bay this morning, you will visit the neighboring smaller island of Fernandina. The island is the westernmost of the islands and is the most volcanically active. At Punta Espinosa you can see flightless cormorants, and there is an abundance of marine iguanas, pelicans and sea lions. FB
   
   
7. DAY 7: This morning you are ready to visit Santiago. Puerto Egas is perhaps the most interesting visitor site on Santiago. There are fur seal grottoes here - natural pools surrounded by black lava, where both sea lions and fur seals can be found playing in the water or basking on the rocks. There are also some interesting geological features, such as lava tubes and eroded tuff cliffs. You may see vermilion flycatcher, Galapagos hawk, Galapagos dove, and at the Espumilla landing site, flamingoes and white-cheeked pintail ducks. Afterwards you should also have time to visit Bartolome. FB.
   
   
8. DAY 8: Turtle Cove on Santiago is your last stop before heading back to Baltra for your flight back to the mainland. B.

Is it for you?

This is for all wildlife and nature lovers, no matter what age or fitness. If you don’t want to stay on a yacht, we can also arrange for you to be land-based. Please ask about this if you’re interested.

Best times to go

The Galapagos Islands is a year round destination. The driest season for the Andean regions is from about late May to early October.

Getting there

To get to Ecuador you will fly into and out of either Guayaquil or Quito. Flights to the Galapagos Islands leave from Quito and touchdown in Guayaquil en route, taking about 3 hours from Quito or 2 hours from Guayaquil. The flights land either at Baltra or San Cristobal.

Responsible Travel

How your holiday helps:
The rights and wrongs of travelling to the Galapagos Islands, with its endangered endemic species and fragile ecosystems, are complex. You could argue that the money you bring to the islands as a tourist, through the national park taxes, is helping to protect this unique gem. However there is also an argument which says that we should be severely limiting the numbers of people who can visit here in order to really protect the islands for the future.

We would like to see the Ecuador government putting stringent rules onto building and tourism expansion, but we would also like to see them use the national park taxes more efficiently.

Currently, as a tourist, the very best thing you can do is take care to stick to the park rules very carefully, and if possible, choose a yacht which has the Smart Voyager certification which proves good environmental standards.

The Samba sadly does not have this certification (it was chosen on price for this holiday), but we can recommend other yachts which do have the eco-certification. Please ask us for more details.

Carbon Offsetting :
For every client we take on holiday we plant 10 indigenous tree saplings. This is used as a poverty alleviation and biodiversity scheme as well as helping with carbon offsetting. Click for more details …

Giving to grassroots projects:
Our registered charity, The Tribes Foundation, is currently raising funds for a project in Ecuador. The kindness of strangers can make a big difference, so if you’re a travel philanthropist considering donating to a worthwhile charity, please consider backing this excellent community project.

Conservation in Action is an Ecuadorian charity which was set up with the aim of contributing to the protection of the threatened cultures and natural environment of the Amazon region. It supports those communities already working to defend their cultural and environmental integrity. They work towards this goal through political, technical and economic assistance designed to strengthen and demonstrate respect for indigenous culture, conserve biodiversity and contribute to community-managed sustainable development programs.

We will shortly have a page with photos of the school on www.the-tribes-foundation.org.

Shop ethically:
If you support buying fair trade, ethical and organic goods, please take a look at our online ethical shop for books, maps, travel gadgets, first aid kits etc before you travel. This is also a great place to find organic goodies and handmade crafts, many made in the countries and areas that we visit.

FOR MORE GENERAL DETAILS ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL PRINCIPLES, CLICK HERE.

Comments

Trip Code: EC4

Validity: 1-3-09 to 31-12-09

Group Trip Dates & Prices

Anyone can take this holiday on most days of the year (depending on the yacht), subject to availability. Please call us to check availability.

1 Feb to 31 December 09 : from £1575pp for two travelling together.

Other costs involved in this trip include:

• Galapagos National Park tax $100 (payable locally in US dollars)
• Flights from Quito-Galapagos-Quito (inc transit card fee): Low season (May 1 - June 14, September 15 - October 31): £290, and High season: £335
• Bar consumption on board

All of the above are subject to change at short notice.

Pricing notes:

• Prices are based on twin share, excluding flights.
• Please ask about child rates (if available), single supplements and special offers on the yachts.
• Exchange rate fluctuations may affect these prices (see our Booking Conditions).

Duration: 8 days

Included
7 nights full board on a yacht with all excursions.

Not Included
International flights, flights from mainland to the islands (from £280 depending on date and departure city), tips, insurance, visas, drinks, items of a personal nature, entrance fees, National park fees (currently $100 pp), transit card (currently $10)