Darwin's Discoveries: The Galapagos Islands

Arrive in Ecuador and begin in this port city on the Pacific coast. Stay overnight at the Wyndham Guayaquil. The hotel is within walking distance of the Malecón 2000 boardwalk and Santa Ana Hill, including its lighthouse. Spend time exploring the area independently or use the hotel’s facilities before continuing the trip the next day.

Start early and travel to the Galápagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fly from Guayaquil to Isla Baltra and board the Yacht La Pinta. Continue to Isla Seymour Norte for the first excursion. Observe blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds in their nesting areas. The island was formed by volcanic uplift and has sparse vegetation. Explore the area on foot and by panga.

Explore Punta Vicente Roca, a marine site of impressive geological formations, by panga—your guide helps with decoding the visible clues of the islands’ fiery beginnings. Beyond the geology, spy winged residents including Blue-footed boobies and flightless cormorants. The wildly rocky coast with a partially sunken cave provides phenomenal conditions for a menagerie of fish and green sea turtles. If conditions allow, don your mask, fins, and snorkel and dive in for a close-up view! Later, stretch your legs on a guided walk experiencing one of the most pristine islands in the Galapagos, Isla Fernandina. The island’s active volcano erupted as recently as 2009. Thousands of bright land iguanas reside here, and it’s also a favorite haunt of Galapagos penguins.

Large in landmass and young at one million years old, Isla Isabela supports abundant wildlife. At Urbina Bay, a stroll among the island’s vegetation reveals large, colorful land iguanas and perhaps giant tortoises. Crossing from Urbina Bay to Tagus Cove, scan the water for whales and dolphins that frequent Bolivar Channel from one of La Pinta’s spacious decks. Dropping anchor at Tagus Cove—an otherworldly landscape of eroded tuff cones—there’s a chance to snorkel, kayak, or ride a panga before hiking the backside of Darwin Crater overlooking a saltwater lake and panoramic views. There’ll be excellent opportunities for viewing penguins, Galapagos hawks, cormorants, petrified rain (bits of lava that cooled quickly after contacting water), and old signatures from pirates and whalers etched into the rock, the oldest dating back to 1836.

Isla Rabida’s unusual red beach is a favorite sunbathing spot for sea lions and marine iguanas. Go eye-to-eye with Blue-footed and Nazca Boobies, Yellow Warblers, several species of Darwin’s Finches, and pelicans. The warm, maroon-colored beach also makes a great spot for from-the-beach snorkeling. Or keep your eyes above the waterline, inspecting marine life from the glass-bottom boat. You’ll have a birds-eye view from Isla Santa Cruz hiking Cerro Dragón—or Dragon Hill—and enjoy a well-earned panorama of the island’s interior, and possibly even flamingos and lounging land iguanas.

Today, it’s all about the magnificent giant tortoise. Touring the Charles Darwin Research Station, you’ll witness the exceptional conservation program where baby tortoises, “galápaguitos,” are reared in protective captivity until they are old enough to safely repatriate back to their native areas. Embrace Galápagos conservation by learning about threats that still endanger this fragile ecosystem. Bring your passport along if you’d like a special Galápagos stamp. Time permitting, stroll through town as you please. After lunch at the Finch Bay Eco Hotel, explore the misty, forested highlands and see the lumbering tortoises in their natural habitat.

Your day is full of adventure, with opportunities to snorkel, hike, kayak, skiff, ride the glass-bottom boat, or simply relax on the beach. Send a note home from Post Office Bay, dropping your postcard in Isla Floreana’s famous, historic barrel mailbox. A hike at Baroness Viewpoint provides the perfect vantage for a photo-op. Then take in the island’s geologic history with a panga ride or kayak investigation of its maze of volcanic channels. A tale of two beaches, walk along the green olivine beach of Punta Cormorant to a brackish lagoon known to be a flamingo hideout, then on to a white-sand beach where green sea turtles come ashore to nest.

Your adventure of a lifetime aboard La Pinta concludes back on Isla Baltra. From here, transfer to the airport for your flight to Guayaquil—where you’ll await your connecting flight home, or if you’ve opted for the Machu Picchu extension, your flight to Lima, Peru.