Have questions? We're here.
Galapagos Legend

Private Charter - West & Central Islands Aboard Galapagos Legend

Example 8 Day Cruise aboard Galapagos Legend
Talk with an expert
Build your ideal Galapagos trip. Call 1.406.541.2677
Start Planning My Trip
Board the Galapagos Legend and set sail for an 8-day cruise adventure around the west and central islands of the Galapagos. Highlights of the west include beautiful Santa Cruz, wildlife-rich Isabela, cliff-laden Fernandina, precious Genovesa, and the amazing black beaches of Santiago. Be entertained by the antics of friendly sea lions or get up close and personal with the incredible giant tortoises that make their home here. Spend your days exploring the archipelago, encountering sea lions, Galapagos penguins, frigate birds, flightless cormorants, tortoises, and many more unique native species.
Blue footed boobySea lions on beach in RabidaEspinoza Point, Fernandina Island, GalapagosGalapagos Legend Pool AreaZodiac off the coast of Prince Philips Steps, GenovesaGalapagos Legend
Highlights
  • Visit Genovesa Island to meet Nazca and red-footed boobies
  • Stop at Dragon Hill during your private charter
  • Explore Santa Fe's white sand beaches surrounded by sea lion colonies
  • Snorkel with sea lions and sea turtles in Urbina Bay
Places Visited
Activity Level: Relaxed
Involves minimal physical effort and is typically associated with leisurely activities. Activities are low-intensity or last less than a few hours each day.
0

Full Itinerary

Expand All

Day 1: Baltra | Embark | Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz

Departing from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra Island in a 2:30 hour flight.  Upon arrival in the Galapagos, passengers are picked up at the airport by our Natural Guides and taken to a 10-minute bus drive to the pier to board the M/V Galapagos Legend.

Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz - Here, you can find four species of mangrove in the extensive tidal lagoon system that stretches for almost a mile inland. During your dinghy ride through the labyrinth you will spot many turtles, herons of several species, sharks and rays. The experience is otherworldly and seems to transport you back to the beginning of time.
Highlights: Four species of mangrove, declared a “Turtle Sanctuary.” 
Physical Condition: low  
Activities: 1 hour 30 min dinghy ride

Day 2: El Barranco, Prince Philip's Steps | Darwin Bay, Genovesa

Riding your dinghy to the far side of the caldera, red-billed tropicbirds display vociferously overhead while Galapagos fur seals can be seen on the shoreline. Once at the top of the rocky stairway you are immediately met by Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, mockingbirds and finches that line your way through a palo santo forest until you arrive at an expansive open lava field. Wedge-rumped storm petrels swarm above the lava where you keep your eyes peeled for short-eared owls.
Highlights: Dried lava field, red-footed bobbies, short-eared ow, Nazca boobies’ nesting site.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: rocky
Activities: 2-hour hike / 45-min dinghy ride

From within the flooded caldera of Tower Island you set foot onto a sandy beach to be greeted by swallow-tailed gulls often said to be the most beautiful gull in the world. Your short, flat, trail leads you past stands of mangroves and saltbush on which you have your best possible looks at nesting red-footed boobies and great frigatebirds. At the tidal lagoon you may also see the rarest gull in the world, our very own, endemic lava gull.
Highlights: Sandy coral beach, swallow-tailed and lava gulls, mockingbirds, yellow-crowned night herons.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical Condition: low
Type of terrain: sandy
Activities: 45 min kayaking / 45 min glass-bottom boat or 1-hour deep or beach snorkeling / 1 hour 15 min hike
 

Day 3: South Plaza Island | Santa Fe Island

Sea lions, swallow-tailed gulls and land iguanas are all present at the landing site. The small island is covered with a carpet of a red succulent studded with Opuntia cacti. At the cliff edge, you spend time watching birds fly past at eye level in the up draught. These include, frigatebirds, flocks of Galapagos shearwaters and of particular note, flights of displaying red-billed tropicbirds. Back at sea level, you once again encounter land iguanas, some of which have hybridized with their resident marine cousins.
Highlights: Large colony of sea lions, endemic cactus forest, land & marine iguanas, Nazca & blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: rocky
Activities: 2 hour 15 min hike

After a fabulous snorkel in the turquoise waters of the protected bay you may have enjoyed time with sea lions, turtles, reef sharks and spotted eagle rays. Landing onto a sandy beach you are immediately distracted by the abundant sea lions there with you. You begin a walk past a forest of island-endemic giant Opuntia cacti. Here you search for another island-endemic the Santa Fe land iguana, paler than its cousins on other islands. Galapagos hawks and even endemic rice rats are also things to look out for.
Highlights: Endemic Santa Fe land iguana, Galapagos hawk, mockingbirds, sea lions.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: rocky
Activities: 30 min glass-bottom boat ride / 45 min kayaking / 1-hour hike / 1-hour deep snorkeling

Day 4: Bachas Beach | Mosquera Islet

Named for some wrecked World War II barges whose ribs are still visible in the sand this visitor site offers a lovely walk along the shore and a visit to a lagoon behind the high tide line with wading birds, marine iguanas and sometimes even flamingoes. The two beaches are also favorite nesting sites for green turtles which often leave tractor-like tracks in the sand.
Highlights: Giant tortoises, Darwin finches, pricky-pear cactus, Interpretation Center. / Giant tortoises, lava tubes, scalesia forest, Chato Reserve.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: low
Type of terrain: flat
Activities: 2 hour bus ride round trip / 2 hour 30 min hike and visit

Charles Darwin Research Station 
Once home to the famous Lonesome George, the last tortoise of the Pinta race, the breeding and relocation center is named in honor of his long-time guardian. The center is set in the Galapagos National Park Service where various interpretative buildings are available to visit. The grounds, with large stands of native vegetation, are one of the better places to spot some of the seldom seen Darwin’s finches such as the woodpecker, cactus and vegetarian finches.
Highlights: One of the main nesting sites of sea turtles, flamingoes, snorkeling to see sharks, rays.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical condition: low
Type of terrain: sandy
Activities: 1-hour hike / beach time    

Mosquera Islet
This tiny, low lying islet, covered in coral sand, is set between North and South Seymour Islands. It is home to a group of sea lions that come to laze on the soft white sand. It is a good spot to observe shorebirds as well as herons, lava gulls and boobies. Snorkeling or diving here one can often see sharks, rays and barracudas.
Highlights: White sandy beach, large colony of sea lions.
Disembarking: wet landing    
Physical Condition: low
Type of terrain: sandy
Activities: 1-hour hike / 1-hour beach snorkeling

Day 5: Egas Port, Santiago | Rábida

The black volcanic sand sets this landing apart from most. It is best known for the dramatic shoreline where you meet a host of species that chose to live between land and sea. Particular among these are the endemic Galapagos fur seals which maintain a small colony at the end of your walk. Other species of note include American oystercatchers, sea lions, waders, herons, lava lizards and even Galapagos hawks. An optional visit takes you to an abandoned salt mine famous in its day for supplying salt to mainland Ecuador.
Highlights: Landscape comprised of tuff cone, volcanic ash, and petrified lava flows, Galapagos fur seal.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: flat & semi-rocky
Activities: 2 hour 15 min hike / 1 hour 30 min beach snorkeling

Lying at the heart of the archipelago this dramatic island, with its distinctive red-sand beach, is home to sea lions, mockingbirds, finches, endemic Galapagos doves and vermillion flycatchers. A walk takes you through a forest of palo santo and cacti to a beautiful overview of the bay. Snorkeling here can be excellent, often with large schools of black-striped salemas, sea lions and the ubiquitous turtles.
Highlights: Incredible landscape, Brown pelicans, nesting spots of seabirds, red sandy beach.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical Condition: low
Type of terrain: sandy & grabble
Activities: 45 min kayaking / 1 hour bottom-glass boat or 1 hour deep or beach snorkeling / 1 hour 15 min hike
 

Day 6: Urbina Bay | Tagus Cove, Isabela

At the far end of a long, level hike you arrive at a strange phenomenon where large blocks of coral lie completely exposed after a dramatic geological uplift in 1954. Located at the western base of Alcedo Volcano you hope to run into a few very impressive land iguanas as well as some of the volcano´s endemic Galapagos giant tortoises during the wet season.
Highlights: land iguanas, giant tortoises, seabirds, flightless cormorants.
Disembarking: wet landing
Physical Condition: low
Type of terrain: flat
Activities: 1 hour 45 min hike / 1 hour beach snorkeling

A well-known hideout and deep-water anchorage in the days of pirates, Tagus Cove was also one of the few sites visited by Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle in 1835. A beautiful hike leads you past an overview of Darwin Lake and on to a stunning volcanic landscape revealing Isabela island´s dramatic northern volcanoes. Once back at sea level the perfect activity is to snorkel along a submerged wall with turtles, lots of fish, penguins and potentially flightless cormorants. You might even be tempted by a dinghy ride or kayak!
Highlights: Pirates’ history, calm waters, seabirds, blue-footed boobies, Brown noddy-terns, flightless cormorants, Galapagos penguin (seasonal), marine iguanas.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: steep & eroded tuff
Activities: 1 hour hike / 45 min dinghy ride / 45 min kayaking / 1 hour glass-bottom boat / 1 hour deep water snorkeling 
 

Day 7: Espinosa Point, Fernandina | Vicente Roca Point, Isabela

The youngest island of Galapagos and one of the most pristine in the world. Fernandina is simply the ‘marine iguana capital of the world´, This desolate volcanic backdrop is home to a huge concentration of these enigmatic reptiles. Incongruously, sharing the same shoreline, you can find the diminutive Galapagos penguins. Here you also have the exciting opportunity to snorkel with marine iguanas feeding underwater, penguins, turtles and the bizarre, endemic, flightless cormorants.
Highlights: Largest colony of marine iguanas, whales (seasonal), pahoehoe and AA lava formations, endemic lava cactus.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: medium
Type of terrain: rocky & lava
Activities: 1 hour 45 min hike / 45 min glass-bottom boat or 45 min deep snorkeling

This is a spectacular visitor site, surrounded by immense cliffs of the eroded volcano. Studded with resting sea birds such as brown noddies and Nazca boobies, you will enjoy them in close proximity from your dinghies. Snorkeling here is superb, with certain species of fish only found in the west of the archipelago. You also have a very real chance of swimming with penguins and potentially a plethora of green turtles.
Highlights: one of the richest marine havens, marine turtles, sunfish, rays, landscapes, seabirds, blue-footed boobies, frigatebirds, flightless cormorants.
Physical Condition: low / high
Activities: 1 hour glass-bottom boat or 1 hour deep snorkeling / 1 hour 15 min dinghy ride
 

Day 8: Disembark | Highlands, Santa Cruz | Baltra

  • 1 Breakfast
In the central highlands of Santa Cruz Island, you have your best opportunity to interact at close quarters with totally wild, Galapagos giant tortoises. A short walk among these huge, 600lb, reptiles will also offer the chance for more highland species, especially several species of the famed finches.
Highlights: Giant tortoises, tree & ground Darwin finches.
Disembarking: dry landing
Physical Condition: low

After the visit passengers will be transferred to Baltra Island Airport for their return flight to Guayaquil or Quito.

Ship/Hotel

Galapagos Legend

Galapagos Legend
Al Fresco Restaurant
Swimming Poll & Sun Terrace,  BBQ

Dates & Prices

My Preferred Start Date

Crewed Charter Price starting at
$243,275
or $4,866 per person based on 50 max passengers
Standard Cabin
Standard Cabin
Averaging 140 sq. ft. Two interior cabins located on the Earth Deck, with double or twin bed options. These cabins don´t have exterior views.
Standard Plus Cabin
Standard Plus Cabin
Averaging 118 sq. ft. Six cabins are located on the Sea and Earth Deck, with double or twin bed options, and portholes. Include reusable bottles and a crossbody bag as souvenirs.
Junior Suite
Junior Suite
Averaging 161 sq. ft. Twenty-four suites are located on the Earth Deck with double or triple bed options. 4 larger cabins can be booked in quadruple occupancy. Include two panoramic windows on each cabin, reusable bottles, and a crossbody bag as souvenirs.
Balcony Suite
Balcony Suite
Averaging 237 sq. ft. Four balcony suites on the Moon Deck and six balcony suites located on the Sky Deck, with double, and triple bed options. Include panoramic view windows, a private balcony, a complimentary bottle of champagne, top of line amenities & bathrobe, reusable bottles and a crossbody bag as souvenirs.
Legend Balcony Suite
Legend Balcony Suite
Averaging 355 sq. ft. One suite located on the Moon Deck with double, and triple bed options. Includes a generously large balcony, exclusive & exquisite decorations, with a complimentary bottle of champagne, top of line amenities & bathrobe, reusable bottles and a crossbody bag as souvenirs.

Child Discount

Children under 12 years old receive a 50% discount (25% for holiday season) when sharing a cabin with two full-fare paying guests. Child discounts are conditional and may not apply on certain departures. Please contact us for more information.

Children under 12 may receive discounts on Galapagos flight fares and entrance fees. Contact us for details.
Included
  • 7 Breakfasts, 7 Lunches, 7 Dinners
  • 7 Nights Accommodations
  • Accommodations as listed
  • Ground transportation as listed
  • Activities as listed
  • Meals as listed
  • Access to a 24-7 Emergency line while traveling
  • Gear Rental: Snorkeling Gear
  • Bilingual Naturalist Guide 
  • Adventure Life Pre-departure Services and In-Country Assistance (Quito Representative)
  • Shore Excursions, Swimming and Snorkeling 
  • Transfers and Baggage Handling in the Galapagos
Excluded
  • Gratuities
  • Travel Insurance
  • Personal Expenses
  • Flight costs (please request a quote)
  • Additional excursions during free time
  • Fuel and transportation surcharges (when applicable)
  • Galapagos Park Entrance Fee: $200 per adult, $100 per child under 12. Payable upon arrival to the Galapagos, only in cash dollars. Subject to increase by Galapagos Park Service.
  • Internal Flights: Mainland Ecuador - Galapagos - Mainland Ecuador: $475-675
  • Wetsuits are not included but are available to rent on board - $25 for 4-day and 5-day tours, $50 for 8-day, 11-day, and 12 day tours, and $75 for 15-day tours. 
  • Kayak available for $45/use

Map

When to Go

Inquire

* By providing your phone number, you consent to receive direct phone calls or SMS messages from our Trip Planners to get the process started. We do not share your information with third-parties.
Travel Agents

We Love to Talk Travel

Call 1.800.344.6118
or
Chat Now
Beyond expectations! Then again we weren't sure what to expect. Lovely stay at the lodge, met other like-minded travelers (many had their trips planned by Adventure Life) and the owner was a gracious hostess. It felt like you were one happy family, visiting with a favorite aunt.
Nancy Sin
More Reasons

Why Travel With Adventure Life

All News

Recognized By