Arrive at the airport in San Cristobal and transfer to the Evolution. After lunch, sail to Cerro Brujo. Then celebrate your first equatorial sunset with a welcome cocktail, followed by a delicious dinner.

Travel to South Plaza, a small island covered in Opuntia cacti. The island is home to one of the largest sea lion colonies in the Galapagos archipelago and also features many colorful yellow and red land iguanas. Take a brief hike over the terrain for views of the island.

Spend the early afternoon of excellent snorkeling at Punta Carrion, followed by a excursion to Mosquera Islet. On Mosquera, you may see one of the largest sea lion colonies in the Galapagos and possibly an orca whale!

Journey on to Chinese Hat. This island derived its name from its distinctly conical shape. Chinese Hat is an ideal destination for viewing volcanic formations, such as lava tubes and flows, and is also home to sea lions, marine iguanas, and Galapagos penguins.

Then head to James Bay in Santiago. Walk along a black beach and snorkel with tropical fish and sea turtles in the Bay's crystal clear waters. On shore, you may choose to walk on a trail that leads to a series of crystal-clear grottos full of sea lions, fur seals, and samurai-like marine iguanas. You may even spot a Galapagos hawk!

Set sail for Darwin Bay and land on its sandy white coral beach. Hike a half-mile trail through the mangroves and view Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, and swallow-tailed gulls. Tidal pools are teeming with young sea lions and reef fish, and the occasional hammerhead shark can be found among the rocks.

Snorkel in the water before heading to El Barranco, also known as Prince Phillip's Steps. Hike up the steep rocky face to the top of a cliff where you can see red-footed boobies, short-eared lava owls, Galapagos swallows, and Galapagos doves.

Sail for North Seymour Island to view Galapagos sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and magnificent frigatebirds. Characterized by its arid vegetation zone, North Seymour is unique in landscape and in feeling.

After lunch, sail to Santa Fe Island, where you may explore one of the most beautiful and sheltered bays in the Galapagos, which is excellent for snorkeling! Santa Fe is one of the best places to find sea turtles, sea lions, and the Galapagos white-tipped shark. Then head to shore and walk up a nearby cliff to observe land iguanas through an area of Opuntia cacti.

Spend today on the historical Floreana Island. Start the day in Post Office Bay, where British whalers set up a barrel as the island's Post Office. The tradition continues today, and you could even send a postcard home!

In the afternoon, visit Punta Cormorant, where you can visit two unique and highly contrasting beaches. One is a green-colored olivine beach, and the other an iron-red beach. In between the two beaches lies a salt lagoon that is frequented by flamingos, stilts, pintails, and other wading birds. In the late afternoon, head to Devil's Crown for some phenomenal snorkeling. This region is home to a variety of coral, wrasses, pencil sea urchins, amberjacks, angelfish, and many other species.

This morning we visit Puerto Ayora, home to both the Galapagos National Park Service Headquarters and Charles Darwin Research Station, the center of the great restorative efforts taking place in the park, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here we visit the Giant Tortoise Breeding & Rearing Program run by the research station, which began by rescuing the remaining 14 tortoises on the island of Española in 1970. This program has restored the population of animals there to over 1,000 today. You will see many of these animals, with their sweet ET necks and faces; from hatchlings to juveniles to large, distinguished individuals. This is where the famed tortoise, Lonesome George, lived out his last days as the last of his particular race of tortoise.

A highlight of any trip to the archipelago is a visit to the Santa Cruz Highlands, where the sparse, dry coastal vegetation transitions to lush wet fields and forests overgrown with moss and lichens. Our afternoon destination is the Wild Tortoise Reserve where we will have chances to track and view these friendly ancient creatures in their natural setting. This extends to the adjacent pasturelands, where farmers give tortoise safe quarters in exchange for allowing paying visitors to see them.

Spend the morning in Black Turtle Cove, a gorgeous mangrove estuary. Take a panga ride and search for spotted eagle rays, white-tipped reef sharks, diamond-shaped mustard rays, Pacific green sea turtles, and many different shore birds.

After this last excursion, transfer to the airport for your connecting flight to the mainland.