Galaven Expedition - 5 Day Cruise

Arrive at Baltra Airport to meet your guide and transfer to Galaven Expedition. The first excursion is a trail at El Chato reserve on Isla Santa Cruz. The trail begins at Santa Rosa with the Caseta route being the more challenging. The reserve allows visitors to observe giant tortoises in the wild during the dry season and is also a good place to spot short-eared owls, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers and paint-billed crakes.

Situated on Santa Cruz Island, Cerro Dragón, Dragon Hill, is one of the newest visitor sites accessible to tourists in the Galapagos Islands. One of the lengthier Galapagos walking trails will lead visitors along a beach and up a trail to the lagoon lookout where bright flamingos, pintail ducks, and land iguanas can be spotted. Located on the north shore of Santa Cruz, Las Bachas is a swimming beach. One of the few remnants of the U.S. World War II presence in the Galapagos, a floating pier, can be seen here. You may see flamingos, Sally-lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black necked stilts, and whimbrels. Sea turtles also nest off the beach.

In the 18th century, whalers passing through the islands placed a wooden barrel on Isla Floreana for use as an unofficial mail box. The tradition continues today at this site know as Post Office Bay, where visitors leave addressed postcards in the barrel and sort through left mail to deliver at home. Punta Cormorante or La Corona del Diablo hosts a large flamingo lagoon where other birds such as common stilts and white-cheeked pintails can also be seen. The beaches on this island are distinctive, one green in colour due to a high percentage of olivine crystals in the sand, and the other composed of white coral and named flour beach.

Punta Suarez is great for spotting blue-footed boobies, albatrosses and Nazca boobies. A beautiful site on the ocean front, the large waved albatrosses use the cliff as a launching pad. The famous attraction is the magnificent blowhole, spurting water high into the air. This site presents wonderful photograph opportunities. Gardner Bay, on the eastern side of the island, is the breeding site of nearly all of the world´s 12,000 pairs of waved albatrosses. It has an ample white sandy beach with a myriad of sea lions, perfect for relaxing. Its rocky shores make this site a great place for diving and snorkelling.

The Interpretation Center was opened in 1998 as a phase of the project, Interpretation and Environment Education Project. Visitors enjoy expositions on natural history, human history, and conservation. The conservation efforts represent the movement to protect the wildlife and natural environment through means of population and tourist control. The Interpretation Center has an outdoor stadium, audio-visual equipment, and meeting rooms. Transfer to San Cristóbal Airport for your return flight to the mainland.