Galapagos Secrets

Travel Just 4U's Galapagos representative will be waiting for you at the Baltra Airport. They will provide you with your pre-paid transfer ticket and will escort you to the short airport shuttle and the ferry which takes you across the small channel (10 min ride) to Santa Cruz Island. Here your private transfer and guide is awaiting you. 

You will journey across the island up into the highlands and will be amazed by the island’s variety of wildlife and geology. Beginning on the coast and travelling along the road to Puerto Ayora, the road climbs through the agricultural zone and into the mist-covered forests of the highlands. Santa Cruz possesses all of the various life zones present on the archipelago, with wonderful birding opportunities, like Darwin’s finches. Almost every land bird present on the islands can be found here. Continuing on, the tour will stop at a local ranch for lunch. You will be able to explore the grounds in search of tortoises during the visit. After lunch, you continue to descend through the agricultural zone into the transition zone where the Tortoise Reserve is located. In this area, the introduced vegetation of the higher farmlands is replaced by native vegetation. 

The tour continues to Puerto Ayora where you will check-in at your selected hotel and have the rest of the late afternoon and evening for leisure time. 

Hotel La Casa de Judy started as a place for scientists from around the world, who came to conduct studies of species in the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Parque Nacional Galapagos. Today it is a beautiful and warm hotel with 20 rooms for 46 passengers with the comfort of air conditioning, swimming pool, cafe, bar and spectacular view from upper terrace.

Hotel La Casa de Judy offers free WiFi . 

All rooms at Hotel La Casa de Judy are fitted with air conditioning and have a flat-screen TV. A terrace or balcony are featured in certain rooms. Every room includes a private bathroom fitted with a bath or shower and shower.

After breakfast you will transfer to the port and take a speedboat to Isabela Island. This ride takes approximately 2 hours 30 minutes. 

Upon arriving to Isabela, you will be met at the dock and escorted to your hotel.

Ferry Recommendation: Depending on the weather, this can be a bumpy ride. We highly recommend you board as soon as possible (about 20 minutes prior to departure you are allowed to line up). Select a seat outside, facing forward, and under cover so you have fresh air and can avoid potential seasickness.  

In the afternoon, you will visit the Tintoreras Islets, located a short distance from Puerto Villamil via speedboat. 

Most of this area of the island is formed by AA lava and provides unique geography. This area is home to a great variety of wildlife. Its turquoise, crystalline waters are inhabited by white-tipped reef sharks, Galapagos penguins, marine turtles and sea lions. One of its beaches that is surrounded by mangroves, is one of the few sites where marine iguanas can reproduce successfully. You will have a great chance at spotting many of these marine species while exploring the islets. You will be provided with snorkelling gear to explore the beautiful water surrounding the islets. 

Return to Puerto Villamil for evening at leisure. 

Set across the road from a sandy beach on the South Pacific Ocean, this casual and simple hotel is 1 km from the Centro de Crianza Tortugas Gigantes Arnaldo Tupiza Chamaidan (giant tortoise breeding center). The Concha de Perla snorkeling site is 2 km away.

The relaxed rooms offer air conditioning and en suite bathrooms. American-style breakfast is complimentary.

Today you will visit a unique place in the islands, “Los Túneles”. 

The adventure begins on board a speedboat for a 45 minute trip. The captain will take the group across the waves that hide this treasured destination. The "Tunnels" were formed millions of years ago when rivers of liquid magma ran across the island reaching its coastal shore. The cold water froze their superficial layer isolating the interior while liquid magma kept flowing into the sea. When the eruption finished, a hollow structure was formed and its wall later broke allowing water to seep inside, creating a tunnel. 

Your guide will join you in the water as you explore along hundreds of tunnels  snorkeling with the possibility of encountering a range of marine life such as sharks, lobsters, penguins, sea lions, boobies, marine turtles among other endemic species of the Galapagos.  If you are lucky, you may get to see giant manta rays feeding in open water.

A box lunch will be served on board and will include: a drink, a large sandwich, fruit and a package of cookies.

In the afternoon, after returning from the morning excursion, you will visit the Tortoise Breeding Center.  Here, you will learn more about the reproduction and breeding of the Giant Tortoises. This center in Isabela was completed in 1994 and houses tortoises from the populations of southern Isabela, many of which have experienced relatively high levels of poaching within the last 10-20 years. Visitors can see both hatchlings tortoises and the older breeding animals. After visiting the centre you will be returned to your hotel. 

OPTIONAL: Not included in starting price

You will be picked up at your hotel for this shared Sierra Negra trek.

After a 30 minute drive from the township of Puerto Villamil, through some barren lava flows followed by lush humid vegetation, you will arrive at the Park Ranges outpost where the Sierra Negra Volcano trail begins.

At first the trail goes uphill through different types of vegetation and birds such as Curcuve de Galapagos (Darwin´s muse), Canario Maria and lots of different types of Pinzones . Once you get to the edge of the volcano you start to get magnificent views of the 10 km diameter crater. The vegetation gets drier and drier as you move along the rim of the crater. The last part of the trail goes down to Volcán Chico, a collection of small craters which erupted during the 1970´s where you can see fumaroles (steam and gasses coming through the earth’s crust) and impressive volcanic landscapes.

The last eruption from this large shield volcano occurred in 2005—and while it’s not likely lava will be flowing, there are several geological and thermal events to see. The southern side of the volcano is often covered in mist and fog and is lush with green vegetation as a result. Walking along the northern side allows for views of the lava rock from the most recent eruption.

Hiking Sierra Negra is classified as medium technical level and the trail takes approximately 4 hours. After a boxed lunch the group will return to town.

You will transfer via speedboat to Santa Cruz Island with your luggage. This boat trip takes approximately 2 hours 30 minutes. 

Upon arrival to Santa Cruz, you will transferred to your hotel.

Ferry Recommendation: Depending on the weather, this can be a bumpy ride. You are ferried from the pier to your main speedboat ferry on a smaller dinghy. Seats are first come first serve so we highly recommend (with your guides assistance of course), that you queue and get transferred to your speedboat ferry as soon as possible. Select a seat outside, facing forward, and under cover so you have fresh air and can avoid potential seasickness. 

During your time at leisure on Santa Cruz Island, we recommend you explore the following sites if they interest you. 

Las Grietas:
Las Grietas (The cracks in English) is a place to swim in cool ocean water between two tall cliffs, where the earth has opened like a rack or “crevasse”. To get here from Puerto Ayora, you need to take a speed boat ferry (approximately $1, it is a very short ride under a minute) from the main dock to Finch Bay hotel. Once there, continue along a rocky wall to the very end where you will find a path leading off to the right hand side. From here, you follow a 15 minute trail that starts off sandy and rocky, and winds up crossing over a jagged lava field, through a cactus forest, and up a sandy path once again to the top of Las Grietas.

Tortuga Bay:
Beautiful white sand beach, a few kms walk, or take a 20 minute water taxi from the main port in Puerto Ayora. Visitors must sign in and out at the start of the path with the Galapagos Park Service Office. Tortuga Bay has a gigantic, perfectly preserved beach that is forbidden for swimming and preserved for wildlife. There is a separate cove where you can swim.

Opening Hours:
6:00 to 18:00 daily

Charles Darwin Research Centre:
A 15 minute walk from Puerto Ayora, here you can spend time at the research centre. You can view the exhibition hall, visit the library and see their specimen collections. 

Opening Hours:
Monday through Sunday
8:00 to 12:30 & 14:30 to 17:30

Please note that all water based island explorations in this itinerary are subject to change, without prior notice, due to weather conditions. 

Additionally, the order of island explorations or the specific islands visited may also change, closer to your time of travel. This is due to available permits for the excursion yachts provided from the government which is assigned yearly, but can change. 

You will be able to visit one of the below excursions today:

Your day starts after breakfast at your hotel. Travel by small boat, max 16 passengers total, on an excursion to South Plazas Island. 

South Plazas Island is very small at only .13 km² and is situated off the east coast of Santa Cruz Island. It is formed from uplifted marine lava and is one of the smallest islands on the archipelago. This island, despite its size, has a high concentration of wildlife. The tour disembarks (this is a dry landing) on a small dock frequently occupied by sea lions. 

You will continue through a small forest of prickly pear cacti with bright yellow flowers. You will see land iguanas (South Plazas has the largest population of land iguanas in the Galapagos) as they are often waiting for the pear cacti's fruits and flowers to fall on the ground. The walk continues up to a small cliff, where you can often see a shoal of the endemic yellow-tailed mullet swimming below. The clifftop lookout also offers excellent views of swallow-tailed gulls, tropic birds, frigate birds and pelicans. 

The view extends to the eastern end of the island where bull sea lions congregate to rest after they have lost territory to a challenger. Here they recover energy before vying to once again be the master of the beach. 

Return to Santa Cruz. Lunch included.

Your day starts after breakfast at your hotel. Travel by small boat, max 16 passengers total, on an excursion to North Seymour Island. 

North Seymour is a small 1.9 km² island north of Baltra with a path that crosses the interior and allows you to explore rocky coast. You will see some of the largest bird colonies on the Galapagos Islands here.

The main features of this island are the incredible fauna species you can observe such as the Land Iguanas, the Magnificent Frigate bird with their incredible scarlet pouches, blue-footed boobies with their unique courtship dances and sea lions surfing across the waves. You will have time to explore and learn about the animals from your guide. 

Once on board, you will enjoy a freshly prepared lunch before returning to Santa Cruz Island where you will have the opportunity to snorkel at Bachas Beach if you wish, or alternatively, you can relax on shore. You will see a variety of fish species and maybe even swim with sea lions if they are feeling friendly.

After snorkeling, you will be brought back to port and transferred to your hotel for the rest of the evening at leisure. 

Your day starts after breakfast at your hotel. Travel by small boat approximately 45 minutes to a small island 24 kms squared which lies in the centre of the Galapagos archipelago, to the south west of Santa Cruz Island. 

Geologically it is one of the oldest, since volcanic rocks of about 4 million years old have been found. The vegetation of the island is characterized by the presence of a dense forest of the giant opuntia cactus.

Weathered cliffs provide a haven for swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropic birds,shear-waters petrels. Santa Fe species of Galapagos Land Iguanas and lava lizards are frequently seen. 

Santa Fe Island is home to one of the most beautiful coves in all the Galapagos. The landing site is a wet landing located in Barrington Bay on the northeastern side of the island. Large numbers of sea lions are found on the beaches here.

After landing on Santa Fe Island you will continue for a short walk to see two species of land iguanas found only within this island. Crabs, Night Heron, Sea Iguanas, Mockingbirds and other birds are seen frequently on the Island. After the walk we will go back to have lunch on board and finally enjoy a wonderful snorkel experience. 

The bay is an excellent swimming and snorkeling place where Sea Turtles, rays, fish, and the clear and warm water are unique attractions.

Your day starts after breakfast at your hotel early in the morning to take advantage of the best hours of light. You will travel from Puerto Ayora by van to the Itabaca channel, where the boat will be waiting. The boat ride to the island is approximately 2 hours.

After arriving to the Island, you will disembark for a walk to the top of the island with a 115 meters view point above sea level. The views include the nearby islands and the famous Pinnacle Rock. In addition to incredible views, Bartolome Island provides amazing geological characteristics. 

This Bartolome Island tour also includes stops at nearby beaches to enjoy the ocean and wildlife. 

To finish the day, the tour will stop at Sullivan bay on Santiago Island which is located next to Bartolome Island. This bay includes a lava field and here you can snorkel before the boat ride back to Puerto Ayora.

The tours activities include short hike, swimming, snorkeling and wildlife observation. You have the chance of seeing blue sharks, lava heron, Galapagos crab, sea lions, marine iguanas, sea turtles, rays and many kinds of fish among others.

After breakfast, you will be picked up from your hotel (with your luggage) for a Twin Craters tour before continuing on to the airport for your return flight to the mainland. 

This tour takes you to the Gemelo Lava Tunnels, or "twin" lava tunnels which were formed over hundreds of thousands of years of continued volcanic pressure on the rock surface. The tour includes a short walk around the lava tunnels. 

Continue via your private transfer to Baltra for your flight back to mainland Ecuador.