Tip Top III – 4 Days

Day Visitor Site
Friday AM - Baltra Island Airport: Arrival and Transfer to the boat
PM - Puerto Ayora & Charles Darwin Station (Santa Cruz)
Saturday AM - Santa Fe
PM - South Plaza
Sunday AM - Chinese Hat
PM - Rabida
Monday AM - Black Turtle Cove (Santa Cruz)
Transfer to Airport

Friday, Day 1

Flight from mainland Ecuador (Quito or Guayaquil) to Baltra, with TAME Airlines; arriving at 11:00 a.m. approximately. A guide meets us and accompanies us as we ride the bus to the Itabaca Channel, we cross the channel by barge and then we continue to Puerto Ayora by bus. We board the Yacht and the crew greets us and offers us a light snack and we have our first orientation. In the afternoon, we land at the pier for a visit to the Charles Darwin Station and its Interpretive Center.

Return to the Port for a walk through the little town to appreciate various handicrafts. We have a welcome cocktail with the entire crew, and dinner.

Saturday, Day 2

After breakfast we make a wet landing on Santa Fe Island to visit the cactus forest and a colony of land iguanas native from Santa Fe. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel and/or kayak. Return to the Yacht for lunch and sail to South Plaza, where we make a dry landing on the pier of the island, there we can enjoy the antics of the sea lions. A walk through a cactus forest allows us to observe land iguanas and many species of tropical birds. At the end of the afternoon, we return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

Sunday, Day 3

After breakfast, we make a wet landing on Chinese Hat (Sombrero Chino), a small island off the coast of Santiago Island, we can observe on the rocky shoreline: Galapagos penguins, eagle rays, sea lions and marine iguanas. This is an excellent snorkeling site. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel and/ or kayak. We return to the boat for a delicious lunch. After lunch, we make a wet landing on Rábida, to walk and observe marine iguanas and sea lions, pelicans, bluefooted boobies, masked boobies and brown pelicans. We walk and we arrive at a small saltwater lagoon where we can see pink flamingos. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel and/ or kayak. We return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

Monday, Day 4

After breakfast, we make an early panga ride on Black Turtle Cove, series of mangrove-surrounded coves and islets; where we can observe white-tipped sharks, marine turtles, spotted eagle rays, and yellow cow-nosed rays. We return to the Yacht for disembarking on the pier at 09:00. Your guide accompanies you on the bus ride directly to the airport.

DepartureArrival