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Beagle: Yacht Details


A personalized experience in the Islands

The Beagle is a first class, refurbished schooner style yacht (105 feet long, 22 feet wide) that takes a maximum of 12 passengers. This is a great option for those looking for a vessel with a smaller group size. Meals are taken both in the main cabin and on the rear deck. All cabins have private bathrooms and air conditioning.

Day by Day Itinerary

BRIEF SUMMARY (for detailed island visits please scroll down)
Cruises run Tuesday to Tuesday and are divided between a northwest and south & central itinerary

Northwest Itinerary
Tuesday:         Arrive to Baltra / Santa Cruz:  Las Bachas
Wednesday:   Tower Island:  Prince Philip’s Steps / Darwin Bay
Thursday:        Santiago:  James Bay
Friday:              Punta Espinosa (Fernandina) / Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela)
Saturday:         Isabela:  Tagus Cove / Urbina Bay
Sunday:           Isabela:  Elizabeth Bay / Punta Moreno
Monday:           Isabela:  Sierra Negra / Villamil
Tuesday:          Return to mainland Ecuador

South & Central Itinerary
Tuesday:         Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Center
Wednesday:   Puerto Velasco Ibarra / Cormorant Point
Thursday:        Espanola (Hood):  Punta Suarez / Gardner Bay
Friday:              San Cristobal:  Punta Pitt / Isla Lobos
Saturday:         Santa Fe / South Plaza
Sunday:            North Seymour / Bartolome
Monday:            Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) / Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill)
Tuesday:          Santa Cruz: Black Turtle Cove / Return to mainland Ecuador


Beagle 7 night Itinerary (Northwest)

Tuesday to Tuesday


Day 1 Tuesday Arrive to Baltra / Santa Cruz: Las Bachas
On arrival at Baltra Airport all visitors pay their entrance fee to the Galapagos National Park. You will then be met by The Beagle’s naturalist guide who will assist you with your luggage collection and accompany you on a short bus ride to the harbor to board The Beagle.

After a light lunch The Beagle will navigate to Las Bachas. Located on the northern shore of Santa Cruz Island, las Bachas is a white sand beach that is a major nesting site for green sea turtles. The name Las Bachas (“potholes”) refers to the indentations left in the sand by laying turtles or departing hatchlings. On the shore there are marine iguanas, and in the lagoon area flamingos are common. Visitors are welcome to swim from the beach.

Day 2 Wednesday Tower Island: Prince Philip’s Steps / Darwin Bay
After a dry landing you climb up the fairly steep Prince Philip’s Steps that take you onto a lava rock trail leading you through Palo Santo forest full of nesting birds. There’s a good chance of seeing the unique short-eared owl at this site.

After lunch and a snorkel along the amazing cliff sides, you visit the beach area of Darwin Bay, home to frigate birds, red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, flycatchers, lava gulls, storm petrels, and Darwin finches. These are just some of the birds found in this bay that was formed from a caldera collapse.

Day 3 Thursday Santiago: James Bay
After a wet landing at James Bay onto a black beach, an easy stroll takes you near the coast line to observe tidal pools, marine birds, iguanas and sea lions, and often migratory birds that are present in this area. This is also a good place to observe the Galapagos hawk. The trail ends at the fur sea lion grottos and, being nocturnal feeders, the fur seals sleep in and around the grottos during the day. On returning to the beach visitors may snorkel or swim.

After lunch The Beagle will start navigating to the west side of Isabela Island.

Day 4 Friday Punta Espinosa (Fernandina) / Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela)
Fernandina is the youngest island of the archipelago. As you disembark at Punta Espinosa, you must be careful not to step on the marine iguanas piled up together to retain body heat. This visiting site is rich in wildlife, sea lions, flightless cormorants, penguins, herons, Sally light-foot crabs and much more, all living side by side on this small point with its mangrove forest.

At Punta Vicente Roca, you will enjoy a dinghy ride, which is an excellent way to observe the marine life found her. You will also snorkel in an area where underwater wildlife take full advantage of the nutrient-rich Cromwell current that reaches this area.

Day 5 Saturday Isabela: Tagus Cove / Urbina Bay
The 30 minute hike at Tagus Cove takes you to the top of a cliff to view the volcanic landscapes of Darwin Volcano and Darwin Lake, the latter an uplifted ultra-saline lake that is saltier than the sea. Historically, this cove was used as an anchorage site by pirates and whalers. It is aslo an excellent place to see marine and land birds.

Located to the south at the foot of the western side of the Alcedo Volcano, Urbina Bay was uplifted from the seabed in 1954, leaving coral heads sitting out of the water. There is a large colony of land iguanas, which have grown in population since the feral dogs and goats have been controlled through Project Isabela. It also affords an opportunity to see the Alcedo Volcano tortoise in its natural habitat.

Day 6 Sunday Isabela: Elizabeth Bay / Punta Moreno
Elizabeth Bay is a marine visitor site, therefore, the excursion is made by dinghy to the Mariela Rocks. Here there is an important colony of Galapagos penguins. The dinghy ride takes you into a cove surrounded by red mangroves. Here in these quiet lagoons there may be green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, golden rays, brown pelicans, small sharks, and flightless cormorants.

In the afternoon a lava walk takes you to a series of lagoons with plenty to see along the way. Darwin’s finches, Galapagos doves, penguins, blue-footed boobies, mockingbirds, and flightless cormorants are some of the abundant wild life. Still on Isabela, the largest island in Galapagos, you will explore Punta Moreno, a desolate and pristine landscape of impressive black lava flows affording good views of the Alcedo and Sierra Azul volcanoes.

Day 7 Monday Isabela: Sierra Negra / Villamil
After breakfast you will head off to the Sierra Negra volcano, the world’s second largest volcanic crater. It’s located in the southern part of Isabela Island. Transport will take you to within an hour of the crater rim, and for good walkers there is a hike to Volcano Chico to view active fumaroles! Otherwise a shorter walk can be done along the same trail.

Lunch is served back on The Beagle, and the afternoon is spent in Puerto Villamil with its long, white sandy, palm-lined beaches and several brackish water lagoons, where pink flamingos, common stilts, wimbrels, white-cheeked pintails, and gallinules are usually spotted. The beaches and lagoons are home to the best migratory bird viewing in the Galapagos Islands. The afternoon also includes a visit to the Arnaldo Tupiza Tortoise Breeding Centre to see Isabela’s giant tortoises.

Day 8 Tuesday Return to Ecuador Mainland
Today your cruise comes to an end. You will be escorted to Baltra airport your flight back to the Ecuadorian mainland.


Beagle 7 night Itinerary (South and Central)

Tuesday to Tuesday


Day 1 Tuesday Arrive to Santa Cruz / Charles Darwin Research Center
On arrival at Baltra Airport all visitors pay their entrance fee to the Galapagos National Park. You will then be met by The Beagle’s naturalist guide who will assist you with your luggage collection and accompany you on a short bus ride to the harbor to board The Beagle.

This afternoon you will visit the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, the main inhabited island in the archipelago, with a population of approximately 16,000. A visit to the station will increase your understanding of the work being done by the foundation and the importance of preserving the ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands. A series of walkways takes you through the captive breeding program where you will see juvenile and adult tortoises from different islands.

Day 2 Wednesday Puerto Velasco Ibarra / Cormorant Point
In the morning you will visit Puerto Velasco Ibarra on the island of Fernandina, the smallest human settlement in the Islands. Floreana was inhabited as early as the 1920′s and has a colorful history of pirates, whalers, convicts, and colonists. You will be driven up into the highlands on a dirt road in an open-sided bus known locally as a chiva. You’ll pass through chacras (small land holdings) up to a small fresh-water spring called Asilo de la Paz and visit a tortoise corral. After returning to the Beagle you’ll motor to Punta Cormorant and from there take the dinghy to go snorkeling at Devil’s Crown, a sunken cone with a superb variety of marine life.

At Punta Cormorant you land on a beach with green olivine sand. Several trails allow you to explore a brackish water lagoon with a colony of flamingos that are there most of the year, and white-cheeked pintail ducks, stilts, and other shorebirds feeding alongside flamingos. The trail then goes over a hill and dunes to a stunning white beach consisting of ground coral, where the green sea turtles nest.

Day 3 Thursday Espanola (Hood): Punta Suarez / Gardner Bay
Hood island is one of the most popular and attractive islands. The quantity and variety of wildlife here is remarkable. You will first make a visit to Punta Suarez where you can see the Waved Albatross from April to December. Blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Galapagos hawks, Darwin finches, Swallow-tailed gulls, Espanola mockingbirds, shorebirds, sea lions, marine iguanas, and lava lizards are just some of Hood Island’s residents.

Located on the eastern end of the island is Gardner Bay which has a wonderful sandy beach to lay out on and from which to go swimming or snorkeling with Galapagos sea lions.

Day 4 Friday San Cristobal: Punta Pitt / Isla Lobos
In the morning you will visit Punta Pitt on the island of San Cristobal. Here you will have impressive views from a plateau surrounded by reddish hills. Depending on the time of year there may be nesting marine iguanas, red-footed boobies, and other marine birds down on the cliffs.
After the visit you will return to the beagle and navigate to kicker rock where rocks rise 500 feet out of the ocean and resemble a sleeping lion, hence its name in Spanish, “León Dormido.”

In the afternoon you will visit Isla Lobos which has a sea lion colony and also an endemic lava lizard. It’s a good site for swimming and snorkeling alongside the sea lion pups, and on the islet you can visit the sea lion colony. Perhaps you’ll see the frigate birds displaying and building their nests, if their food supply is good. 

Day 5 Saturday Santa Fe / South Plaza
One of the most beautiful coves of all visitor sites in the Galapagos, Santa Fe has a turquoise cove sheltered by a peninsula extending from the shore by a row of rocks covered in Opuntia cactus and sea lions. This island was formed by an uplift caused by tectonic activity. You can see land iguanas, sea turtles, Galapagos hawks, sea lions, and a forest of Giant Opuntia cactus. It is also a good place to swim and snorkel in the clear turquoise blue sea.

In the afternoon you will make a visit to South Plaza Island, one of the best spots in the archipelago to see land iguanas and swallow-tailed gulls, both indigenous to the Galapagos. There are also iguana nests scattered all over the hill. The sheer cliffs of the southern shore are a perfect bird habitat, making it an unparalleled bird observatory, especially for Swallow-tailed gulls, Audubon Shearwaters, and Red-billed tropicbirds.

Day 6 Sunday North Seymour / Bartolome
In the morning you will visit North Seymour Island, which is home to several species of marine birds: Swallow-tailed gulls, Blue-footed boobies, Noddy terns, and both the Great and the Magnificent Frigate birds. Land iguanas are found alongside marine iguanas, and there are the ever-present comic sea lions as well. North Seymour is a low, flat island located north of Baltra Island and was formed by being uplifted from the sea by underground seismic activity.

In the afternoon you will visit Bartolome, a small island located to the east of James Island. Famous for its pinnacle rock, it is home to a small rookery of Galapagos penguins. You can swim and snorkel around Pinnacle Rock, or walk to the other side of the island to see sea turtles nesting (from January to March) and sharks swimming close to shore. You can also climb to the highest point of the island, a climb which gives you the chance to see plants that live in lava and ash and many interesting lava formations.

Day 7 Monday Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) / Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill)
In the morning you will visit Chinese Hat, a little island shaped as its name implies, which sits off the southeastern tip of James Island. It´s small white beaches have a sea lion colony and snorkeling is usually very good.

After your visit to Chinese Hat you will continue on to Cerro dragon, located on the northwest coast of Santa Cruz Island. A visit to Cerro Dragon (“Dragon Hill”) will take you through Palo Santo trees and Opuntia cactus, past a couple of lagoons where flamingos can be seen and where land iguanas live. 

Day 8 Tuesday Santa Cruz: Black Turtle Cove / Return to mainland Ecuador
Today your cruise will come to an end. In the morning you will visit Black Turtle Cove, navigating through the mangrove inlets in your dinghy. These lagoons provide a refuge to rays, sharks, and sea turtles that are often clearly visible alongside the boat. The engine is turned off and you slowly approach the different species that live in this peaceful place. Your guide will then take you back to the airport, a ten-minute ride where you will catch your return flight to the Ecuadorian mainland.

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