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Evolution: Yacht Details
The best of small yacht cruising and comfort in the Galapagos
The Evolution is a 32 passenger luxury vessel, 192 feet long. It has the atmosphere of one of the smaller yachts in the islands, while providing some additional space. Decks and social areas are spacious and well appointed. Guides, food, and service are of top quality. An excellent way to see the Galapagos, combining the best of small yacht cruising and comfort.Day by Day Itinerary
BRIEF SUMMARY (for detailed island visits please scroll down)7 night cruises run from Saturday to Saturday
Itinerary A
Saturday: Arrive to Baltra / Whaler Bay / Eden Islet
Sunday: Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela) / Punta Espinosa (Fernandina)
Monday: Isabela: Urbina Bay / Tagus Cove
Tuesday: Bartolome Island / Sullivan Bay (Santiago Island)
Wednesday: Santa Cruz: Bachas Beach / Dragon Hill
Thursday: Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Center / Highlands
Friday: Espanola: Punta Suarez / Gardner Bay
Saturday: San Cristobal: Interpretation Center
Itinerary B
Saturday: San Cristobal: Ochoa Beach & Kicker Rock
Sunday: South Plaza / Punta Carrion (Santa Cruz) / Daphne Island
Monday: Chinese Hat / James Bay (Santiago)
Tuesday: Tower Island: Prince Phillip’s Steps / Darwin Bay
Wednesday: North Seymour / Santa Fe
Thursday: Floreana: Post Office Bay / Cormorant Point / Devil’s Crown
Friday: Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Center / Highlands
Saturday: Santa Cruz: Black Turtle Cove
Evolution 7 night Itinerary A
Saturday to Saturday
| Day 1 | Saturday | Arrive to Baltra / Whaler Bay / Eden Islet |
|
Upon arrival to the
Galapagos Islands you board the M/V
Evolution where you will
have lunch and a quick briefing en route to the first visitor
sites: Whaler Bay, a
beautiful green sand cove at the base of Dragon Hill and Eden
Islet, home to a great variety
of seabirds and marine iguanas and also a great snorkeling
site. After these visits, you be invited to a welcome cocktail and first briefing before dinner. |
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| Day 2 | Sunday | Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela) / Punta Espinosa (Fernandina) |
|
In
the morning you will visit Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island.
Snorkeling is incredible here due to the nutrient-rich waters of
the Humboldt Current that bathe the western side of the
archipelago. You will have a chance to see colorful fish, sea
lions, penguins, and sea turtles in the water. In the afternoon you will visit Fernandina Island, home to La Cumbre volcano, which erupts frequently (most recently in May 2005). You will visit Punta Espinosa, a narrow spit of land where a number of unique species such as marine iguanas, sea lions, flightless cormorants, herons, egrets, and Galapagos hawks can be seen. |
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| Day 3 | Monday | Isabela: Urbina Bay / Tagus Cove |
|
Today will visit
Urbina Bay which is directly west of Isabela’s Volcano Alcedo.
You will make an easy, wet landing (a hop into a few inches of
water) and then walk on a three mile (5 km) stretch of the marine
reef that has been uplifted by as much as 13 feet (4 meters) out
of the water. Highlights of this excursion are the giant land
iguanas and giant tortoises. You will also have the opportunity
to go snorkeling amongst marine creatures or relax on shore.
In the afternoon you visit Tagus Cove on Isabela Island. A wooden stairway rises to the trail entrance and continues around Darwin Lake through a dry vegetation zone. The site provides spectacular views of the boat in the bay, as well as the Darwin and Wolf Volcanoes. |
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| Day 4 | Tuesday | Bartolome Island / Sullivan Bay (Santiago Island) |
|
In
the morning you will visit Bartolome Island, famous for Pinnacle
Rock. Here you will see Galapagos Penguins and sea lions. You
will also hike a trail to Bartolome’s summit where you will be
rewarded with spectacular views of Pinnacle Rock and the beach
where the yacht is. The afternoon visit is to Sullivan Bay, one of the most outstanding volcanic sites in the Galapagos. In the nearly 100 years since the Sullivan Bay Flow, only a few plants like Mollugo and Lava cacti have managed to take root in the harsh environment. Oystercatchers can be seen fishing for crabs and mollusks in the tide pools of Sullivan Bay. After exploring the lava flow, there is time for swimming and snorkeling with playful sea lions off two small coral beaches. |
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| Day 5 | Wednesday | Santa Cruz: Bachas Beach / Dragon Hill |
|
In
the morning you will visit Las Bachas, a sandy white-coral beach
that is a major egg-laying site for sea turtles. The name Bachas
refers to the remains of landing craft left here at the end of
WWII. Marine iguanas mingle with flamingos and other wading birds
in another of the many super saline lagoons found in the
Galapagos. The afternoon visit is to Dragon Hill, named for the large number of land iguanas that frequent the area. It is also an important nesting site for iguanas reintroduced by the Charles Darwin Research Center. A short walk from the beach leads to a hypersalinic (saltier than the ocean) lagoon that is frequented by pink flamingos, common stilts, pintail ducks, and other species of birds. From here, you will pass through a forest of the endemic Scalesia tree. There are only 400 specimens of the Scalesia tree left in the world. Past the forest you will hike up Dragon Hill for impressive views of the bay. |
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| Day 6 | Thursday | Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Center / Highlands |
|
Today
you will visit Santa Cruz, the second largest island in the
Galapagos with it´s capital, Puerto Ayora. Puerto Ayora is the
economic center of the Islands. In the morning you will visit the
Charles Darwin Research Station to visit the Giant Tortoise and
Land Iguana Breeding and Rearing Program. In the afternoon you will visit the Highlands, where the dry coastal vegetation transitions to lush wet fields and forests overgrown with moss and lichens. The destination is the Tortoise Reserve, where you will have a chance see these animals in the wild, walk through lava tubes, and see the Gemelos (twin collapsed craters). |
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| Day 7 | Friday | Espanola: Punta Suarez / Gardner Bay |
|
Hood Island is the
southernmost island of the archipelago and is one of the most
popular due to the breathtaking variation and number of fauna that
inhabit it. In the morning you will visit Punta Suarez where you
will witness the largest variety of marine iguanas in the
Galapagos. You will also see masked and blue footed boobies
nesting along the cliff’s edge, as well as the famous waved
albatross.
In the afternoon you will visit Gardner Bay, a magnificent long white sandy beach where colonies of sea lions lay in the sun, sea turtles swim offshore, and inquisitive mockingbirds boldly investigate new arrivals. |
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| Day 8 | Saturday | San Cristobal: Interpretation Center / Cruise Ends |
| Today the cruise comes to an end, but before that you will visit the Galapagos National Park Visitor Centre on San Cristobal Island. The Centre presents a comprehensive exhibit of the island´s natural history, human interaction, ecosystems, flora, and fauna. Tour naturalist guide will use the exhibits to provide an illustrated overview of life on the Islands. A short trail arrives at Frigate Bird Hill, where both “magnificent-frigates” and “great-frigates” can be seen in the same colony. Next you return to the airport for your flight back to the Ecuadorian mainland. | ||
Evolution 7 night Itinerary B
Saturday to Saturday
| Day 1 | Saturday | Begin Cruise / San Cristobal: Ochoa Beach & Kicker Rock |
|
Upon arrival to the
Galapagos Islands you board the M/V
Evolution where you will
have lunch and a quick briefing en route to the first visitor
sites: Ochoa Beach, a
beautiful white coral sand beach next to a turquoise bay and home
to a small colony of sea lions. You end the day at Kicker
Rock, a spectacular rock
formation that rises 152 meters (500 feet) out of the Pacific
Ocean. It takes the form of a sleeping lion. After these visits you will get ready for the welcome cocktail and first briefing before dinner. |
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| Day 2 | Sunday | South Plaza / Punta Carrion (Santa Cruz) / Daphne Island |
|
In
the morning you will visit South Plaza Island and see it´s land
iguanas wandering through bright red carpet weed. You will see
swallow tailed gulls nesting around the overhang tops and
red-billed tropicbirds, frigate birds, and shearwaters flying with
dancing displays. The afternoon involves snorkeling at Punta Carrion followed by a visit to Daphne Island. The geology of this island is extremely interesting as it is essentially one large tuff cone – a giant pile of compressed volcanic ash shaped like a cone. |
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| Day 3 | Monday | Chinese Hat / James Bay (Santiago) |
|
The
morning visit is to the Chinese Hat Islet, a fairly recent
volcanic cone. This islet has the shape of a down-facing Chinese
hat. On the rocky shoreline of nearby Santiago, Galapagos
penguins are often seen. There is a small sea lion cove on the
north shore, where boats anchor and land at the visitor site.
Later in the morning you will have an opportunity to snorkel with
sea lions and penguins as well as swim in the cove. The afternoon visit is to James Bay, where you will land on a black beach with intriguing eroded rock formations. A trail leads to a series of crystal-clear grottos formed of broken lava tubes, which are home to sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, and tropical fish. |
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| Day 4 | Tuesday | Tower Island: Prince Phillip’s Steps / Darwin Bay |
| Today you will visit Genovesa (Tower) Island. Tower Island could serve as a film set for a secret submarine base. The southwestern part of the island is an ocean-filled caldera ringed by the outer edges of a sizeable and mostly submerged volcano. The island sits to the northwest, slightly removed from the Galapagos archipelago. It is also known as “Bird Island,” a name it lives up to in a spectacular way! | ||
| Day 5 | Wednesday | North Seymour / Santa Fe |
|
In
the morning you will visit North Seymour Island which is teaming
with wildlife! Cliffs only a few meters high form the shoreline
and are home to many swallow-tailed gulls. A tiny forest of
silver-grey Palo Santo trees stands just above the landing where a
trail will take you to see sea lions, marine iguanas, blue footed
boobies, pelicans, magnificent frigate birds, and land iguanas. The afternoon visit is to Santa Fe Island, home to one of the most beautiful and sheltered bays of the archipelago and to some of the best snorkeling site due to it´s crystal clear waters. This is one of the best locations to see sea turtles, swim with sea lions, and glimpse of the Galapagos White-tipped Shark. After a wet landing you will walk up to a nearby cliff to see the land iguanas through an area of Opuntia Cactus. |
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| Day 6 | Thursday | Floreana: Post Office Bay / Cormorant Point / Devil’s Crown |
|
Today
you will visit Floreana Island. Floreana has had a colorful
history: Pirates, whalers, convicts, and a small band of somewhat
peculiar colonists—a Baroness among them—who chose a Robinson
Crusoe existence that ended in mystery and death. You will visit
Post Office Bay, where in 1793 British whalers set up a barrel as
the island‘s Post Office, to send letters home on passing ships.
The tradition continues to this day, simply by dropping a post
card into the barrel without a stamp.
The afternoon visit takes you to Punta Cormorant which offers two highly contrasting beaches; a green-olivine beach and an iron-red beach. Between the two beaches is a salt lagoon frequented by flamingoes, pintails, stilts, and other wading birds. In the late afternoon you can snorkel at Devil’s Crown, which is home to a myriad of marine species including a variety of corals, pencil sea urchin, wrasses, angelfish and amberjacks. |
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| Day 7 | Friday | Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Center / Highlands |
|
Santa
Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos and its
capital, Puerto Ayora, is the economic center of the Islands. In
the morning you will visit the Charles Darwin Research Station to
visit the Giant Tortoise and Land Iguana Breeding and Rearing
Program. The afternoon visit is to the Highlands, where the dry coastal vegetation transitions to lush wet fields and forests overgrown with moss and lichens. The destination is the Tortoise Reserve where you will have chances see these animals in the wild. |
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| Day 8 | Saturday | Santa Cruz: Black Turtle Cove / Cruise Ends |
| Today the cruise comes to end, but before that you will visit Black Turtle Cove, a beautiful mangrove estuary where you will quietly drift in the panga to see spotted eagle rays, diamond shaped mustard rays, white-tipped reef sharks, pacific green sea turtles, and a large variety of shore birds. Next you head to Baltra Island airport for the flight back to the Ecuadorian mainland. | ||
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