GUANTANAMERA YACHT (24th to 31st August)

Characteristics:

The design of the Guantanamera is based in efficiency and comfort with ample social areas and cabins providing optimum comfort for your experience exploring the Galapagos. It carries 16 guests in double cabins with private facilities, A/C and hot water. Her stern platform was designed specially to comply with Galapagos Scuba Diving requirements.

M/Y Guantanamera Built in 2000 (launched in November) is a comfortable yacht with spacious eight double cabins all of them with private facilities, hot and cold water and air conditioning. It has a modern design and offers a bar-restaurant area together with spacious resting areas.

Technical Specifications

Type:   Motor Yacht
Category: Tourist Superior
Capacity: 16 passengers
Year:  2000
Length:75.5 feet / 23 m
Beam:21.5 feet / 6.5 m
Speed:10 knots
Crew:6 members plus 1 Bilingual Naturalist Guide

Facilities and Accommodations

6 double cabins with upper and lower berths, 2 double cabins with double beds; all cabins have private bathrooms (toilet, shower, sink), full air conditioning, dining room and bar, small library, TV, VCR, stereo, large sundeck, diving platform, diving equipment and snorkeling equipment

Itinerary:

CRUISE C:  8 days/7 nights (Sunday to Sunday)

Sun:    Baltra Airport – Bachas Beach
Mon:    Plazas Island – Santa Fe Island
Tue:     Punta Suárez  – Gardner Bay  (Española Island)
Wed:   Punta Cormorant – Corona del Diablo and Post Office Bay (Floreana Island)
Thurs:  Charles Darwin Station – Highland Sta. Cruz.
Fri:       Rabida Island  – Bartolome
Sat:     Genovesa
Sun:    North Seymour – Baltra Airport

ITINERARY DAY BY DAY

Sunday: Flight to Galapagos /Baltra Island.
Flight to Galapagos to Baltra Island where you will start your cruises aboard the Guantanamera Yacht after a short drive to the harbour. The deserted, picturesque beach Las Bachas at the northern shore of Santa Cruz invites you for a swim in the crystal-clear water or to relax in the sun. Afterwards you will be visiting the bay Caleta Tortuga Negra which is close by. This bay is surrounded by mangroves where you can spot pelicans and herons. While snorkeling you can have a swim with the turtles, white-tip sharks and rays.

Monday: Plazas South - Santa Fe
Located on the east of Santa Cruz, the main characteristics on the small island South Plaza are the Opuntia cacti and the carpets of red sesuvium, a succulent plant that turns green in the rainy season. The cactus is the main food of land iguanas, which are usually found resting at the cactu's shade. The island contains one of the largest sea lion colony of Galapagos, swallow-tailed gulls and red-billed tropicbirds nesting, and boobies roosting on the south cliff of the island.
Santa Fe has one of the most beautiful coves of all the visitor sites in the archipelago. A turquoise lagoon with two small white sand beaches are protected by a peninsula where sea lions rest. A trail runs along side the coast and then crosses through an Opuntia Forest. These prickly pear cacti are the largest ones in Galapagos. The Santa Fe species of land iguanas are larger and of a paler yellow than on the other islands. After the hike you can swim or snorkel in the bay in company of sea lions.

Tuesday: Española Island-Punta Suarez-Gardner Bay
One of the oldest of the islands, Española is small and flat with no visible volcanic crater or vent. Punta Suarez is one of the most outstanding wildlife areas of the archipelago, with a long list of species found along its cliffs and sand or pebble beaches. In addition to five species of nesting seabirds there are the curious and bold Española Island mockingbirds, Galapagos doves and Galapagos hawks. Several types of reptiles, including the brilliantly colored marine iguana and the oversized lava lizard, are unique to this island. When heavy swells are running, Punta Suarez is also the site of a spectacular blowhole, with thundering spray shooting 30 yards into the air.
 
Gardner Bay is on the eastern shore and has a magnificent beach. This beach is frequented by a transient colony of sea lions, and is a major nesting site for marine turtles. Around the small islets nearby, snorkelers will find lots of fish and sometimes turtles and sharks. On a trail leading to the western tip of the island you'll pass the only nesting sites in the Galapagos of the waved albatross, huge birds with a 6-foot wingspan. These huge birds nest here from April to December and represent the majority of the world's population of this species

Wednesday: Floreana - Pto. Cormorant / Devil's crown / Post Office Bay
Floreana Island is perceived as one of the most exotic Islands of the archipelago.
At Punta Cormorant you land on a green olivine sand beach. Following a 100 m long path you will soon reach a lagoon with flamingoes, white-checked pintail ducks and other shorebirds. The trail goes on to a white beach made of grinned coral, so it looks like flour. This is the green sea turtle's nesting place. North of Punta Cormorant and eroded volcano, Devil's Crown, is a snorkel's delight. To the west, Post Office Bay keeps the legendary post barrel that whalers used to send their mail.

Thursday: Santa Cruz/Estacion Charles Darwin – Highlands
Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos. The small town of Puerto Ayora is the economic centre of the archipelago, with the largest population of the 4 inhabited islands (approx 10.000). Santa Cruz is also the only island where six different zones of vegetation can be seen: Coastal, Arid, Transition, Scalesia, Miconia, and Pampa Zones. The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park offices are based here. We will have an opportunity to visit some of the best scientists of their kind. Scientists, park rangers and park managers among others, who make huge efforts to preserve this Unesco World Heritage Site, conduct the conservation of the islands. The station is also a tortoise breeding and rearing center, where tortoises of different subspecies are prepared for reintroduction to their natural habitats. The most popular inhabitant of this island will probably be Lonesome George. He is the only survivor of the specific turtle species.

The lush greenery of the Santa Cruz highlands is a welcome contrast with the arid scenery of the smaller, lower islands. Points of interest are the famed lava tunnels, a fun and geologically informative visit. The trip to the highlands ends with a visit to the Twin Craters. The vegetation around these is very special and is renown for its about 300 fern species and the many sunflowers.

Friday: James Bay – Rábida
From the visitor center at James Bay on the island Santiago a small path leads you in southern direction along the coast. Passing by the ruins of a former salt mine company and the many inhabitants of the bank area, like sea lions, lizards, herons, and cancers, you arrive at the famous fur seal grotto, the best place at Galápagos in order to observe these elegant animals. In the afternoon you'll do a trip to the beach of the small volcanic island Rabida. A small path leads to a small lagoon very popular with flamingos. On the way there you pass many pelicans nesting. The beach is also considered as one of the most beautiful snorkel places in Galápagos and also frequently visited by many sea lions due to its fish wealth.

Saturday: Bartholome - Sullivans Bay
Arriving at Bartholome we will ascend a lookout point from where you can admire the spectacular panorama of the Sullivan Bay and the famous needle shaped rock, the so called Pinnacle Rock. The beaches at the foot of the Pinnacle Rock boast some fine snorkeling spots from which you can discover the marvelous underwater world with a good chance to encounter penguins or the softly gliding turtles.
Later on you will anchor at Santiago Island's wonderful Sullivan Bay. At your arrival sea lions will stick their heads out of the water to welcome you and the season the turtles hatch the beaches are covered with little turtles. The main attraction of the bay is the broad, about 100 years old stream of lava and its bizarre surface.

Sunday: Seymour North - Baltra - flight back to Quito
You will visit the Island Seymour North, which is most of all renown for its frigate birds and their intensive courting rituals. The island is also inhabited by other frigate birds and blue-footed boobies, as well as endemic black lizards and sea lions inhabit its shores. After that we will have a short stop at the harbor of Baltra (formerly known as south Seymour). You will cross the Itabaca Channel to Baltra, to take your flight back to the mainland.

In the price included:
All meals aboard, briefings and lectures, all transfers in Galapagos, guides and tour leaders.

Not included in the price:
Flights mainland to/from Galápagos, we handle reservations and ticket purchase ( USD 399); Park fee, (USD 110.- per person cost which have to be paid at the Galapagos Airport)