A different Galapagos adventure

Day 1:
AM
You will be greeted by our staff who will accompany you on a very short bus ride to than catch the Ferry to cross to Santa Cruz Island (aprox. 10 minutes).
Depending on your flight schedule, we will be in Santa Cruz at around 11:30, to board our private transportation for a final 30 minute ride to Aventura Lodge, to check in and rest or relax in the facilities. Once you are accommodated in your room, lunch will be served.
PM
Tour to Garrapatero Beach After lunch you will depart, always in the company of a naturalist guide, to Garrapatero beach. A 25 minutes bus ride takes you to the starting point of an easy trail that will lead you, with a leisurely 15 minute walk through stunning landscapes, to the beach.
This calm, white sand beach is known for its flamingos and finches and a place where you can relax and enjoy the magical surroundings. This is one of Santa Cruz´s most peaceful and tranquil settings, the 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of sand that compose El Garrapatero Beach is a tropical paradise.
Surrounded by beautiful mangrove trees, the beach is home to an incredible array of birds, most notably, flamingos and mockingbirds. You can also find marine iguanas, shrimp, Galapagos penguins, oystercatchers, and patillos amongst the white sands and clear blue water.
After this visit you will be transported back to the Lodge to enjoy dinner and then hear a briefing of the next day´s activities.

Day 2: Santa Cruz - Floreana
AM
After a delicious breakfast at the Lodge, we will start our adventure with a trip to "Los Gemelos" (The Twins), two enormous collapsed lava chambers-a breathtaking visual reminder of the power of nature. The short, easy hike to each of the twins is swarming with endemic flora and fauna, including the remaining Scalesia Forest, draped in liverwort, with large and small tree finches, the beautiful vermillion flycatcher, and much more. It's a wonderful introduction to the majestic power of the forces of nature and the great biodiversity of the Santa Cruz Highlands.
We will also visit a 600-acre private reserve where the giant Galapagos tortoises freely roam, graze, and sleep in their natural habitat. As prehistoric as these creatures look, wait until you hear what they sound like! After visiting the tortoises, we'll take a 5-minute ride to the entrance of a 450-meter (1350 feet) illuminated lava tunnel. Stalagmites, stalactites, sulfur, mineral-colored walls, and the rippled floor formed from lava can all be experienced in this unique Galapagos stroll.
We will return to the Lodge to have lunch, after which you will depart to Floreana Island. This navegation will take around 2 hours (According to sea conditions).
PM
Once in Floreana, you will visit Black Beach, a beautiful spot to swim, snorkel, or simply relax by enjoying the special scenery. From here you can also walk to La Loberia.
After the visit you will check in at the hotel to then enjoy dinner at a local family restaurant where you will not only try the typical Galapagueño cuisine, but also see their traditions and culture. This is a truly genuine experience in the company of one of the first families to arrive at the island.

Day 3: Floreana - Isabela
AM
The day starts with a breakfast at a local family house. Afterwards you will hop on an open air bus (called chiva) that will transport you up to the highlands of Floreana while your Naturalist Guide begins to fill you in on the history of this place, the first settled island in the Galapagos. You will walk up to see the Asilo de la Paz (Peace Asylum), named given to a natural spring that attracted pirates, whalers, and years later, settlers to Floreana. This was one of the very few year-round sources of fresh water in the Galapagos.
The Cueva de los Piratas (Pirate´s Cave) is quite literally where pirates carved temporary shelters out of soft stone. It is also where one of the original settlers, Margret Wittmer, gave birth to one of her sons, Rolf. Some have jokingly referred to it as the "Stonehenge" of Floreana because of its interesting shapes. Next stop is Cerro Pajas (Bird Hill) which truly lives up to its name with a multitude of Floreana finches. It also offers spectacular views of the island and the sea below. We will visit a tortoise reserve where you can watch many of the giant tortoises up close and personal.
All the while, your Naturalist Guide will be pointing out the wildlife as well as tell you the colorful history of Floreana's first inhabitants, like the Baroness or the legend of the "Floreana Mystery", which involves the mysterious deaths of several inhabitants. The mystery has never been solved.
At 11:00 AM you will depart for Isabela Island, just 2 hours away from Floreana. Arriving time is around 12:30 PM to a port which is considered a visual feast; with stunning green and turquoise water so clear that it´s easy to see turtles, sea lions, and penguins as by looking through glass. We will check into the Red Mangrove Isabela Lodge and have a wholesome lunch. (Time scheduled could change according to sea conditions).
PM
After lunch, we will board a smaller craft to head out across the bay, slowing down to view blue-footed boobies and Galapagos penguins sharing the same rocky sunbathing space, before turning a bend and docking.
From the dock you will take an intriguing walk through a jagged lava field, passing abundant colonies of marine iguanas, to see a small canal full of resting white-tipped reef sharks. The views that form this place are something you will take with you for the rest of your life! The black, treacherous lava field, the emerald green sea, the forest green mangrove, and the cloud-capped volcanoes of Isla Isabela create an afternoon backdrop you are not likely to ever forget.
Once you return to the dock, you can snorkel in this warm, shallow bay surrounded by mangrove trees. This is the perfect opportunity to see white-tipped reef sharks, sea lions, penguins, and, of course, the mystery of the mangrove below the surface. Don't worry, white-tipped reef sharks are not aggressive, merely fascinating.
Back at the Lodge, you will have a bit of time to relax and shower before the briefing for the next day and dinner.

Day 4: Isabela
AM
After a good breakfast, served at the lodge, you will depart for the Sierra Negra Tour. With vehicles of local providers, and in the company of a guide, you will be driven up through the humid highlands to the slopes of Volcano Sierra Negra, where a short hike will take you to the caldera (crater) of the volcano. The views are breathtaking! Here, it is possible to relax a bit and have a snack on the edge of the crater while enjoying the landscape.
If you have the energy and physical condition, there is the option to continue on a especially difficult one hour walk to Volcano Chico, where fumarole activity is abundant, and the landscape spectacular. However, this is not an easy hike as it is mostly across sloping lava fields.
PM
After this adventure you will be greeted with lunch at Campo Duro. Campo Duro is a beautiful an organic farm whose food is prepared with local production and a lava rock-grill; take a stroll along the fruit trail and eat some of it, or you can rest in one of the hammocks and breathe the clean air above a big "Mango tree". This property also takes care of giants tortoises in liaison with the Galapagos National Park.
After this visit you will be driven back to the lodge to relax and have time to discover Isabela on your own. Other possibilities are snorkeling or swimming at the nearby beach.
At night dinner will be served at the Lodge before the usual briefing.

Day 5: Isabela - Santa Cruz
AM
Breakfast will be served at the Lodge. Then, you will depart to the Humedales Tour. It begins with a drive out of town along the most beautiful, white sand, palm lined beach in all of Galapagos: Long Beach.
This beach, straight from the cover of a travel magazine, stretches on for 3 kilometers before the National Park, where trail uphill leads to astounding views from the top of Cerro Orchilla.
We visit the "Muro de Las Lagrimas" (Wall of Tears), a unique construction built by the backbreaking labor of prisoners of a penal colony centuries earlier. On the path to the Wall of Tears you will see an abundance of lava lizards; the males are larger and striped and the females red-throated.
PM
Lunch will be served at Isabela Lodge prior to your departure to Santa Cruz. This navegation takes around 2 hours, according to weather and sea conditions
Once in Puerto Ayora, you will again check in at Aventura Lodge. Afterwards, you will visit the fascinating Charles Darwin Research Station, the best place to learn about the whole Galapagos Islands and meet the most famous giant tortoise: Lonesome George.
Dinner and overnight at Aventura Lodge

Day 6 : Santa Cruz - Quito or Guayaquil
AM
After a hearty breakfast at the lodge, our guide will accompany you to the airport in Baltra to catch your flight back to the mainland