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An Amazon and Galapagos Islands itinerary designed by Tim Lapage and Safari Experts
for the National ability Center – Red, White and Snow 2013.
Day 01
Swissotel – Quito, Ecuador
Arrive Quito, Ecuador at their brand new airport in the evening.
You will be met upon arrival by your guide and transfer to the Swissotel Quito.
The hotel overlooks Cotopaxi and Pichincha Volcanoes, and stands in the most
prestigious area of the Ecuadorian capital, close to excellent shopping. While
Quito is just 22 kilometers from the Equator, it enjoys a mild climate, more like the
spring in England than the tropics. The weather is ideal for touring the surrounding
colonial areas of Quito or the quaint markets and charming haciendas of the local
countryside.
Day 02 - 04
Sacha Lodge – Amazon Basin
Day 02 – After breakfast, drive back to Quito airport for your departure. The
journey to Sacha Jungle Lodge begins upon check in, where a representative
from the lodge will meet you and deliver your airline tickets and documents.
You’ll depart at 11:30am on a short 25-minute flight over the Andes
Mountains' majestic snow-covered peaks, dropping down over 8500 feet (2600
meters) into the Amazon Region.
The flight destination is the port town of Puerto
Francisco de Orellana, locally known as “Coca”,
where you will be met by a bilingual guide and taken
to a private dock. Here you will pause for a snack and to use the rest rooms before
boarding a covered motorized canoe for a 2-hour, 50-mile trip down the sedimentrich waters of the Napo, the largest river in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Imagine
yourself drifting down a winding jungle waterway surrounded on all sides by a
lush, endless sea of tropical greenery. You may catch a glimpse of magnificently
colored macaws or a family of furry red howler monkeys huddled in a treetop as
you continue deeper into the heart of the Amazon Basin to Sacha Lodge. Here you
will disembark at their landing, take a 45 minute walk on a walkway through the forest to a lagoon, where
you board a canoe for a 20 minute paddle into the lodge itself. A haven for nature lovers, bird watchers,
scientists and adventure seekers, Sacha Lodge provides comfortable accommodation, first-class meals and
expert guides to help experience the wonders of the tropical rainforest, on foot and by canoe.
Return to Quito for a night prior to your flight westwards, via Guayaquil, into the Pacific, to the Galapagos
islands.
Tim Lapage
P.O.Box 680098 Park City UT 84068-0098
Tel 435 649 4655
www.safariexperts.com
Independent Safari Consultant
e-mail: [email protected]
Day 06 – Day 12
Galapagos Islands Cruise
The itinerary is subject to change without notice for
various factors including but not limited to: safety,
weather, mechanical breakdown, unforeseen emergencies,
and the discretion of the Captain, Guide, Quasar Nautica,
and most possibly, the Galapagos National Park.
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Cruise Day 01
Fly from Quito to Galapagos – Puerto Baquerizo, Island of San Cristobal
Galapagos Cruise– Island of San Cristobal – M/S Grace
Morning: You will be collected from the airport by a representative from Quasar Expeditions who will take
you to your yacht The M/S Grace which will be your home for the next 8 days, as you experience one of the
great wildlife experiences on earth.
The M/S Grace is a classic motor yacht from days gone by, with a rich history. Named after her late owner,
Her Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, the name is a representation of her elegance, beauty and prestige.
Grace is the ideal yacht for the traveler who seeks a true explorer experience, complemented with excellent
service, superb accommodations and excellent dining. Grace has 9 cabins that accommodate up to 18
passengers. Each cabin has its own private facilities with toilets and walk in showers, but please bear in
mind, the cabins are small.
Animals are of course seasonal. Your itinerary is subject to change without notice for various factors
including but not limited to: safety, weather, mechanical breakdown, unforeseen emergencies, and the
discretion of the Captain, Guide, Quasar Nautica, and the Galapagos National Park.
San Cristobal Island: Galapagos National Park Visitor Centre
As you pass through the Galápagos National Park Visitor Centre, you will be treated to views of the harbor
where your yacht awaits you below. From there it’s a short ride to the harbor and before long you will
tender from shore to the Grace. Your captain and crew will be waiting to greet you and will ensure that your
bags reach your cabin. Now it’s time to get settled in, have some lunch, and relax as you set sail on your
voyage.
Afternoon: San Cristobal - Playa Ochoa
Afternoon: Isla Lobos
Heading up the coast from Wreck Bay and Puerto
Baquerizo, you will see Isla Lobos across a small channel off
the coast of San Cristóbal. This basalt island outcropping
lives up to its name of “Sea Lion Island” with its noisy
population of frolicking and barking beasts. It is also a
nesting place for blue-footed boobies and an excellent spot
for snorkeling. This is your first chance to share the water
with a playful colony of the ‘wolves of the sea’.
Cruise Day 02
Hood (Española) Island
Morning: Hood Island—Gardner Bay
On the northeastern shore of Hood, Gardner Bay offers a magnificent long white sandy beach, where
colonies of sea lions laze in the sun, oblivious to your presence, sea turtles swim offshore, and inquisitive
mockingbirds boldly investigate new arrivals. You will be lured into the turquoise water for a swim, but just
a little further off-shore, the snorkeling by Tortuga rock and Gardner Island offers unforgettable encounters
with playful young sea lions and large schools of surprisingly big tropical fish, including yellow tailed
surgeonfish, king angelfish and bump-head parrot fish. Sleepy white-tipped reef sharks sometimes are seen
napping on the bottom.
Afternoon: Hood Island - Punta Suarez
Hood is the southernmost island of the archipelago, and is one of
the most popular due to the breathtaking variation and sheer
number of fauna that greet the visitor. The quantity and variety of
wildlife at Punta Suarez is remarkable. Sea lions surf the waves
beyond the breakwater landing, and tiny pups are known to greet
your toes upon arrival. A few steps inland are the largest variety
of marine iguana in the Galápagos. They bear distinctive red and
black markings, some with a flash of turquoise running down
their spine, and they nap in communal piles. The trail then takes
you beside the western edge of the island where masked boobies
nest along the cliff’s edge, and then descends to a rocky beach
before rising to an open area and a large gathering of nesting blue-foot boobies. Galápagos doves, cactus
finch and mocking birds forage all around you, unconcerned by human presence.
The trail continues to the high cliff edge of the southern shore, below which , a shelf of black lava reaches
out into the surf creating a blowhole which shoots a geyser of water high into the air. Further east along the
cliffs is the “Albatross Airport” where “waved albatross” line up to launch their great winged bodies from
the cliffs, soaring out over the dramatic shoreline of crashing waves and driving spray. In the trees, set back
from these cliffs, is one of only two nesting sites of waved albatross in the world. In fact, the 12,000 pairs
that inhabit Hood Island comprise all but a tiny fraction of the world’s population of this species. Lucky
visitors can watch courtship ‘fencing’ done with great yellow beaks and necks among the large, fluffy,
perfectly camouflaged chicks. Mating occurs year round.
Cruise Day 03
Floreana Island
Morning: Floreana – Punta Cormorant
Floreana has had a colorful history. Here, pirates, whalers, convicts, and a small band of somewhat peculiar
colonists, including a Baroness, chose a Robinson Crusoe existence that ended in mystery and death. Today
roughly fifty Ecuadorians inhabit the island. Punta Cormorant offers two highly contrasting beaches; the
strand where the yacht will anchor is composed of volcanic
olivine crystals, giving it a greenish tint that glitters in the sun.
From here a trail crosses the neck of the isthmus, to a beach of
very fine white sand, formed by the erosion of coral skeletons.
Between the two beaches is a salt lagoon frequented by
flamingoes, pintails, stilts and other wading birds.
Afternoon: Floreana – Post Office Bay & Devils Crown
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 catch is you must
take a post card from the barrel and see that it gets to the right place. That is how the system began and
continues to this day. Some claim it works better than the post office! 250 meters north from Punta
Cormorant is an old submerged volcanic cone that has been worn down by waves, Devil's Crown is home to
a myriad of marine species including a variety of corals, pencil sea urchin, wrasses, angelfish, amberjacks
and many other creatures, making for some of the best snorkeling in the Galápagos. The eroded crater walls
form a popular roosting site for seabirds, including boobies and pelicans.
Cruise Day 04
Santa Cruz Island (Indefatigable)
Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galápagos and something of a hub for the archipelago. The
small town of Puerto Ayora in the southwest of this large, round volcanic island is the economic center of
the Islands, with the largest population of the four inhabited islands (approx. 10,000). Tourism - including
refurbishing and resupplying yachts—along with fishing and boat building, are major sources of commerce.
Morning: Charles Darwin Research Station
Puerto Ayora is home to both the Galápagos National Park and
Charles Darwin Research Station, the center of the great restorative
efforts taking place in the park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here
you will go ashore to visit the Giant Tortoise Breeding and Rearing
Program run by the research station, which began by rescuing the
remaining 16 tortoises on the island of Española in the 1970s. This
program has restored the population of animals there to over 1,000
today. You will see many of these animals, with their sweet ET necks
and faces, from hatchlings to juveniles to large, distinguished
individuals. Sadly Lonesome George, the last of his particular race of
tortoise, recently passed away - 150 years old. The local color of this
port makes for an attractive stop-off, with restaurants, souvenir shops
and even an internet café.
Afternoon: Santa Cruz Island - Highlands
A highlight of any trip is a visit to the Santa Cruz Highlands, where the sparse, dry coastal vegetation
transitions to lush wet fields and forests overgrown with moss and lichens. Your destination is the Tortoise
Reserve, where you will have chances to track and view these ancient friendly creatures in their natural
setting. This extends to the adjacent pasturelands, where farmers have given tortoise safe quarter in
exchange for allowing paying visitors to see them. The very best times to see
tortoises here is during the cool dry season from June through December.
Another attraction close by is a very large lava tube. A wooden stairway
descends to the mouth of its arched entrance and continues underground to
the narrow passage that marks its exit.
Cruise Day 05
Tower (Genovesa) Island - Prince Philip’s Steps
Morning: Tower Island—Darwin Bay Beach
You will sail through the night to Tower Island. This could serve as a film set
for a secret submarine base! The southwestern part of the island is an oceanfilled caldera ringed by the outer edges of a sizeable and mostly submerged
volcano. The island sits to the northwest, slightly removed from the
Galápagos archipelago. It is also known as “Bird Island,” a name it lives up
to in a spectacular way.
Landing on the white coral sands of Darwin Bay and walking up the beach, you will be surrounded by the
bustling activity of “great frigate birds.” Puffball-chicks with their proud papás—who sport their bulging
scarlet throat-sacks—crowd the surrounding branches, while both yellow-crowned and lava herons feed by
the shore. Farther along you will discover a stunning series of sheltered pools set into a rocky outcrop,
forming another natural film set. A trail beside the pools leads up to a cliff overlooking the caldera, where
pairs of swallow-tailed gulls, the only nocturnal gulls in the world, can be seen nesting at the cliff’s edge.
Lava gulls and pintail ducks ride the sea breezes nearby.
A brief panga ride brings us to the base of the cliffs to reveal the full variety of species sheltering in the
ledges and crevices created by the weathered basalt. Among them, red–billed tropic birds enter and leave
their nests trailing exotic kite-like tails. This is also an intriguing place to go deep-water snorkeling, where
the truly fortunate swimmer can spot one of the giant manta rays that frequent the inner bay along the cliff
walls. You might also see them at the surface as the sun set’s on your first full day in the Galápagos.
Afternoon: Tower Island – Prince Philip’s Steps
Named for a visit by the Queen of England’s husband in 1964, 25-meter
(81-foot) Phillips Steps lead to a narrow stretch of land that opens out onto
the plateau surrounding Darwin Bay, which extends to form the north side
of the island. Red-footed boobies wrap their webbed feet around branches
to perch in the bushes, and, in contrast, their “masked-booby” cousins dot
the surface of the scrublands beyond. Crossing through the sparse
vegetation, you will come to a broad lava field that extends towards the
sea which forms the north shore. “Storm petrels” flutter out over the ocean
in swarms, and then return to nest in the cracks and tunnels of the lava
field, where their main predator, the short-eared owl, is often lurking!
Cruise Day 06
Isabela (Albemarle) Island and Fernandina (Narborough) Island
Morning: Fernandina Island—Punta Espinosa
This youngest and westernmost of the islands is home to the
1495 meters (4,842 feet) La Cumbre volcano which erupts
frequently, most recently in 2009. Fernandina lies across the
Bolivar Channel opposite Isabela. Our destination is Punta
Espinosa, a narrow spit of land in the northeast corner of the
island, where a number of unique Galápagos species can be
seen in close proximity. As your panga driver skillfully
navigates the reef, penguins show off by throwing themselves
from the rocks into the water. Red and turquoise-blue zayapas
crabs disperse across the lava shoreline, while herons and egrets forage through the mangrove roots. The
landing is a dry one, set in a quiet inlet beneath the branches of a small mangrove forest. A short walk
through the vegetation leads to a large colony of marine iguanas - a schoolyard of Godzilla’s children resting atop one another in friendly heaps along the rocky shoreline, spitting water to clear their bodies of
salt. Nearby, sea lions frolic in a sheltered lagoon. This is one of the few places you can glimpse iguanas
grazing on seaweed underwater.
Farther down this stretch of shore, the world’s only species of flightless cormorants have established their
colony near an inviting inlet frequented by sea turtles. Because these birds evolved without land predators it was easier to feed on the squid, octopus, eel and fish found in the ocean - the cormorants progressively
took to the sea. They developed heavier, more powerful legs and feet for kicking, serpent-like necks, and
wet, fur-like plumage. Their wings are now mere vestiges. Back toward the landing and farther inland, the
island’s black lava flows become more evident, forming a quiet, inner lagoon. Galápagos hawks circle
overhead surveying the entire scene.
Afternoon: Isabela Island— Punta Vicente Roca
Punta Vicente Roca is located at the ‘mouth’ of the head of the
sea horse, which forms the northern part of the Isabela. Here
the remnants of an ancient volcano form two turquoise coves
with a bay well protected from the ocean swells. The spot is a
popular anchorage from which to take panga rides along the
cliff where a partially sunken cave beckons explorers. Masked
and blue-footed boobies sit perched along the point and the
sheer cliffs, while flightless cormorants inhabit the shoreline. The upwelling of coldwater currents in this
part of the Galápagos, give rise to an abundance of marine life which, in combination with the protection of
the coves, make Punta Vicente Roca one of the archipelago’s sought after dive spots. One of the coves is
only accessible from the sea by way of an underwater passage. The passage opens to calm waters of the
hidden cove where sea lions like to laze on the beach having traveled along the underwater route. The entire
area of Punta Vicente Roca lies on the flank of 2,600 foot Volcano Ecuador. This is the island’s sixth largest
volcano. Half of Volcano Ecuador slid into the ocean leaving a spectacular cutaway view of its caldera.
Cruise Day 07
Bartolome (Bartholomew)
Morning: Pinnacle Rock
This Island is famous for Pinnacle Rock, a towering
spearheaded obelisk that rises from the ocean’s edge
and is the best known landmark in the Galápagos.
Galápagos penguins - the only species of penguin
found north of the equator - walk precariously along
narrow volcanic ledges at its base. Sea lions snooze
on rocky platforms, ready to slide into the water to
play with passing snorkelers. Just below the surface,
shoals of tropical fish dodge in and out of the rocks past urchins, sea stars and anemones. A perfectly
crescent, pink-and-white sandy beach lies just to the east of the pinnacle. Sea turtles use the beach as a
nesting site and can sometimes be found wading in the shallow water near the shore, or resting in the sand to
recover from the arduous task of digging nests, laying eggs and covering them over.
Penguins dot the nearby rocks of the next landing site, less than a kilometer along the eastern shore. Here
the submerged walls of a tiny volcanic crater give the impression of a fountain pool. This dry landing (no
wet feet!) is the entrance to a 600-meter (2000-foot) pathway complete with stairs and boardwalks leading
to Bartolome’s summit. The route is not difficult and presents a museum of vulcanology; a site left
untouched after its last eruption, where cones stand in various stages of erosion and lava tubes form
bobsled-like runs from the summit. At the top you will be rewarded with spectacular views of Santiago
Island and James Bay to the west, and far below, Pinnacle Rock and our beach, where the crystal blue
waters of the bay cradle your yacht.
Afternoon: Santiago – North Seymour
North Seymour Island was lifted from the ocean floor by a seismic
event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile.
Cliffs only a few meters high form the shoreline, where swallowtailed gulls sit perched in ledges. A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo
Santo trees stand just above the landing, usually without leaves,
waiting for the rain to bring them into bloom. This island is teaming
with life! You might have to give way to a passing sea lion or marine
iguana; blue-footed booby nests sit beside the trail where mating
pairs perform their courtship dance. Further along, the rocky shore
displays white sand, and large flocks of pelicans mass for a divebomb feeding frenzy, rendering a tableau for us from ages long past.
The trail turns inland to reveal the largest nesting site in the Galápagos of the “magnificent frigate bird.”
These huge, dark acrobats have two-meter wingspans, and males, with puffed up scarlet throat sacks, sit
precariously perched in low bushes to watch over their equally large chicks.
Cruise Day 08
San Cristobal Island— To Quito and home
Morning: San Cristobal Island
Today your voyage comes to an end. But before you bid farewell to the Evolution and her crew you will pay
a visit to the Interpretation Center. The Galápagos National Park Visitor Centre appeals to islanders and
travelers alike, presenting a comprehensive exhibit of the islands’ natural history, human interaction,
ecosystems, flora and fauna. A short trail arrives at Frigate Bird Hill, where both “magnificent frigates” and
“great-frigates” can be seen in the same colony - ideal for learning to distinguish the two bird species.
Morning: Return to Mainland Ecuador
Return to the airport where your journey began. Depart on the flight from San Cristobal back to Mainland
Ecuador, arriving Quito in the late afternoon.
Connect onto your international departure to the U.S.A this same evening.
Add ons to the Ecuadorian Andes and or Peru and Machu Picchu can be arranged while you are in the area.
Tim Lapage
P.O.Box 680098 Park City UT 84068-0098
Tel 435 649 4655
www.safariexperts.com
Independent Safari Consultant
e-mail: [email protected]