Galapagos 2012

The wonders of the Galapagos diving experience will be with you for a lifetime. Few will have the opportunity of diving some of the most remote and pristine seas in the world. No other place on Earth boasts such a variety of sea and land life. Your fourteen days will be filled with memories to last a lifetime - thrilling dives, exotic vistas - and these will be only a small part of your experience.

$8995 with airfare

Date	Trip Notes

Friday 19 Oct 2012	Depart Vancouver early this morning and arrive in Quito, Ecuador this evening. You will be transferred from the airport to Hotel Quito for your overnight.
Saturday 20 Oct 2012	Overnight Hotel Quito. Sightseeing today.
Sunday 21 Oct 2012	Overnight Hotel Quito. Free day today.
Monday 22 Oct 2012	You will be transferred from Hotel Quito to the airport for your flight to San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands. Upon arrival you will be met by Explorer Ventures and transferred to the Humboldt Explorer. Boarding the vessel begins after 11:00am, then departing for a short crossing to a calm site for a checkout dive and safety briefing. After dinner the vessel will depart to the next scheduled destination.
Tuesday 23 Oct 2012	Bartoleme - diving 6:30am, 9:30am dives. Sightings include rays and sea lions. Depart for Northern Islands.
Wednesday 24 Oct 2012	Wolf Island - Landslide, Shark Bay, Pinaculo. 6:30am, 10:30am and 2:00pm dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, eagle rays, Galapagos sharks and silky sharks. Night at anchor.
Thursday 25 Oct 2012	Wolf Island - 6:30am, 10:30pm, 2:00pm dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, red-lipped batfish, eagle rays, Galapagos sharks and silky sharks. Night at anchor. Crossing to Darwin Island.
Friday 26 Oct 2012	Darwin Island - 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:00pm dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks, eagle rays, Galapagos sharks, turtle and silky sharks.
Saturday 27 Oct 2012	Darwin Island - 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:00pm dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks eagle rays, Galapagos sharks, turtles and silky sharks. Transit to Cousin's Rock.
Sunday 28 Oct 2012	Cousin's Rock - 6:30am, 8:30am dives. This is great macro diving with an excellent chance of seeing sea horses, sea lions and eagle rays. Lunch will be served while transiting to San Cruz (3 hrs). In Santa Cruz visit the giant tortoises in the highlands, have an authentic Ecuadorian BBQ lunch and visit the town of Puerto Ayora on your own. You will disembark the vessel this afternoon and check in at the Aventura Lodge where marine iguanas, sea lions and birds are frequently seen. Briefing and dinner this evening at the lodge.
Monday 29 Oct 2012	Santa Cruz - Floreana Island. Breakfast this morning. You will visit "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 flycatchers and more. You will visit the 600 acre private reserve where the giant Galapagos Tortoises freely roam, graze and sleep. After visiting the tortoises you will take a 5 minute ride to the entrance of a 450 meter (1350 feet) illuminated lava tunnel. You will have the opportunity to wander experience the stalagmites, stalactites, sulfur, mineral-colored walls and the rippled floor formed from lava. Lunch will be served at the hotel. After that, departure to Floreana Island, approx 2 hours depending on sea conditions. On Floreana enjoy a visit to Black Beach to swim and snorkel or relax, enjoy a walk to La Loberia. Check in at Floreana Lodge. BBQ dinner at a local restaurant to enjoy Galapaguena food and the warm hospitality of locals.
Tuesday 30 Oct 2012	Floreana Island - Isabela Island. Breakfast at a local restaurant. Departure is in an open air bus that will take you to the highlands of Floreana while your Naturalist Guide begins filling you in on the history of this, the first settled island in the Galapagos. You will walk up to see the Asilo de la Paz (Peace Asylum,) where a spring is located - a nature spring that attracted pirates, whalers, and later settlers to Floreana. You will also visit a tortoise reserve where you can watch many of giant tortoise up close and personal. This afternoon depart to "Las Tintoreras" and Bay tour. After lunch, you will head out across port, slowing to view the blue-footed boobies and Galapagos Penguins sharing the same rocky sunbathing space, before docking. 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. Relax and then a briefing and dinner at Floreana Lodge at 7pm.
Wednesday 31 Oct 2012	Isabela - Santa Cruz. Breakfast at the lodge. You will drive out of town along the most beautiful white sand, palm lined beach in all of Galapagos - Long Beach. You will visit the "Muro de Las Lagrimas" (Wall of Tears), a unique construction built by the backbreaking labour 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. 11:00AM departure from Isabela for Santa Cruz sailing approx. 1.5 to 2 hours. Arrival in Puerto Ayora around 12:30 to 1:00PM. Check in at Aventura Lodge and lunch. Depart 3pm for guided tour of the fascinating Charles Darwin Research Station. After the Darwin Station, there will be free time to shop for souvenirs or browse the shops along Charles Darwin Avenue. Dinner at 7:00pm at the Aventura Lodge.
Thursday 01 Nov 2012	Breakfast at the lodge. Departure 3 hours before your flight in order to arrive back at the Baltra Airport the request 1.5 hours before your flight to Quito. You will be transferred to Hotel Quito for overnight.
Friday 02 Nov 2012	Depart for your return flight home or continue your adventure with a customized option!

604 538 5608

Galapagos 2012

$8995 with airfare

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