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Review Itinerary
Summary
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Duration
8 DaysStarts In
Santa Cruz IslandRoute
Santa Cruz Island, Genovesa Island, San Cristobal Island, Floreana Island
For travelers wanting the fullest possible picture of the Galapagos' eastern islands, this eight-day voyage aboard M/Y Galaxy Stella combines two of the archipelago's richest routes into one extended journey. It opens with North Seymour's frigatebird courtship displays and Genovesa's extraordinary Darwin Bay, home to hundreds of nesting boobies found in few other places on Earth, before continuing south to Española's Suárez Point, where the waved albatross performs its elaborate courtship dance between April and January. Along the way, Kicker Rock's hammerhead sharks, Floreana's centuries-old Post Office Bay, and Santa Cruz's highland tortoises add further depth, closing with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station's vital conservation work. Eight full days, two distinct island regions, and wildlife encounters at nearly every turn — this is the Galapagos experienced in its fullest, most unhurried form.
EXPEDITION CRUISE 8 Days / 7 Nights featuring a Catamaran Cruise around the Galapagos Islands aboard M/Y Galaxy Stella. Includes arrival & departure transfers, luxury cabin accommodations, all onboard meals, soft drinks, all visits and daily excursions with bilingual Naturalist guide, onboard cruise director and snorkeling, Kayaking and paddleboarding equipment.
Includes
- Shore excursions as per itinerary
- Cruise director throughout the cruise
- On ship gourmet dining including buffet breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack
- Keytours 24-hour emergency assistance
- Cruise Cabin accommodation: at category shown in the itinerary
Excludes
- Items of a personal nature
- All other items not mentioned as included
- Domestic flights; please inquire with your Keytours travel consultant
- Transfers not mentioned in the itinerary
- Travel insurance; please inquire with your Keytours travel consultant
- Gratuities for drivers, guides, and escorts
Itinerary
Day
1
1
Day 1
Day 1: Baltra Arrival — North Seymour's Courtship Rituals
Touch down at Baltra Airport, where a naturalist guide greets you before a short ferry crossing to Santa Cruz Island, passing Baltra's arid landscape and its history as a former WWII airbase. After boarding M/Y Galaxy Stella, your home for the next eight days, head to North Seymour Island for an afternoon immersed in dramatic courtship displays, as magnificent and great frigatebirds inflate their striking red pouches overhead. Blue-footed boobies perform their famous mating dance below, while land and marine iguanas bask nearby and playful sea lions body-surf the waves — an energetic introduction to the wildlife spectacle that defines the islands.
Day
2
2
Day 2
Day 2: Santa Fe — South Plazas' Land Iguana Colony
Santa Fe's towering prickly-pear cacti frame one of the archipelago's most stunning bays, its white-sand beach hosting a large sea lion colony basking in the sun. Look for the endemic Santa Fe land iguana and a Galapagos hawk perched atop a cactus, scanning for prey along the trail. In the afternoon, South Plazas brims with wildlife despite its modest size — land iguanas await beneath cacti for fallen fruit, while sea lions display fascinating social dynamics along the shore. A dramatic cliffside trail rewards with sweeping seabird views, framed by the island's striking blanket of reddish succulents.
Day
3
3
Day 3
Day 3: Genovesa Island — Darwin Bay's Avian Symphony
El Barranco's fractured lava cliffs shelter storm petrels and short-eared owls, with red-footed and Nazca boobies nesting along the trail and fur seals resting in the shadows below. In the afternoon, Darwin Bay delivers one of the archipelago's most concentrated wildlife displays — hundreds of boobies, gulls, and frigatebirds nesting, soaring, or resting on the sand, joined by sea lions, marine iguanas, and Darwin's finches. This immersive close encounter with Genovesa's thriving ecosystem stands among the most memorable wildlife experiences the Galapagos has to offer.
Day
4
4
Day 4
Day 4: Santa Cruz Highlands — Bachas Beach's Nesting Turtles
A morning journey into Santa Cruz's lush highlands brings you face-to-face with Galapagos Giant Tortoises weighing over 600 pounds, grazing peacefully amid the reserve's greenery, alongside endemic finches and flycatchers. In the afternoon, a wet landing at Bachas Beach offers a relaxing walk or snorkel along the shore, where a saltwater lagoon draws great blue herons and shorebirds. Both stretches of sand here serve as vital nesting grounds for green sea turtles, adding a final layer of wildlife significance to a day balanced between highland tortoises and coastal serenity.
Day
5
5
Day 5
Day 5: Kicker Rock — Lobos Island's Playful Colony
A morning at León Dormido, or Kicker Rock, brings you to one of the Galapagos' most iconic formations, its towering cliffs framing crystal-clear water alive with hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, and manta rays for those diving or snorkeling. In the afternoon, Lobos Island offers a lighter, equally memorable encounter — sea lions greet you playfully in tidal pools while frigatebirds display their inflated red pouches from the bushes inland. Blue-footed boobies perform their iconic courtship dance along the trail, and snorkeling in the calm waters brings you face-to-face with sea turtles and rays resting on the sandy bottom.
Day
6
6
Day 6
Day 6: Española Island — Suárez Point to Gardner Bay
Suárez Point delivers one of the archipelago's greatest natural showcases, where sea lions and marine iguanas greet you ashore before a vibrant mosaic of seabirds unfolds along the trail — blue-footed and Nazca boobies, frigatebirds, and tropicbirds. Between April and January, the waved albatross steals the show with its powerful flight and elaborate courtship display. In the afternoon, Gardner Bay's soft coral sand and crystal-clear water create a paradise-like setting for relaxation, where Española mockingbirds, marine iguanas, and Galapagos hawks share the shoreline with playful sea lions.
Day
7
7
Day 7
Day 7: Floreana Island — Devil's Crown and a Historic Post Office
Punta Cormorant's coastal lagoon teems with flamingos and shorebirds, while its white sand beach serves as a crucial nesting site for green sea turtles. Snorkeling at Devil's Crown — a heavily eroded volcanic formation — reveals reef sharks, rays, and massive schools of tropical fish drawn in by the current. In the afternoon, step into the past at Post Office Bay, where 18th-century sailors established a barrel-based mail system still in use today, once a vital stop for whalers seeking freshwater and tortoises, with sea lions and the occasional elusive Galapagos penguin rounding out the scene.
Day
8
8
Day 8
Day 8: Charles Darwin Station — Farewell to the Enchanted Isles
A final morning at the Charles Darwin Research Station reveals the conservation work restoring giant tortoise populations and combating invasive species threatening the islands' fragile ecosystem. Return to M/Y Galaxy Stella for disembarkation, then transfer to Baltra Airport with your naturalist guide for the journey home — closing out eight days of extraordinary encounters, from North Seymour's courtship displays to Española's waved albatross, across one of the world's most remarkable natural destinations.
Dates & Prices
10 of Feb, 2027
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