West Galápagos Expedition

DAY 1 | EMBARK PUERTO AYORA, SANTA CRUZ ISLAND

Touch down in the Galápagos and meet the Aqua Mare team for a cross-island transfer by van and ferry to Santa Cruz. Your first taste of the highlands comes at Manzanillo Ranch, where a relaxed al fresco lunch unfolds amid the misty pastures frequented by giant tortoises.

After lunch, stroll the highlands to appreciate scalesia forests, volcanic soils and the quiet movement of these emblematic reptiles. Later, board Aqua Mare, the Galápagos’ first 50-metre luxury superyacht, where a 1:1 crew-to-guest ratio sets the tone for attentive service. You receive a waterproof landing bag and refillable bottle, then settle into your suite as the yacht’s lines and light invite you to unwind.

In the evening, wander Puerto Ayora’s waterfront boutiques and jewellery ateliers, watching pelicans idle on pier rails. Return aboard for a conservation talk by the Charles Darwin Foundation team, a concise primer on ongoing research and the stewardship that frames every landing. Dinner showcases pristine seafood and Pacific flavours, served in an atmosphere that deftly balances yacht-club polish with expedition spirit.

As anchor lights shimmer across the bay, you turn in knowing tomorrow brings flamingos, sea-turtle tracks and a first meeting with Floreana’s storied shores.

DAY 2 | PUNTA CORMORANT, BAHÍA POST OFFICE & MIRADOR DE LA BARONESA

Wake to Floreana’s southern coast and step ashore on a wet landing at Punta Cormorant. A short path leads to a broad brackish lagoon where greater flamingos wade in painterly curves, their bills scything for shrimp as black-necked stilts stitch the shallows. Beyond, you reach a pale arc of beach, nesting ground for green sea turtles, with rays and reef sharks often ghosting the edges of the surf.

After returning to the yacht for a fresh Andean-inflected lunch, set course for Bahía Post Office, a living archive of mariners’ courtesy dating to the 18th century. You sort through postcards left by travellers, taking one bound for your hometown and leaving your own to be hand-delivered, eventually, by a fellow voyager. A brief look at the islet’s early-20th-century fishing enterprise adds human context to these remote waters.

By tender, continue to Mirador de la Baronesa for sweeping views, frigate birds wheeling on warm drafts and the greens and blues of the bay spread beneath you.

Back aboard, dinner blends Japanese technique with Peruvian seasoning in a quietly inventive menu. With the upper deck cleared, stay out for a tutorial in southern- and northern-hemisphere constellations as the yacht rocks gently at anchor.

DAY 3 | PUNTA MORENO & BAHÍA URBINA

Overnight, Aqua Mare rounds to Isabela’s wild west. Disembark for Punta Moreno, a lava-textured hike across pahoehoe and basaltic ripples that speak of Cerro Azul’s ancient flows. Inshore, mangrove lagoons hold moorhen and heron, while along the coast you board a dinghy to trace the black edge where marine iguanas bask, penguins torpedo past the bow and flightless cormorants dry their vestigial wings on sun-warmed rock.

Return for lunch, then cruise north to Bahía Urbina, a shoreline heaved upwards in 1954 by tectonic force, leaving once-submerged shallows stranded three metres above the tide line. Walk the sandy paths in search of hefty land iguanas and some of the archipelago’s largest marine iguanas, their dorsal crests jagging like the lava they traverse. In good seasons, giant tortoises browse here too, an unexpected sight against bleached driftwood and sea-grasses.

As evening softens, dine on Ecuadorian coastal classics, macambo-nut rice and delicately wrapped maito, while the horizon sketches Isabela’s five volcanoes in a single unforgettable silhouette. The day’s natural history is still unfolding in your mind, a layered story of uplift, adaptation and lives exquisitely tuned to austere shores.

DAY 4 | PUNTA ESPINOZA & ISABELA: TAGUS COVE

Greet dawn at Fernandina’s Punta Espinoza, where an immense lava apron spills from La Cumbre, one of Earth’s most active volcanoes. Step ashore into a world almost primordial in its simplicity, the black crust alive with movement as marine iguanas shuffle to feeding ledges and Sally Lightfoot crabs pick their way like sparks across coal. Watch for Galápagos hawks circling, and, among the tide channels, the quick flick of a penguin or the serpentine glide of a racer.

Snorkelling here is a revelation, with sea turtles unbothered by your presence and cormorants corkscrewing past in pursuit of fish. After a leisurely lunch, cross the Bolívar Channel to Tagus Cove, a historic anchorage etched with the ship names of whalers and privateers. You may choose the short, satisfying hike to Darwin Lake, a saline crater pool ringed by tuff, where interpretive stops explain how isolation breeds novelty. Alternatively, take out a double kayak or stand-up paddle board to follow the indented coastline, or explore by elegant black tender into caves and along ledges busy with noddies and boobies.

Sundowners segue into a visit to the bridge to chat with the captain as Aqua Mare slips across the equator line twice, a neat cartographic flourish to end the day.