Baltra Airport
Your Galapagos cruise begins on Baltra, a small island that is home to the archipelago’s main airport. Baltra was used as a U.S. military base in WWII and is now a base for Ecuador’s armed forces.
Visitors may take comfort when arriving at the airport, seemingly out of place in so precious and fragile an environment, that it is the first ecological airport in the world designed to reduce impact through energy saving programs, rain water recovery systems and extensive recycling.
There is no real chance to see the island as upon arrival you will normally be met by an English-speaking guide who will whisk you to the nearby port where the boat will be waiting to start your Galapagos cruise. Some cruises start from San Cristóbal and there a variety of options available for land based tours.
Santa Cruz – Highlands and Charles Darwin Research Station
For many, Santa Cruz is simply a hopping off point on the way to other parts of the archipelago and a way to be connected to the modern world. A little time on the island reveals, however, that it is a destination in its own right with many interesting visitor sites and much to commend it. This island is a must by either Galapagos cruise or by land tour.
One of the most notable of these is the
Charles Darwin Research Station, where much of the specialized conservation work
and scientific
research for the Galapagos are conducted. The best known of these is the captive
breeding program
for giant tortoises, but the station's broad brief also includes monitoring and
control of invasive
species, restoring populations of land iguanas and the distinctive opuntia cacti
as well as
publication education. The station's Van Straalen Hall Visitors Centre is part
of that education
programme and provides a useful introduction to the Galapagos and its physical
and living
environments and the issues that the archipelago faces.
Though it houses the largest human population in the Galapagos, the small port town of Puerto Ayora is a tranquil spot in which to while away some time after enjoying time at sea on a Galapagos cruise. The large choice of hotels, bars and restaurants often comes as a surprise to visitors, as does the number of animals and birds that have made the town their home, going about their business seemingly oblivious to the human activity around them.
The island is good for exploring the different types of vegetation that can be found in the archipelago: from the coastal arid zone populated by Palo Santo, mesquite trees, opuntia and candelabra cacti to the lush highlands where forests of scalesia are often shrouded in mist and rain. Here, trees drip atmospherically with water and beard moss while orchids, ferns and bromeliads proliferate. These varied environments give rise to the highest bird tally of any of the islands, with many rare and distinct species to be found. Birders and botanists alike will delight in the opportunities that Santa Cruz affords.
- All Galapagos vegetation zones
- Highest bird tally of any island in the archipelago at over 85 species many of which are rarities
- Most easily accessible population of giant tortoises in the Galapagos
- Wide array of marine life
In 1793, at
what became known as Post Office Bay,
homesick British sailors placed a large wooden barrel in which they left letters
in the hope that
other passing seafarers would take them and deliver them once home. The system
clearly worked as it
remained in use for over a century. Visitors maintain the tradition today by
leaving cards and
letters for family and friends while also sifting, through the pile, to take a
letter or two back
home. Tradition also has it that the letter must be hand delivered.
Although the
largest island in the archipelago, Isabela is a relatively young 1 million years
old. It was formed
by the uplifted lava flows from six major shield volcanoes: Ecuador, Wolf,
Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra
Negra and Cero Azul. All except Volcán Ecuador remain active, making Isabela one
of the most
volcanically active places on earth. The most recent eruptions were: Wolf in
1982, Cerro Azul in
1998 and Sierra Negra in 2005.
The
narrow Bolivar Channel
that runs between Isabela and Fernandina Island is one of the best places to see
whales such as
Bryde’s whale and, reasonably frequently, Orcas or killer whales. Pods of
bottle-nose dolphins can
usually be relied on to put on a display for passing boats.
The volcanic activity makes for a tough and
unforgiving
environment and so, in the main, wildlife tends to be confined to the coastal
edges of the island.
It has also meant that Fernandina is one of the most pristine environments in
the Galapagos as,
unlike other islands, no introduced species has ever been able to establish
itself here.
Arriving by Galapagos
cruise or by land tour, you will want to see the most popular visitor
destinations on San Salvador
which are the old pirate bases of Buccaneer Cove and Puerto Egas: interesting
for its black sand
beach and the picturesque lava tubes that Galapagos sea lions and fur seals
squabble over in the
search for the perfect basking spot.
Separated from Baltra by
a short, narrow channel, North Seymour is an uplifted lava flow that has formed
a plateau of only
1.9 square kilometres. Though small, the island offers a good introduction to
the unique plants and
animals that can be found on the archipelago. It is here on your Galapagos
cruise that you might
first witness the piratical behaviour of the frigate birds: dive-bombing and
harassing other birds
into dropping food or nest building materials before swooping and snatching up
the booty in their
own beaks.
Mosquera Islet is a small islet created by
an uplift of sand. It
is located between the islands of Baltra and North Seymour, and is made up of
rocks and coral reefs.
This island boasts one of the largest sea lion colonies in the archipelago and
also many shorebirds
live here. Occasionally, Orcas have been seen preying on sea lions in this area.
A Galapagos cruise
is a great way to see these sights.
Walks take
visitors alongside a white sand coral beach, through winding mangroves to
turquoise tidal pools.
Another option is to climb the steep, rough-hewn cliff steps known as El
Barranco(and also Prince
Phillip’s Steps) to follow a path through busy seabird colonies to a forest of
Palo Santo. This
fragrant tree, found along the coast of South America, is used to produce
incense and sweet
essential oil and is a member of the same family as frankincense and myrrh. At
the end of the path
is revealed the highly impressive sight of over 200,000 pairs of Galapagos
storm-petrels seemingly
all flying at the same time.
The top is reached via a
wooden boardwalk designed
to protect the fragile lava from the feet of enthusiastic visitors. The surreal,
Mars-like landscape
of lava tunnels and spatter cones is broken only by early colonisers such as
matplants, lava cacti
and the lava lizards that dart over the red-brown surface of the volcano.
Rábida Island
bears the name of the convent of Rábida, where Columbus left his son during his
voyage to the
Americas. It has an area of 4.9 square km and a maximum altitude of 367m. The
high amount of iron
contained in the lava at Rábida gives it a distinctive red colour. White-cheeked
pintail ducks live
in a saltwater lagoon close to the beach, where brown pelicans and boobies have
built their nests.
Until recently, flamingos were also found in the lagoon, but they have since
moved on to other
islands, likely due to a lack of food on Rábida. Nine species of finches have
been reported on this
island.
A large
population of land iguanas roam over the
confined space feeding on the carpets of succulent sesuvium and the distinctive
opuntias that are
abundant on the island.
The age
and isolation of
Santa Fé has allowed a number of endemic animals to evolve including the Santa
Fé rice rat, gecko
and Barrington land iguana. 
