OCEAN SPRAY CRUISE EXPEDITIONS
Itineraries for Ocean Spray Catamaran Packages
Our Ocean Spray cruise itineraries take you to isolated islands and remote visitor points where unique wildlife can be found. Our Ocean Spray Galapagos expedition packages are available for short or long trips. No matter how long you wish your Galapagos cruise package to be, daily excursions will be led by top Galapagos National Park guides.
3, 4, and 7-night Cruises
Embarking and disembarking days: Sunday | Tuesday | Thursday
DAY BY DAY ITINERARY DESCRIPTION
Ocean Spray 7-Night Cruise
Saturday: AM: Arrival to Baltra Island Airport, reception and transfer to the yacht for the first visit.
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Saturday: PM visit: Chinese Hat
Named after its distinctive shape, this visitor site will give you your first opportunity at an intimate encounter with Galapagos wildlife. You’ll also be able to see well-preserved, fragile volcanic rock that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before in other volcanic locations. This islet is home to many different Galapagos bird species, including the playful Galapagos penguins and the elusive Galapagos Hawks.
Sunday: AM visit: Isabela Island – Vicente Roca Point
Vicente Roca Point hosts incredible rock formations that are home to many different bird species. As the visitor site is found on the western side of Isabela, the cool azure waters of the nutrient-laden Cromwell Current are the scene of fascinating feeding frenzies of both bird species and underwater mammals.
Sunday: PM Visit: Fernandina Island – Espinosa Point
Fernandina Island is unique in that it is the youngest island in the archipelago and also one of the most pristine – in fact, it has never been invaded by foreign species. As the westernmost island in the Galapagos, it is also more volcanically active than its siblings. Espinosa Point is the only visitor point on Fernandina, but there’s lots to see here, including Galapagos Hawks, marine iguanas and the endemic flightless cormorant. Enjoy the sweeping views of the otherworldly landscape while hiking, and revel
Tagus Cove is one of the Galapagos’ most intriguing visitor sites due to its human history. As one of the preferred pit stops of pirates, sailors and whalers for hundreds of years, guests love reading the interesting names and places etched into the cove’s walls. The hike here will give you panoramic views of the cove and its surroundings, and it will take you past a mangrove forest where the last 35 pairs of Mangrove finches live. You can snorkel off of the cove’s beach – there’s a good chance you’ll see a marine iguana diving for food!
Monday: PM Visit: Isabela Island – Urbina Bay
Urbina Bay, lying on the ocean floor for millions of years, is a volcanic uplift that is now home to land and marine iguanas, boisterous sea lions, and the fascinating flightless cormorant. The bay is a great place to relax on the beach or snorkel in its waters, and there are a couple of hiking trails around Urbina Bay that will give you a better view of different species of shorebirds living near the water.
Tuesday: AM Visit: Isabela Island – Elizabeth Bay
Guests cannot disembark at Elizabeth Bay. due to the area’s fragile ecosystem. However, the bay’s startlingly clear waters allow visitors to see a wide variety and abundance of marine life from the Zodiacs, including Galapagos sharks and enormous sea turtles.
Tuesday: PM visit: Isabela Island – Moreno Point
The otherworldly rocky shoreline of Moreno Point is home to dozens of different bird species, making this a particularly special visitor point for birdwatchers. You can hike into some saltwater lagoons just off of the beach, which are home to more unique bird species. The jet-black lava flows with the deep blue waters, the bright green vegetation surrounding the lagoons, and the towering Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes off in the distance make Moreno Point a particularly stunning, picturesque visitor point.
Wednesday: AM Visit: Santa Cruz Island – Charles Darwin Research Station
The Charles Darwin Research Station is a fascinating place to visit for anyone stepping foot on the islands, given its long history of conservation in the archipelago and its extensive collection of Galapagos plant specimens and other interesting things – like a full whale skeleton! It also acts as an active breeding center for Galapagos Giant Tortoises, and continues to be a biological research station to this day, managing multiple projects throughout the archipelago.
Wednesday: PM Visit: Santa Cruz Island – Highlands
The highlands on Santa Cruz Island can reach up to 1,500 meters above sea level, which produces entirely different climate zones. The area is filled with rolling hills, verdant growth, wildlife, and volcanos. Galapagos Giant Tortoises can be found here in their native environment, and guests can see finches, mockingbirds, and several other bird species. The highlands also have incredible panoramic views of the surrounding oceans, and guests can sometimes see whales breaching or rays jumping above the waves.
South Plaza Island is home to one of the archipelago’s smallest visitor sites, but it is also home to a large number of plant and wildlife species. It especially has a lot of Sesuvium plants, such as the prickly pear cactus tree, which is a critical food source for the land iguana. Having recently eradicated the local (imported) mice population, the land iguana population has grown steadily. The jet-black lava set against the crystal-clear turquoise waters surrounding South Plaza Island make it a favorite for photography lovers.
Thursday: PM visit: Santa Fe Island
The endemic pink land iguana lives one a single small island on the planet – and this is it! Santa Fe Island, home to the renowned Santa Fe Iguana, was originally created by a volcanic uplift. Today, it is home to a forest of Palo Santo and Opuntia trees. There are two trails on Santa Fe Island: one leads to a viewpoint overlooking the island and the surrounding ocean, and the other leads down to a small beach. This island once had its own population of Giant Tortoises, which was also unique to the island, but they were entirely wiped out by centuries of overhunting.
Española Island is home to many incredible species and geological features, making it one of the favorite visitor sites in the entire archipelago. Suarez Point is home to only breeding site for Waved Albatrosses in the Galapagos, and if you´re lucky you´ll get the chance to see a young albatross take its first flight off to sea, where it will remain for up to five years! The waters surrounding Española Island are incredibly rich in nutrients, so visitors can often see sea lions, marine iguanas, and even sharks swimming in the surrounding waters. Other than the Waved Albatross, there are many other bird species that make Española their home, including Nazca and blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds, swallow-tailed gulls, and Galapagos Doves, among others.
Friday: AM Visit: Española Island – Gardner Bay / Osborn Islet
Gardner Bay is home to a noisy colony of sea lions that enjoy playing in the clear turquoise waters surrounding it. There are several different finch species here, as well as the endemic Española mockingbird, which is well-known for being very friendly with guests! However, visitors must take care to not feed or touch the wildlife, including the friendly ones.
Saturday: AM Visit: San Cristobal – Interpretation Center
The Interpretation Center has been open to the public for over twenty years, and offers visitors an insight into the history of the Galapagos archipelago and Giant Tortoise breeding practices. San Cristobal, the easternmost island, is also the first island that Charles Darwin set foot on, and is currently home to the provincial capital and the Ecuadorian navy. Giant tortoises that are bred in captivity roam in a semi-natural habitat in the area surrounding the center.
Transfer to the San Cristobal Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to the Interpretation Center. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Ocean Spray 7-Night Cruise
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Saturday: PM Visit: San Cristobal Island – Lobos Island/Kicker Rock
Lobos Island is home to a large colony of boisterous sea lions who love to bask in the warm rays of sunshine and play along the island’s rock shores. It is also home to several different bird species, including frigatebirds, pelicans, and yellow warblers, among others. There is a small channel that runs along the island where the waters are very clear, making it easy to spot huge sea turtles, furtive rays, and even white-tipped sharks!
Kicker Rock is one of the archipelago’s most iconic visitor sites. It consists of two eroded volcanic cones that rise more than 100 meters from the waves in the middle of the open water. It is one of the Galapagos’ most renowned diving sites, and visitors can often see colorful underwater species from the deck of the M/C Ocean Spray.
Pitt Point is truly an “otherworldly” visitor point – it feels like you have stepped out onto another planet! The hike up to the top of the hill provides visitors with sweeping panoramic views of the island and the surrounding ocean, and the trail expertly curves around blue-footed booby nests on the ground. Toward the top of the island, visitors can see red-footed boobies nesting in the low trees, giving you up-close encounters with both incredible species.
Sunday: PM Visit: San Cristobal Island – Witches Hill
Witches Hill has several deep crevices and eroding rocks along the shore where different shore birds nest and feed. Visitors will be able to get close to them on the Zodiac ride, which is often accompanied by friendly sea lions and different kinds of tropical fish visible in the clear waters along the shoreline. Afterward, you’ll disembark on a powdery white-sand beach where you can swim and snorkel in the crystal-clear turquoise waters.
Post Office Bay is one of the archipelago’s most fascinating visitor points due to its human history. Centuries ago, sailors set up a barrel here where they would leave letters to loved ones back home. Other ships would also stop by and look through the addresses on the letters, and take the ones that were addressed to their own destinations – and the first Galapagos mail service was born! Today, the tradition lives on – you can leave a complementary postcard addressed to someone anywhere in the world, and someday a fellow traveler might take it with them and mail it!
Monday: PM Visit: : Floreana Island – Cormorant Point / Devil’s Crown
Cormorant Point is home to two different beaches, and there is a saltwater lagoon just a short walk beyond one of them that is a nesting site for flamingos. Ones of the beaches looks green because of its extraordinarily high content of small olivine crystals, while the other is known as Flour Beach due to its powdery white sand made of pulverized white coral. Visitors can sometimes see rays meandering along the shoreline, as well as different kinds of tropical fish.
Devil’s Crown hosts one of the archipelago’s best snorkeling sites, where snorkelers can see, just below the surface, several incredible volcanic structures that have submerged over the centuries. Today, they are home to countless colorful fish species, as well as sharks, rays, sea turtles, sea lions, and starfish, among many others!
Located along the northern side of Santa Cruz Island, Black Turtle Cove is a shallow inlet surrounded by mangroves that provide natural protection for several juvenile marine species. Just under the calm waters of the cove, visitors can see majestic sea turtles, different kinds of rays, and both white-tip and black-tip reef sharks. Blue-footed boobies and pelicans both enjoy hunting in these nutrient-rich waters, and can often be seen dive-bombing into the water.
Tuesday: PM Visit: Bartholomew Island – Pinnacle Rock
The most iconic geographical feature of the Galapagos Islands is, unquestionably, Pinnacle Rock. A volcanic cone that formed by magma forcefully expelled by an underwater volcano, the sea instantly cooled the lava as it exploded upward, forming an enormous rock rising out of the sea. Today, there is a small beach around the rock where green sea turtles nest during breeding season. It is also a gathering point for fun-loving Galapagos penguins who love to dive into the water from the base of Pinnacle Rock and splash around in its azure waters. Not to be outdone, Pinnacle Rock is frequented by curious sea lions and many kinds of tropical fish.
Darwin Bay used to be a shield volcano, but one of the sides of its caldera collapsed after centuries of erosion. The bay is well-known for the sheer number and variety of birds that can been found here – in fact, over 20,000 red-footed boobies are estimated to call this island home, nesting among the trees and bushes of Genovesa Island. You will also fine Nazca and blue-footed boobies Darwin finches, and lots of marine life, including marine iguanas, rays, and sea lions.
Wednesday: PM Visit: Genovesa Island – El Barranco
El Barranco, also known as Prince Phillip’s Steps, is a visitor site at the top of a cliff, rewarding visitors with an incredible panoramic view of the area. There is also a Palo Santo forest nearby, which is a nesting spot for red-footed boobies and other shorebirds.
Santiago Island is the second island in the archipelago that Charles Darwin set foot on, and Buccaneer Cove, once a refuge for passing pirates, sailors and whalers, is an excellent place to snorkel and swim. There are beautiful underwater formations that are home to many marine species, especially large schools of colorful tropical fish.
Thursday AM Visit: Santiago Island – Egas Port
Egas Port, also known as James Bay, is home to quick-footed Galapagos lava lizards and lounging marine iguanas. The grottos and tide pools surrounding the bay hide all kinds of different marine species, and it’s always exciting to see what you can find! This is also one of the best places to go snorkeling in the entire Galapagos.
Named after English nobleman Lord Hugh Seymour, this island was formed by uplifted submarine lava. Home to more than 2,500 land iguanas and large populations of sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and other bird species, North Seymour Island is also frequented by many different shark species, which can sometimes be seen from the Zodiac or from the M/C Ocean Spray itself.
Friday: PM Visit: Santa Cruz Island – Highlands
The highlands of Santa Cruz Island are fascinating given their height (up to 1,500 meters above sea level), varied wildlife, and other geological surprises, such as sinkholes and lava tunnels. Exploring the tunnels is truly a surreal, unique experience. Visitors will be able to see the different agricultural zones and crops grown by the islanders, and can often see Galapagos Giant Tortoises in their native environment here. There is also a large variety of birds in the highlands, making them a birdwatchers’ delight.
Mosquera Islet is located between North Seymour Island and Baltra, which is just off the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island. The islet is home to a reef of rocks and coral resulting from a volcanic uprising, as well as a long, white-sand beach. The narrowest part of the islet is only 160 meters wide, and it is mostly surrounded by black lava rocks; however, on the southwest side of Mosquera there is a landing point. Despite its small size, Mosquera Islet is home to one of the Galapagos’ largest colonies of sea lions, and there are several species of shorebirds that make it their home, too. Given the large number of sea lions present, visitors can see orca whales periodically throughout the year who come to feed on them.
Transfer to Baltra Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to Mosquera Islet. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Ocean Spray 4–Night Cruise
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Sunday: PM Visit: Bartholomew Island – Pinnacle Rock
The most iconic geographical feature of the Galapagos Islands is, unquestionably, Pinnacle Rock. A volcanic cone that formed by magma forcefully expelled by an underwater volcano, the sea instantly cooled the lava as it exploded upward, forming an enormous rock rising out of the sea. Today, there is a small beach around the rock where green sea turtles nest during breeding season. It is also a gathering point for fun-loving Galapagos penguins who love to dive into the water from the base of Pinnacle Rock and splash around in its azure waters. Not to be outdone, Pinnacle Rock is frequented by curious sea lions and many kinds of tropical fish.
Wednesday: AM Visit: Genovesa Island – Darwin Bay
Darwin Bay used to be a shield volcano, but one of the sides of its caldera collapsed after centuries of erosion. The bay is well-known for the sheer number and variety of birds that can been found here – in fact, over 20,000 red-footed boobies are estimated to call this island home, nesting among the trees and bushes of Genovesa Island. You will also fine Nazca and blue-footed boobies Darwin finches, and lots of marine life, including marine iguanas, rays, and sea lions.
Monday: PM Visit:Genovesa Island – El Barranco
visitors with an incredible panoramic view of the area. There is also a Palo Santo forest nearby, which is a nesting spot for red-footed boobies and other shorebirds.
Santiago Island is the second island in the archipelago that Charles Darwin set foot on, and Buccaneer Cove, once a refuge for passing pirates, sailors and whalers, is an excellent place to snorkel and swim. There are beautiful underwater formations that are home to many marine species, especially large schools of colorful tropical fish.
Thursday: PM Visit: Santiago Island – Egas Port
Egas Port, also known as James Bay, is home to quick-footed Galapagos lava lizards and lounging marine iguanas. The grottos and tide pools surrounding the bay hide all kinds of different marine species, and it’s always exciting to see what you can find! This is also one of the best places to go snorkeling in the entire Galapagos.
Named after English nobleman Lord Hugh Seymour, this island was formed by uplifted submarine lava. Home to more than 2,500 land iguanas and large populations of sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and other bird species, North Seymour Island is also frequented by many different shark species, which can sometimes be seen from the Zodiac or from the M/C Ocean Spray itself.
Friday: PM Visit: Santa Cruz Island – Highlands
The highlands of Santa Cruz Island are fascinating given their height (up to 1,500 meters above sea level), varied wildlife, and other geological surprises, such as sinkholes and lava tunnels. Exploring the tunnels is truly a surreal, unique experience. Visitors will be able to see the different agricultural zones and crops grown by the islanders, and can often see Galapagos Giant Tortoises in their native environment here. There is also a large variety of birds in the highlands, making them a birdwatchers’ delight.
Mosquera Islet is located between North Seymour Island and Baltra, which is just off the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island. The islet is home to a reef of rocks and coral resulting from a volcanic uprising, as well as a long, white-sand beach. The narrowest part of the islet is only 160 meters wide, and it is mostly surrounded by black lava rocks; however, on the southwest side of Mosquera there is a landing point. Despite its small size, Mosquera Islet is home to one of the Galapagos’ largest colonies of sea lions, and there are several species of shorebirds that make it their home, too. Given the large number of sea lions present, visitors can see orca whales periodically throughout the year who come to feed on them.
Transfer to Baltra Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to Mosquera Islet. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Ocean Spray 3-Night Cruise
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Saturday: PM Visit: San Cristobal Island – Lobos Island/Kicker Rock
Lobos Island is home to a large colony of boisterous sea lions who love to bask in the warm rays of sunshine and play along the island’s rock shores. It is also home to several different bird species, including frigatebirds, pelicans, and yellow warblers, among others. There is a small channel that runs along the island where the waters are very clear, making it easy to spot huge sea turtles, furtive rays, and even white-tipped sharks!
Kicker Rock is one of the archipelago’s most iconic visitor sites. It consists of two eroded volcanic cones that rise more than 100 meters from the waves in the middle of the open water. It is one of the Galapagos’ most renowned diving sites, and visitors can often see colorful underwater species from the deck of the M/C Ocean Spray.
Pitt Point is truly an “otherworldly” visitor point – it feels like you have stepped out onto another planet! The hike up to the top of the hill provides visitors with sweeping panoramic views of the island and the surrounding ocean, and the trail expertly curves around blue-footed booby nests on the ground. Toward the top of the island, visitors can see red-footed boobies nesting in the low trees, giving you up-close encounters with both incredible species.
Sunday: PM Visit: San Cristobal Island – Witches Hill
Witches Hill has several deep crevices and eroding rocks along the shore where different shore birds nest and feed. Visitors will be able to get close to them on the Zodiac ride, which is often accompanied by friendly sea lions and different kinds of tropical fish visible in the clear waters along the shoreline. Afterward, you will disembark on a powdery white-sand beach where you can swim and snorkel in the crystal-clear turquoise waters.
Post Office Bay is one of the archipelago’s most fascinating visitor points due to its human history. Centuries ago, sailors set up a barrel here where they would leave letters to loved ones back home. Other ships would also stop by and look through the addresses on the letters, and take the ones that were addressed to their own destinations – and the first Galapagos mail service was born! Today, the tradition lives on – you can leave a complementary postcard addressed to someone anywhere in the world, and someday a fellow traveler might take it with them and mail it!
Saturday: PM Visit: Floreana Island – Cormorant Point / Devil’s Crown
Cormorant Point is home to two different beaches, and there is a saltwater lagoon just a short walk beyond one of them that is a nesting site for flamingos. Ones of the beaches looks green because of its extraordinarily high content of small olivine crystals, while the other is known as Flour Beach due to its powdery white sand made of pulverized white coral. Visitors can sometimes see rays meandering along the shoreline, as well as different kinds of tropical fish.
Devil’s Crown hosts one of the archipelago’s best snorkeling sites, where snorkelers can see, just below the surface, several incredible volcanic structures that have submerged over the centuries. Today, they are home to countless colorful fish species, as well as sharks, rays, sea turtles, sea lions, and starfish, among many others!
Located along the northern side of Santa Cruz Island, Black Turtle Cove is a shallow inlet surrounded by mangroves that provide natural protection for several juvenile marine species. Just under the calm waters of the cove, visitors can see majestic sea turtles, different kinds of rays, and both white-tip and black-tip reef sharks. Blue-footed boobies and pelicans both enjoy hunting in these nutrient-rich waters, and can often be seen dive-bombing into the water.
Transfer to Baltra Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to Black Turtle Cove. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Ocean Spray 5-Night Cruise
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Saturday PM: Chinese Hat
Named after its distinctive shape, this visitor site will give you your first opportunity at an intimate encounter with Galapagos wildlife. You will also be able to see well-preserved, fragile volcanic rock that’s unlike anything you’ve seen before in other volcanic locations. This islet is home to many different Galapagos bird species, including the playful Galapagos penguins and the elusive Galapagos Hawks.
Vicente Roca Point hosts incredible rock formations that are home to many different bird species. As the visitor site is found on the western side of Isabela, the cool azure waters of the nutrient-laden Cromwell Current are the scene of fascinating feeding frenzies of both bird species and underwater mammals.
Sunday PM: Fernandina Island – Espinosa Point
Fernandina Island is unique in that it is the youngest island in the archipelago and also one of the most pristine – in fact, it has never been invaded by foreign species. As the westernmost island in the Galapagos, it is also more volcanically active than its siblings. Espinosa Point is the only visitor point on Fernandina, but there is lots to see here, including Galapagos Hawks, marine iguanas and the endemic flightless cormorant. Enjoy the sweeping views of the otherworldly landscape while hiking, and revel in the sheer abundance of marine life under the waves while snorkeling along the beach.
Tagus Cove is one of the Galapagos’ most intriguing visitor sites due to its human history. As one of the preferred pit stops of pirates, sailors and whalers for hundreds of years, guests love reading the interesting names and places etched into the cove’s walls. The hike here will give you panoramic views of the cove and its surroundings, and it will take you past a mangrove forest where the last 35 pairs of Mangrove finches live. You can snorkel off of the cove’s beach – there’s a good chance you’ll see a marine iguana diving for food!
Monday PM: Isabela Island – Urbina Bay
Urbina Bay, lying on the ocean floor for millions of years, is a volcanic uplift that is now home to land and marine iguanas, boisterous sea lions, and the fascinating flightless cormorant. The bay is a great place to relax on the beach or snorkel in its waters, and there are a couple of hiking trails around Urbina Bay that will give you a better view of different species of shorebirds living near the water.
Guests cannot disembark at Elizabeth Bay due to the area’s fragile ecosystem. However, the bay’s startlingly clear waters allow visitors to see a wide variety and abundance of marine life from the Zodiacs, including Galapagos sharks and enormous sea turtles.
Tuesday: PM: Isabela Island – Moreno Point
The otherworldly rocky shoreline of Moreno Point is home to dozens of different bird species, making this a particularly special visitor point for birdwatchers. You can hike into some saltwater lagoons just off of the beach, which are home to more unique bird species. The jet-black lava flows with the deep blue waters, the bright green vegetation surrounding the lagoons, and the towering Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes off in the distance make Moreno Point a particularly stunning, picturesque visitor point.
The Charles Darwin Research Station is a fascinating place to visit for anyone stepping foot on the islands, given its long history of conservation in the archipelago and its extensive collection of Galapagos plant specimens and other interesting things – like a full whale skeleton! It also acts as an active breeding center for Galapagos Giant Tortoises, and continues to be a biological research station to this day, managing multiple projects throughout the archipelago.
Wednesday PM:Santa Cruz Island – Highlands
The highlands on Santa Cruz Island can reach up to 1,500 meters above sea level, which produces entirely different climate zones. The area is filled with rolling hills, verdant growth, wildlife, and volcanos. Galapagos Giant Tortoises can be found here in their native environment, and guests can see finches, mockingbirds, and several other bird species. The highlands also have incredible panoramic views of the surrounding oceans, and guests can sometimes see whales breaching or rays jumping above the waves.
South Plaza Island is home to one of the archipelago’s smallest visitor sites, but it is also home to a large number of plant and wildlife species. It especially has a lot of Sesuvium plants, such as the prickly pear cactus tree, which is a critical food source for the land iguana. Having recently eradicated the local (imported) mice population, the land iguana population has grown steadily. The jet-black lava set against the crystal-clear turquoise waters surrounding South Plaza Island make it a favorite for photography lovers.
Transfer to Baltra Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to South Plaza Island. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Ocean Spray 5-Night Cruise
Thursday: AM:Arrival to Baltra Airport and transfer to M/C Ocean Spray
Welcome to the incredible Galapagos Islands and your luxury catamaran, the M/C Ocean Spray! Upon arrival onboard the vessel, your guide and crew members will greet you and take you to your accommodations. After freshening up, a short briefing will be given on health, safety and emergency protocols, and you will be given a description of normal routines and different areas aboard the M/C Ocean Spray.
Thursday: Santa Fe Island
The endemic pink land iguana lives one a single small island on the planet – and this is it! Santa Fe Island, home to the renowned Santa Fe Iguana, was originally created by a volcanic uplift. Today, it is home to a forest of Palo Santo and Opuntia trees. There are two trails on Santa Fe Island: one leads to a viewpoint overlooking the island and the surrounding ocean, and the other leads down to a small beach. This island once had its own population of Giant Tortoises, which was also unique to the island, but they were entirely wiped out by centuries of overhunting.
Española Island is home to many incredible species and geological features, making it one of the favorite visitor sites in the entire archipelago. Suarez Point is home to only breeding site for Waved Albatrosses in the Galapagos, and if you´re lucky you´ll get the chance to see a young albatross take its first flight off to sea, where it will remain for up to five years! The waters surrounding Española Island are incredibly rich in nutrients, so visitors can often see sea lions, marine iguanas, and even sharks swimming in the surrounding waters. Other than the Waved Albatross, there are many other bird species that make Española their home, including Nazca and blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropic birds, swallow-tailed gulls, and Galapagos Doves, among others.
Friday: PM Visit: Española Island – Gardner Bay / Osborn Islet
Gardner Bay is home to a noisy colony of sea lions that enjoy playing in the clear turquoise waters surrounding it. There are several different finch species here, as well as the endemic Española mockingbird, which is well-known for being very friendly with guests! However, visitors must take care to not feed or touch the wildlife, including the friendly ones.
The Interpretation Center has been open to the public for over twenty years, and offers visitors an insight into the history of the Galapagos archipelago and Giant Tortoise breeding practices. San Cristobal, the easternmost island, is also the first island that Charles Darwin set foot on, and is currently home to the provincial capital and the Ecuadorian navy. Giant tortoises that are bred in captivity roam in a semi-natural habitat in the area surrounding the center.
Saturday: PM Visit: San Cristobal Island – Lobos Island/Kicker Rock
Lobos Island is home to a large colony of boisterous sea lions who love to bask in the warm rays of sunshine and play along the island’s rock shores. It is also home to several different bird species, including frigatebirds, pelicans, and yellow warblers, among others. There is a small channel that runs along the island where the waters are very clear, making it easy to spot huge sea turtles, furtive rays, and even white-tipped sharks!
Kicker Rock is one of the archipelago’s most iconic visitor sites. It consists of two eroded volcanic cones that rise more than 100 meters from the waves in the middle of the open water. It is one of the Galapagos’ most renowned diving sites, and visitors can often see colorful underwater species from the deck of the M/C Ocean Spray.
Pitt Point is truly an “otherworldly” visitor point – it feels like you have stepped out onto another planet! The hike up to the top of the hill provides visitors with sweeping panoramic views of the island and the surrounding ocean, and the trail expertly curves around blue-footed booby nests on the ground. Toward the top of the island, visitors can see red-footed boobies nesting in the low trees, giving you up-close encounters with both incredible species.
Sunday: PM visit: San Cristobal Island – Witches Hill
Witches Hill has several deep crevices and eroding rocks along the shore where different shore birds nest and feed. Visitors will be able to get close to them on the Zodiac ride, which is often accompanied by friendly sea lions and different kinds of tropical fish visible in the clear waters along the shoreline. Afterward, you will disembark on a powdery white-sand beach where you can swim and snorkel in the crystal-clear turquoise waters.
Post Office Bay is one of the archipelago’s most fascinating visitor points due to its human history. Centuries ago, sailors set up a barrel here where they would leave letters to loved ones back home. Other ships would also stop by and look through the addresses on the letters, and take the ones that were addressed to their own destinations – and the first Galapagos mail service was born! Today, the tradition lives on – you can leave a complementary postcard addressed to someone anywhere in the world, and someday a fellow traveler might take it with them and mail it!
Saturday: PM Visit:Floreana Island – Cormorant Point / Devil’s Crown
Cormorant Point is home to two different beaches, and there is a saltwater lagoon just a short walk beyond one of them that is a nesting site for flamingos. Ones of the beaches looks green because of its extraordinarily high content of small olivine crystals, while the other is known as Flour Beach due to its powdery white sand made of pulverized white coral. Visitors can sometimes see rays meandering along the shoreline, as well as different kinds of tropical fish.
Devil’s Crown hosts one of the archipelago’s best snorkeling sites, where snorkelers can see, just below the surface, several incredible volcanic structures that have submerged over the centuries. Today, they are home to countless colorful fish species, as well as sharks, rays, sea turtles, sea lions, and starfish, among many others!
Tuesday: AM Visit: Santa Cruz Island – Black Turtle Cove
Located along the northern side of Santa Cruz Island, Black Turtle Cove is a shallow inlet surrounded by mangroves that provide natural protection for several juvenile marine species. Just under the calm waters of the cove, visitors can see majestic sea turtles, different kinds of rays, and both white-tip and black-tip reef sharks. Blue-footed boobies and pelicans both enjoy hunting in these nutrient-rich waters, and can often be seen dive-bombing into the water.
Transfer to Baltra Airport
On the last day of your cruise, the only visit you have is to Black Turtle Cove. Afterwards, you´ll board the M/C Ocean Spray to gather your belongings and freshen up for your transfer to the airport.
Itineraries are subject to change without prior notice. Changes to your Ocean Spray cruises’ Galapagos expedition schedule may occur due to weather conditions, National Park regulations, emergencies on board, or other unforeseen circumstances.