What's the Game Plan?

A week and a half to go and I can't stop looking at the itinerary. It's still hard to believe that I'll be heading to the equator and exploring the land and waters of the Galapagos! Since I want to do my best to capture the experience and take all those following along with me, I thought I'd post our schedule for our time on the Endeavour.

Day One: Fly to Miami and from there Guayaquil, Ecuador. It'll be a late arrival so we'll be crashing at the Hilton Hotel Colon.

Day Two: Back to the airport for the flight to the Galapagos, arriving on the island of Baltra. From there we board the Endeavour and settle into our cabins (ie. throw bag in cabin, run to deck and stare out at the ocean). We steam to Las Bachas, on the northern coast of Santa Cruz. It'll be the first opportunity to hit the water and I fully intend to take advantage of that. There will also be a nature walk to look for marine iguanas and birds in the lagoons behind the beach.

Day Three: We disembark onto North Seymour Island for an early morning hike with land iguanas, sea lions and nesting blue-footed booby and frigate birds. It gets better with an opportunity to snorkel along the cliffs looking for reef sharks. In the afternoon we head to Rabida where it's possible to snorkel with sea lions (yes please) and take a hike to search for hawks and other land birds.

Day Four: We start the day on the youngest island of the Galapagos, Fernandina. We'll explore the lava flows and large colonies of marine iguanas and hopefully some flightless cormorants. Heading into the water, there should be green sea turtles feeding on the rich algal beds. In the afternoon we sail to the largest island, Isabella. After crossing the equator, we'll check out the collapsed caldera of Ecuador Volcano before taking zodiacs along the coast to look for fur seals and penguins.

Day Five: Heading over to Urbina Bay, still on the island of Isabella. There are several hike opportunities to search for land iguanas and perhaps some giant tortoises followed by a dip in the ocean. In the afternoon we head to Tagus Cove, a spot where Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle anchored. We can take a hike to a volcano crater, take a zodiac ride or do some deep water snorkelling (decisions, decisions).

Day Six: Santiago Island and the opportunity for an optional (optional?) hike to check out a large turtle nesting beach. We'll then explore Buccaneer Cove by zodiac and kayak with opportunities to snorkel as well. In the afternoon we'll be at Puerto Egas checking out tidal pools, lava flows and grottoes.

Day Seven: Back to Santa Cruz and the Charles Darwin Research Centre. We'll head into the lush highlands and look for wild tortoises.

Day Eight: San Cristobal, checking out the only place in the Galapagos where all three booby species nest together, blue-footed, red-footed and Nazca and hit the water with the sea lions one more time. The afternoon is spent hiking with some more snorekelling opportunities and in the evening we can explore the port of Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of the Galapagos.

Day Nine: Leave the boat (boooooo!) and fly back to Quayaquil. The afternoon is ours to explore the city.

Day Ten: Flight to Miami, Philadelphia and back to Toronto.