EVOLUTION Itinerary footsteps Back In Time - 8 Days 

DAY 2: SUNDAY
AM: SOUTH PLAZAS ISLAND
South Plazas Island lies just a few hundred meters off the east coast of Santa Cruz Island and is one of the smallest, yet richest islands in the archipelago.
Just over 400 feet wide, it was formed by lava upwelling from the bottom of the ocean. Our landing is in the channel between North and South Plaza, where the island tilts toward the water. South Plaza is known for its lush and diverse flora. A grove of luminescent green prickly-pear cacti, a ground cover of red sesuvium, the turquoise waters of the channel and fiery sally lightfoot crabs against the black lava rock combine to create a colorful palate of an island to explore. One of the big attractions here are the friendly yellow land iguanas waiting for lunch to drop from a cactus in the form of a prickly pear.
We follow a trail up the tilt of the island to cliffs that look out over the ocean. Swallow-tailed gulls, with red banded eyes, nest atop the overlook where you may spot marine life such as manta rays. South Plaza has a very healthy population of sea lions including a colony of bachelors that sit atop the cliff. They unintentionally polish the surrounding rocks with the oil from their fur.
We may see red-billed tropic birds, Nazca (masked) and blue footed boobies catching rides on the wind currents.
Between the north end of Santa Cruz Island and the Galapagos’s other airport on Baltra Island lays narrow Itabaca Channel. The channel takes less than 5 minutes to cross by ferry. Punta Carrion juts out from the north of Santa Cruz Island to mark the southeastern entrance to the channel and the snorkeling / dive site that it gives its name. It’s time to step up your snorkeling just a bit with some real rewards. The inviting green-turquoise cove close to shore will beckon you to enter the water. Friendly cousins of the sea lion welcoming committee from yesterday will of course be there to make you feel right at home and introduce you to large schools of yellow-tail surgeon fish interwoven with large parrot fish interlopers. Creole fish and blue stripped sea slugs and moray eels inhabit the spaces in the rocks. You can stay in the shallow, protected cove or venture out toward the deeper waters where white tipped-reef sharks and the occasional hammerhead inhabit the channel and tuna and red-tailed snapper pass through. Ashore you will see blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans; Galapagos herons and great blue herons.

PM: SANTA CRUZ ISLAND: CARRION POINT / MOSQUERA ISLAND
Located between North Seymour and Baltra is the small island of Mosquera.
The island consists of a long narrow stretch of white sand, rocks and tide pools. Created by geological uplift, the island has a flat look to it rather than the conical shape of the volcanically formed islands. A stroll down the beach offers views of the brown pelicans, boobies and colonies of sea lions that like to laze here. The tiny spit of land has one of the largest populations of sea lions in Galapagos. Along the rocks and in the tide pools are the now familiar sally lightfoot crabs (red lava crabs). They follow the tide eating the algae and detritus left behind. Ever aware of movement around them, the sally lightfoot is quick to escape from approaching predators, in stark contrast to the unabashed way the crabs climb over the sedentary marine iguanas.
A short distance to the east of Mosquera you will notice a small table-like island and just to the south of this, an island comprised of a single volcanic cone (called a tuff cone). The larger island is known as Daphne Major and the smaller table island is Daphne Minor. We will be navigating close by the larger of the two islands, Daphne Major. Though Daphne is just a short distance from Baltra, with its airport, the Galapagos National Park restricts visits here. Because her shores are teaming with life, especially birds, we will cruise past her shores for a look. The island has been of central focus to scientific researchers and featured in The Beak of the Finch, the Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction book about the work done by biologists Paul & Rosemary Grant. We will not only see finches, but short-eared owls, masked boobies and Galapagos martins as we pass along her shores. Our day ends aboard the Evolution’s sky lounge as we raise our glasses to the Pacific sunset. Our next landing is just off the southeastern shore of Santiago Island looming to the northeast. 

DAY 4: TUESDAY
AM: GENOVESA ISLAND: DARWIN BAY BEACH
Tower Island could serve as a film set for a remote secret submarine base. The southwestern part of the island is an ocean-filled caldera ringed by the outer edges of a sizeable and mostly submerged volcano. The island sits to the northwest, slightly removed from the Galapagos archipelago. It is also known as Bird Island, a name it lives up to in a spectacular way. Landing on the white coral sands of Darwin Bay and walking up the beach, you will be surrounded by the bustling activity of great frigate birds. Puffball chicks and their proud papas—who sport bulging scarlet throat-sacks—crowd the surrounding branches, while yellow-crowned herons and lava herons feed by the shore.
Farther along you will discover a stunning series of sheltered pools set into a rocky outcrop. Watch your step for marine iguanas, lava lizards and Galapagos doves that blend with the trail. The trail beside the pools leads up to a cliff overlooking the ocean filled caldera, where pairs of swallow-tailed gulls, the only nocturnal gulls in the world, can be seen nesting at the cliff’s edge. Lava gulls and pintail ducks ride the sea breezes nearby.
A brief panga ride brings us to the base of those same cliffs to reveal the full variety of bird species sheltering in the ledges and crevices created by the weathered basalt. Among them, red–billed tropic birds enter and leave their nests trailing exotic kite-like tails. This is also an intriguing place to go deepwater snorkeling. Tower offers two very different snorkeling experiencing along the cliffs that form the inner part of the caldera.
The center of the caldera is very deep and attracts hammerheads and large manta rays which sometimes patrol the western edge of the caldera that is more open to the sea. You can snorkel here gazing down into the depths where you just may spot these large animals if you are fortunate.
But don’t worry, if you don’t really want to see them there is an equally amazing and far more sheltered snorkeling experience for you across the bay.

PM: GENOVESA ISLAND: PRINCE PHILLIP’S STEPS
Across the bay is Prince Phillip’s Steps, named for a visit by the British Monarch in 1964. The shoreline here falls off less sharply into the depths and is far more protected. The first thing you will notice when snorkeling here are very large tropical fish. These are warm water fish feeding off cold water nutrients. You’ll find the full assortment here including oversize parrot, unicorn, angel and hogfish along with schools of perch, surgeon fish and various types of butterfly fish. Hiding in and around the rocky shoreline that drops off into the caldera you will also see a rainbow assortment of wrasse, basslet, anthias and tang. This is the place to bring your underwater tropical fish identification chart. There are some special treats to be found here including occasional visits by fur sea lions. This area of the bay is also excellent for some kayaking in the calm waters close to the shore to observe nesting birds.
Prince Phillip’s actual steps are a 25-meter (81-foot) stairway leading up to a narrow stretch of land that opens out onto the plateau surrounding Darwin Bay. It extends to form the north side of the island. Red-footed boobies wrap their webbed feet around branches to precariously perch in the bushes, and, in contrast, their masked-booby cousins dot the surface of the scrublands beyond. Crossing through the sparse vegetation, you will come to a broad lava field that extends toward the sea—this forms the north shore of the island.
Storm petrels flutter out over the ocean in swarms, then return to nest in the cracks and tunnels of the lava field but not without hazard. Short-eared owls lay in camouflaged wait and make their living feeding off the returning petrels.
Remember to watch Tower’s inner bay at sunset as you might spot a giant manta ray.

DAY 5: WEDNESDAY
AM: NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND
North Seymour Island was lifted from the ocean floor by a seismic event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile. Cliffs only a few meters high form much of the shoreline, where swallow-tailed gulls sit perched in ledges. A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo Santo trees stand just above the landing, usually without leaves, waiting for the rain to bring them into bloom. This island is teeming with life! You might have to give way to apassing sea lion or marine iguana. Blue-footed boobies nest on either side of the trail where mating pairs perform their courtship dance. You are likely to see fluffy white chicks peeking out from beneath their protective mothers. The trail follows the eastern shore along the beach. You may be fortunate to witness flocks of brown pelicans and blue-footed boobies hunting schools of fish. The boobies, which look so comical on land, are ideally adapted as dive bombers and easily pierce the water, zeroing in on their targeted prey. Frigate birds with wingspans of up to 5 feet soar overhead and all around. They were named for the way that the trim of their wings in flight are reminiscent of the square rigged sailing warship. Not coincidentally frigate birds are also called Man O’ War birds and they live up to that name in a literal way when they target boobies, pelicans and other birds to steal their catch. Because the frigates are pelagic, they lack the ability to take off from the water, so they do better at snatching fish from the surface or simply stealing them. They also target marine iguanas and young baby sea turtles. The trail turns east and inland to reveal the nesting stronghold of the frigates.
Here you can see males with large, bright red, inflated throat sacks known as gular pouches, all done in an effort to attract females. Your guide will point out the difference between the Magnificent, or Man O’ War frigates and their Great frigate bird cousins. Large puff-ball frigate bird chicks inhabit nests, waiting for their parents to return with a meal. Even at this young age they possess long hooked beaks and act defiant when they feel threatened. You will also get a closer look at the feathers of the proud parents and notice their iridescent quality and deep green tinge.
Another inhabitant along the trail is the yellow land iguana. The species was originally introduced to the North Seymour in 1932 by Captain Alan Hancock and his crew from Baltra with the aim of rescuing the creatures from the poor conditions left by goats and other feral animals. The iguanas colonized the island without problem. The original colony disappeared from Baltra when it became a US military base in WWII. In 1980 Charles Darwin Station began a breeding program using some of the animals found on Seymour and successfully reintroduced their prodigy to both islands. Today the population on Seymour is roughly 600 and on Baltra 1,500. Our snorkeling site at North Seymour also attracts scuba divers. You have a chance to see many types of rays here including marble rays, golden eagle rays, spotted eagle rays, sting rays and even manta rays. Dormitories of whitetipped reef sharks sleep on the bottom while schools of king angelfish and yellow tailed surgeonfish swarm the rocky shoreline passing the occasional parrot and damselfish. Some of the rocks are actually well disguised scorpion fish. Large schools of tightly packed blue and gold snappers, grunts and jacks are usually found plying these waters. Sea lions pay visits from both Seymour and nearby Mosquera Island as sea turtles and the occasional hammerhead shark can been seen down in the depths. Creole fish, the color of red salsa, hieroglyphic hawkfish, with neon-like etchings on their flanks and spotfin burrfish, which look a bit like a swimming shoe box with a cartoon face also inhabit the region.

PM: SANTA FE ISLAND
Santa Fe offers one of the more beautiful and sheltered coves in the islands. Its turquoise lagoon is protected by a peninsula of tiny islets forming an ideal anchorage. The island lies southeast of Santa Cruz Island within sight of Puerto Ayora. Geologically it is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago and for many years was thought to be a product of an uplift event. Through satellite imagery it has been possible to determine the island’s volcanic origins.
A wet landing on a sandy white beach brings us into contact with one of many sea lion colonies. Bulls contend for the right of being beach master, while smaller males mask as females to make stealthy mating moves. Galapagos hawks are sometimes easily approached, perched atop salt bushes.
An ascending trail leads toward the cliffs, where a dense thicket stands to the inland side of the island. The cliff side provides an expansive view of the ocean.
You will be struck by the forest of giant prickly pear cactus found here that live up to their name, with tree-sized trunks! These are the largest of their kind in the Galapagos.
At the top of the trail our goal is to spot one of the large species of land iguana endemic to Santa Fe. Beige to chocolate brown in color with dragonlike spines, these big iguanas truly resemble dinosaurs. An indigenous species of rice rat also inhabits the thicket, and lucky hikers may spot harmless Galapagos snakes. Santa Fe offers a more advanced kayaking route along its northern shore that ends at sea caves and is subject to conditions.