Galapagos  Natural History and Photo Adventure

March 25  to April 4, 2012, Explore and Photograph the

Galapagos Islands Aboard the Samba

with Juan Manuel Salcedo

Trip Price $5,565 ($250 off after Dec 25th)

 

Itinerary

Condensed Itinerary Starting Sunday March 25:

• SUNDAY, March 25:   Quito – Arrive on international flights transfer to hotel
• MONDAY, March 26   Quito – Optional Quito city tour, or optional tour of Antisana Ecological Preserve, Welcome Dinner at Local fine restaurant

GALAPAGOS;  NORTH AND WESTERN ISLANDS

TUES, March 27:

AM:   AIRPORT-BALTRA
SANTA CRUZ             PM:    BACHAS

WEDS, March 28: GENOVESA

AM: DARWIN BAY
PM: PRINCE PHILLIP’S STEPS

THURS, March 29: MARCHENA

AM: PUNTA MEJIA
PM: PLAYA NEGRA

FRI, March 30: ISABELA

AM: PUNTA ABERMALE
PM: PUNTA VICENTE ROCA

SAT, March 31:  FERNANDINA

AM: PUNTA ESPINOZA
PM: URBINA BAYISABELA

SUN, April 1: ISABELA

AM: ELIZABETH BAY
PM: PUNTA MORENO

MON, April 2: ISABELA

AM: TINTORERAS
WETLANDS
WALL OF TEARS
TORTOISE BREEDING CENTER
PM: SIERRA NEGRA VOLCANO

TUES April 3: SANTACRUZ    

AM: LOS GEMELOS
PM: FLY BACK TO QUITO, BALTRA

OUR VESSEL FOR THE WEEK

Accommodations

Six air-conditioned double cabins and 1 exterior double bed cabin, all with private bathrooms and hot water.

Equipment

Very efficient Twin DAV diesel engines 280 HP-CUMMINS that only use a remarkable 6 gallons of diesel per hour! Two generators each of 21 & 12.5 kW for 110 V & 220V A/C and 12V & 24V D/C, Furuno Navnet Radar, Plotter and Sonar, GPS, VHF & SSB radios, two tenders with outboard motors, 32’ High Definition LCD TV, DVD video equipment.

Specifications

Length: L.O.A.* 78 feet / 23 meters
Beam: 18 feet / 5.4 meters
Tonnage: 134 tons
Speed: 8.5 knots
Range: 2.500 miles
Sail: Steadying sails
Water capacity: 1.500 gallons and water maker
Electric Power Supply: 110V & 220V (A/C)
*L.O.A.: length overall

Safety equipment:
One self-contained 20-passenger life raft, EPIRB (Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon), two bi-directional VHF emergency-radios, one VHF (Motorola) wide-range radio, VHF and HF radios and one cell-phone communication system, life jackets, fire extinguishers, safety smoke and fire detectors and overhead sprinkler systems, A.B.C fire-control system and CO² bank for the engine room.

DETAILED ITINERARY SAMBA 2012

PRISTINE AND BORN OF FIRE: NORTH AND WEST ISLANDS
TUESDAY

AM: BALTRA AIRPORT
PM: LAS BACHAS, Santa Cruz Island

On arrival at Baltra Airport all visitors will get their hand luggage checked through the Quarantine system run by the Galapagos National Park Service. We will then be met by Juan Manuel Salcedo, who will assist us with our luggage collection and accompany us on the short bus ride to the harbor to board the Samba.

After a light lunch the Samba will navigate for 25 minutes to Las Bachas. These are organic white sand beaches located on the northern shore of Santa Cruz Island and they are the most important nesting site for the green Pacific sea turtles of the Galapagos. Named Las Bachas after the American military occupation on Baltra during the Second World War, the place is a peaceful and beautiful introduction to the Enchanted Islands. On the shore we will encounter marine iguanas, sally light foot crabs, blue footed boobies diving and, in a nearby lagoon, we often find greater flamingos, black necked stilts and other shore birds. This calm and tranquil beach offers a good introduction to snorkeling in the Galapagos and everyone is welcome to swim from the beach.  After our first landing at Las Bachas we will begin the overnight navigation to our landing site for the following day.

WEDNESDAY, TOWER (GENOVESA)

AM: DARWIN BAY
PM: PRINCE PHILIP’S STEPS

After the 6 to 7 hour navigation from Santa Cruz Island to Tower or “Genovesa” Island (all the Galapagos Islands have two names, one in English and the other in Spanish), we will wake up to the beautiful cacophony of one of the largest tropical sea bird colonies on the planet. The cliff tops are decorated with frigate birds, red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, swallow tailed gulls, tropic birds and many other pelagic species. Darwin Bay, where we will be landing at first light is the home to thousands of nesting sea birds. After an early breakfast we will land at a small beach during the early morning light.  Red-footed boobies will be displaying for potential mates as they collect nesting materials, while great frigate birds perched in nearby trees inflate their gular sacks hoping to attract a female.  Simultaneously, other frigates will be playing their favorite game: piracy. Darwin’s finches, Galapagos doves and mocking birds stroll the ground to find seeds and insects. The red mangroves, cactus and saltbushes contrast with the blue sky and the dark basaltic walls.  This location is a photographers paradise!

Following lunch we will do a dry landing to climb Prince Philip’s Steps. The steep ascent takes us 100 feet above sea level, where we are welcomed by the elegant silhouettes of red billed tropic birds and the aerobatic Galapagos shearwater.  Both bird species display astounding aerobatic skills as they fly past the cliff edge below our feet!  A lava rock trail takes us through the endemic dwarf incense tree forest, to find more red footed “boobies” nesting as well as many of their gannet like relatives, the Nazca boobies. The dwarf incense tree (Palo Santo) forest is dormant most of the year, but awakens in the rainy season to fill the air with a refreshing aroma. After a 15 minute walk, we come to the edge of the Palo Santo forest, where we are greeted by the panorama of thousands of storm petrels flying erratically above lava flows for as far as the eye can see.  This is a perfect scenario for one of the Galapagos avian predators to make a successful kill; the short-eared owl.  Known elsewhere around the world as a nocturnal predator, in Genovesa it hunts in broad daylight, and we have an excellent chance of seeing it at work!.  More cat than owl, it waits patiently on the lava flows, outside lava tunnels and crevasses to capture the storm petrels as they exit their nesting burrows after feeding their young.

We will then return to the boat for snorkeling gear and spend a few hours snorkeling along the rocky cliffs of Genovesa Island.  Snorkeling on Tower offers a view of a wide variety of tropical fish.

THURSDAY, MARCHENA (BINDLOE)

AM: PUNTA MEJIA
PM: PLAYA NEGRA

All other tour boats that sail in the Galapagos will sail back south after visiting Tower Island; not the Samba!  We are the only boat that will sail west-northwest toward the island of Marchena after departing Genovesa. The Galapagos National Park Service granted us the chance of using Marchena’s magical shorelines to snorkel, dinghy ride and kayak.   In recent times, only scientists have reached the land of Marchena, where forbidding endless and untouched lava flows combine with no fresh water and very little precious soil, to make a foreboding, but beautiful landscape.  The serenity of Bindloe is only disturbed by the murmur and surge of the Pacific swells and musical argument of the castaway sea lions. Punta Mejía is one of the best sites in the Archipelago to snorkel. The calm and clear deep blue water of the north west coast, and the dark hostile topography of the location give the sensation of witnessing the beginning of our planet and its underwater world.  Apart from great fish diversity, when we snorkel we often see rays, reef sharks and sea turtles.

Navigating southwest for 45 minutes to Playa Negra is always an exciting experience. More than once in the past we have seen bottle nosed dolphins, and other cetaceans. After an early afternoon snorkel around a recently formed lava grotto where marine iguanas feed, we will begin a 5 to 6 hour sail to the west.  As we navigate west and away from the island, the sea floor drops off dramatically and we cross a 3,000 foot underwater cliff! The Cromwell current, flows from the open Pacific to the west and brings oceanic deep water welling up against the submarine precipice.  This upwelling brings cold, nutrient rich water to the surface and creates unusually food rich, productive water.  As a result, the waters we transit on this navigation attract many marine creatures and birds to feed on this abundance of food and we make the navigation during the afternoon in order to be able to watch for large cetaceans and other ocean wanderers.

FRIDAY, ISABELA (ALBEMARLE)

AM: PUNTA ALBEMARLE
PM: PUNTA VICENTE ROCA

Human history has left its footprint on this small corner of the Galapagos.  Punta Albemarle, is the farthest north point of Isabela Island, and was once an important US radar installation to detect Japanese naval attacks on the Panama Canal. All that remains of the WWII station is a small, deteriorated shack which serves as a reminder of the long boring watches that young US naval officers spent in the isolated, but unique environment of the Galapagos Islands.  The sailors worked long, three-week shifts and fortunately, never saw any action.  We will spend the morning ashore at this location watching and photographing the species that this location is best known for; Galapagos flightless cormorants, and marine iguanas.  The recent lava flows are the nesting ground of the only flightless cormorant in the world and the basking terrain of the largest marine iguanas of Galapagos. The cormorants, which are normally very shy birds, display and build their bulky nests from seaweed, with total indifference to human presence at this location, because very few boats and tourists visit this site. As the morning advances the cold-blooded marine iguanas warm, they give a show of adaptation as they wander in to shallow water to feed on green and red algae. In this fantastic setting you can only be reminded that the only constant of the Islands is change.

Our afternoon destination, Punta Vicente Roca, offers an overwhelming diversity of geological formations. Located on the southwest end of Ecuador Volcano only a few miles south of latitude 0°, the area is an outstanding example on how the Islands were formed and how the forces of change have transformed the landscape and shaped the wildlife. Vicente Roca is the home of tuff cones and lava dikes and is fertile ground for erosion and rockslides. We will look at these dramatic geologic structures from our dinghies, as we enjoy watching the Galapagos penguins, brown noddies, blue-footed boobies and other marine life. If the waters are calm enough, we will snorkel along the submarine volcanic cliff face, where huge schools of tropical fish are herded around by playful Galapagos sea lions. The walls of the tuff cones are full of colorful invertebrates and rich algae blooming give us a great chance of watching numerous sea turtles feeding.

SATURDAY, FERNANDINA (NARBOROUGH) AND ISABELA

AM: PUNTA ESPINOZA, Fernandina Island
PM: URBINA BAY, Isabela Island

Only 30,000-100,000 years old Fernandina is the youngest island of the Archipelago. This immature shield volcano represents less than an instant in the geological time scale. Not even your wildest imagination can give you a better setting to experience the start of life on an island. The whole Island is covered by hostile barren lava, however, at our morning landing site, Punta Espinoza the shoreline is teeming with life. Reptiles, birds and mammals are all coexisting at this location; eating, sleeping, singing, fighting and mating. It is a living museum with piles of marine iguanas, playful sea lions, hard working flightless cormorants, dwarf penguins, and busy Sally light-foot crabs.  Don’t forget to look around because the Galapagos Hawk is always on the hunt. We will spend the morning ashore doing a roughly mile long walk with plenty of stops to photograph and observe the activity.  Snorkeling with turtles, iguanas, cormorants and plenty of fish is the best way to refresh after the lava walk.

The hotspot under the Galapagos generates intense volcanic activity. The west islands are the youngest and most active of the Archipelago. Located in the center of Isabela, Alcedo Volcano is a reminder of how volatile these Islands are. On the west shore line of Alcedo lays Urbina Bay. The landmass of the inlet was uplifted in 1954. More than ¾ of a mile of shoreline were created, and many coral reef extensions where exposed to air, as the earthquake uplifted  the seabed. This brand new land became perfect nesting terrain for the most beautiful of land dragons, the giant land iguanas of Isabela. The land iguanas of Isabela are the largest in the Galapagos and in Urbina the colorful population offers a great example of their potential to grow to enormous sizes. The impressive yellow, orange/brown iguanas roam the low lands looking for flowers, fruits, leaves and shoots of their favorite plants. Also, during the time of our visit at the end of the rainy season it is possible to see giant tortoises sharing the land with these massive iguanas. Urbina Bay is a snapshot in miniature of what the earth was like during the Jurassic time period.   Snorkeling may be an option at this beach depending on waves and water clarity, but as always we will try hard to get a snorkel in this afternoon!

SUNDAY, ISABELA

AM: ELIZABETH BAY
PM: PUNTA MORENO

Isabela Island constitutes almost half of the entire surface of the Archipelago. It is nearly 100 miles long and offers a remarkable diversity of habitats. Shaped like a seahorse and with volcanic highlands reaching over 5000 feet in elevation, it is also the place of birth of vast mangrove forests. Elizabeth Bay is the only place on Earth where old tropical mangrove forests and penguins can be photographed in the same frame. The ecosystem is also the residence of spotted eagle rays, sea turtles and a nursery for fish and marine invertebrates. We will spend the morning drifting in this serene environment with the outboards off and using only our oars for propulsion.  This morning’s panga ride, offers great opportunities to photograph the penguins and other birds such as the striated heron and yellow-crowned night heron.    After returning from the Panga ride there may be an opportunity to snorkel in a very special place were sometimes 50-60 sea turtles congregate to rest and bask in shallow water.

In the afternoon, after a short navigation, we will land at the desolate lava wasteland of Punta Moreno.  When you set foot here you will understand why the Spanish Bishop Fray Tomas de Berlanga who accidentally discovered the Islands in 1535 and was the first European to set foot in the archipelago said: “It was as if God had decided to rain stones”. When Fray first set foot on a lava field with sailors from his ship desperate to find water (their ship had just exhausted it’s supply) he struggled to find fresh water and in desperation was reduced to chew on cactus pads to quench his thirst. More than three centuries later a young Naturalist saw beyond the lava. Charles Darwin was amazed by the colonization of plants and the start of life over this terrain. He thought this process could easily compare to the origin of life on our planet. The mystery of mysteries…  At Punta Moreno we will do a roughly 1.5 mile walk across the lava fields and see the first pioneers of life taking hold on the blistering hot infertile lava.  The pioneer lava cactus, seemingly growing directly from the rock, is contrasted with a stunning oasis, we walk to, where lava tunnel roofs have collapsed, allowing brackish water to accumulate, and give life to greater flamingos, moorhens, black-necked stilts and Galapagos Martins.     After the walk a snorkel along the shore at Punta Moreno often includes frolics with penguins and flightless cormorants as well as sea turtles.

MONDAY, ISABELA

AM: TINTORERAS AND TORTOISE BREEDING CENTER
PM: SIERRA NEGRA

Before breakfast we will wake up to walk on Tintoreras, a very small islet, were marine iguanas breed and blue-footed boobies dive and sharks rest. A short trail along the shore takes us to grotto formations were white tipped reef sharks are resting. Through the clear and shallow water you will get a great view of the sharks that keep our oceans healthy. Sea turtles and penguins are always around and you will enjoy all of this without getting wet!

After a good Breakfast we will land on the main peer of Puerto Villamil. A five-minute bus ride will take us to the Tortoise Breeding Centre. Here we will learn about this emblematic reptile after which the islands have been named. Giant tortoise populations were decimated for food for over a century, by whalers, buccaneers and the crews of passing naval ships.  Next came human pioneers who brought their domestic cats, dogs, and goats that invariably got loose and ate the slow moving easy to catch young tortoises and their eggs.  It is now an Ecuadorian national priority to bring their numbers back.

Our afternoon adventure will take us to our highest elevation while in the Galapagos, the rim of the Sierra Negra Volcano. This giant and active shield volcano has one of the largest calderas of the world. Last active in 2005, the volcano graphically displays how the islands are born of fire. The fumaroles, recent lava flows and the vast depression formed by the collapse of the magma chamber are a reminder of what the surface of the world may have looked like as it was forming.

TUESDAY, SANTA CRUZ  (INDEFATIGABLE)

AM: HIGHLANDS
PM: FLY BACK TO MAINLAND ECUADOR AND QUITO

On our way to the airport we will stop at the Highlands of Santa Cruz. At 1800 feet the greenery offers the opportunity to admire the remnants of a Galapagos mature forest. The Daisy trees of the genus Scalesia decorate a couple of extraordinary geological formations. Known as “Los Gemelos”, these collapse craters and their surroundings are the home of many of Darwin’s finches, mocking birds, vermillion flycatcher and a wonderful diversity of indigenous plants. It is important to leave the boat early in the morning to have a pleasant visit. Breakfast will be served at 6:00 am.

We will arrive at the Baltra Airport in time to catch our return flight to the mainland of Ecuador.

On our arrival in Quito we will be transferred to the hotel and have time to freshen up before a farewell dinner at a local fine restaurant.

WEDNESDAY, FLIGHTS HOME OR TO PERU FOR MACHU PICCHU EXTENSION;

After breakfast at the hotel a transfer shuttle will take us to the airport for flights home or on to Peru and a travel extension to Machu Picchu.

YOUR GALAPAGOS GUIDE:

•  There used to be three classifications of Galapagos Naturalist-Guides, I,II and III, which was based on the education, experience and language skills of the guides.
• For political and technical reasons this system was changed so that ratings are now based solely on the amount of time the individual has guided in the Galapagos.  Thus, new guides, even if they hold a degree in science, must begin their “Galapagos-career” as a “Naturalist I”.
• Juan Manuel is a Guide lll and holds the top level credentials for a Galapagos guide.  On top of this I have worked with Juan Manuel on many trips and know him to be the best guide I have ever worked with in the Galapagos.  Juan makes it possible for us to be on shore early in the morning before the heat and when the light is best for photography and late in the day as the last rays of sunset light illuminate our subjects and wildlife is at its most active.
  

INCLUDED IN THE TRIP PRICE: $5,565

• All airport transfers from March 25^th until April 4^th, including arrival transfer, departure and arrival on travel days for the Galapagos segment and departure transfer.
• All accommodations in Quito at the Patio Andaluz for the nights of March 25^th, 26^th and April 3^rd
• Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in Quito on March 26^th and breakfast on March 27^th at Patio Andaluz
• Farewell dinner in Quito on April 3^rd
• Airfare to and from Galapagos
• $110 US entrance fee into the Galapagos National Park
• All on-board accommodations on the Yacht Samba, all meals (B,L,D), island excursions including all Galapagos bus-fares and any additional guides qualified by the Galapagos National Park.
• Tips to crew and naturalist on board the Samba
• Rental of all snorkeling gear on board the Samba including wet suits, mask, snorkel and fins

NOT INCLUDED:

• Quito town tour* and/or tour to Antisana Ecologic Preserve** on March  26^th
• *  Quito town tours vary depending on number of participants, but start at $38 pp
• with 3 people
• ** All day Antisana tours start at $100 for 3 people which includes box lunch.  Sit
• down lunch at Hacienda is approximately $15 extra
• Flights to and from your home and Quito Ecuador
• Alcoholic beverages on mainland Ecuador and on board the Samba
• Money for purchases of souvenir items

DEPARTURE TAX:

•  There is a US$ 25 departure tax on all international flights.   Be ready to Pay this in USD cash upon exiting Ecuador

 PAYMENT SCHEDULE:

•  Deposit of $1,000 per person is due on booking trip
• Second payment of $2,000 is due by November 1^st 2011
• Final payment of $2,565.00) is due by Jan 1^st 2012
• Cancellations are fully refundable until September 1^st  minus a $150 cancellation fee, after this date the $1000 deposit is nonrefundable (although if I can fill the spot on the trip I will always return full deposit less any change fees for airline tickets)
• If cancellations are made after November 1^st I will make every effort to get the remainder of your deposit and payment money back to you.  This is dependent on filling the vacated spaces on the trip.  I do maintain a waitlist for the trip, but as the departure date nears it becomes more difficult to fill vacated spaces.   For this reason I would recommend trip insurance if you believe that there is any chance you may have to make a last minute cancellation.

Finally I will need some information from you as soon as you sign up for the trip, this includes:

• Passport number, with country of issue and date of expiration***
• Shoe size for swim fins
• Size for wetsuit
• Flight arrival and departure information as soon as you have it, so I can arrange  airport transfers
• A completed medical dietary form

 *** This is very important that I get as soon as possible so I can purchase the airline tickets from Quito to the Galapagos at the present prices.