Your flight from the mainland touches down at Baltra Airport, where our representative will assist you with the local airline check in. A small aircraft will be waiting to take us on to Isabela Island. After a short inter-island flight, we check into our hotel, and enjoy the first of many delicious lunches.

In the afternoon, we will take a short trail walk leading to the Giant Tortoise Centre, completed in 1994 and home to the tortoise populations of southern Isabela. We’ll get a chance to see hatchlings as well as older tortoises. Along the way to the Tortoise Centre we pass through a manzanillo forest surrounded by wetlands, home to the famous giant pink flamingos a delightful and unexpected sight for Galapagos.

After dinner, we explore the sand streets of Puerto Villamil, Isabela´s sleepy beach town. (L, D)

Today we prepare our daypacks for a hike into the highlands of Isabela – an ever-changing world of volcanic geology. After driving up the flanks of Volcan Sierra Negra until the end of the road, we hike through the highlands toward the caldera’s rim.

Sierra Negra is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and erupted as recently as 2005. Its colossal crater is six miles wide and is truly unlike anywhere else on earth. If we’re feeling energetic, we can continue to the secondary caldera of Volcan Chico, with its puffing fumaroles and incredible lava formations painted in yellow hues by sulphur deposits. After a long day of hiking in this otherworldly landscape, we stop for lunch at an idyllic restaurant on the slopes of Sierra Negra that also acts as a private giant tortoise reserve.

We return to the coast in time to spend the rest of the afternoon on the exotic white sand beaches and enjoy another tasty dinner. (B, L, D)

This day we will explore Tintoreras’ many tiny beaches and coves and snorkelling with sharks, sea lions and sea turtles. Here, we will find the peculiar, endemic Galapagos penguin and other marine life.

Our naturalist guide will tell us all about the unique animals we encounter along the way. After lunch, we will embark on a bike ride that will take us through a wide variety of environments and ecosystems.

Along the way, we’ll pass through white sand beaches, mangrove forests and brackish lagoons, and a lava tube cave. As we ride, we’ll pass giant tortoises, flamingos, and other wildlife. At the end of our ride, we arrive at el Muro de las Lagrimas (the Wall of Tears). When Isabela was used as a penal colony, prisoners were forced to construct this towering wall of lava rocks for no other reason than to keep them distracted from the madness of isolation.

At the end of the day, we retire to our hotel and after a delicious dinner, we can enjoy the well-appointed lounge or wander the idyllic sand streets of Puerto Villamil. (B, L, D)

After an early start this morning, a speedboat or internal flight transportation takes us to Santa Cruz Island. Once we get settled in, it’s time to take our sea kayaks to explore Punta Estrada and Divine Bay on the coastline of Santa Cruz. We paddle into these serene waters through a narrow channel bordered by towering lava walls.

Through the clear water, we can see rays and white-tipped reef sharks cruising below us. We can also paddle right up to the fearless blue-footed boobies, lava gulls, herons, sally lightfoot crabs, and marine iguanas perched along the cliffs.

After a stop at the hotel for lunch and dry clothes, we set off to explore El Chato reserve in the highlands of Santa Cruz, home to another group of giant tortoises.

As we hike through El Chato in the presence of these lumbering giants, our naturalist guide tells us more about their unique history, as well as the other highland wildlife we meet, such as pintail ducks, egrets, flycatchers, finches, and frigate birds. We also explore vast lava tubes, and our guides tell us tales of buccaneers that once used these caves to hide from Spanish ships and stash their plundered Inca gold.

Our last stop is Los Gemelos, two deep volcanic sinkholes near the top of the island, surrounded by a beautiful forest of endemic Scalesia trees covered with epiphytes and ferns. In this unique habitat, we keep our eyes peeled for the elusive short-eared owl.

If there is enough time, we’ll stop for a visit at the Charles Darwin Research Station to learn from local scientists about the ongoing conservation efforts on these enchanted islands.

After our hike, we return to the hotel, where our adventure in this natural wonderland draws to a close. (B, L, D)

Transfer to Baltra Island for our return flight to the mainland and bid a fond farewell to the Galapagos. (B)