From rocky barrens to lush peaks there are many highlights sailing from island to island.

The most important islands are Isla Santa Cruz and Isla San Cristobal due to Santa Cruz's tourist trade and the home of the Charles Darwin research centre. San Cristobal is the most easterly island in the Galapagos and also the oldest of the islands.




A picturesque port which encounters the majority of the tourist trade and is expanding rapidly. Puerto Ayora harbour will welcome you on arrival to the island from Baltra and you will be greeted by lava herons, sally lighfoot crabs and other species just waiting for the fishermen to return with their daily catch. Here you will witness (if you're lucky) a feeding frenzy with pelicans, great blue herons and sea lions. In the highlands you will encounter the giant tortoises who enjoy the lush green vegetation. You can also visit the Charles Darwin research centre where you can meet 'Lonesome George'. Other places to visit on the island include black turtle cove, Los Gemelos (Twins - two large craters formed by the collapse of empty magma chambers) and scalesia forest.



Two isla plazas (north and south) can be located separated by a channel less than 1km wide. These were formed by uplifted slabs of the sea bed rather than volcanic islands. South Plaza is open to visitors and here you can view marine iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, common noddies, red-billed tropicbirds, blue-footed and nazca boobies.







An arid-zone vegetation zone with opuntias which are among the tallest in the archipelago. With only one visitor site Bahia Barrington and a 1.5km trail you can identify a variety of species such as green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, brown pelicans, boobies (both blue-footed and nazca), Galapagos sea lions and the endemic Santa Fe rice rat which is nocturnal.








An uplifted lava flow island, a fairly small island just 40km from Puerto Ayora. Here you will see the magnificent frigate bird, land iguanas and lava lizard and of course sea lions.









The island has two barren volcanic cinder cones, connected by green lush vegetation and golden sand beaches. A landing on Bartolome could be mistaken for that of Mars with its many red craters. Pinnacle rock sits in Bartolome's northern bay and here you can find Galapagos penguins living at the foot of the rock. Quite a steep climb takes you up to a spectacular viewpoint at the summit of a splatter cone. Snorkelling around the island you can swim with penguins.




The official name is San Salvador and it is large enough to hold the endemic subspecies of the giant tortoise and the nocturnal rice rat. Puerto Egas is the remains of a salt-mining operation and here you will see Galapagos hawks. If you head to the west of the island the trail leads you to a series of lava tubes which have collapsed opening out to sea forming fantastic grottos. Here you can watch sea lions and green sea turtles playing in the beautiful turquoise waters.













The most striking feature is a high bluff on the north coast, which glows a startling rust red when the sun is low in the sky. Greater flamingos share a brackish lagoon with sea lions, nesting brown pelicans and herons. Playa Rojo is backed by a dense saltbush and lumps of spiny bush with the brackish lagoon. Galapagos hawks are also visible on the island.







The largest island in the Archipelago, over five times larger than Santa Cruz. Composed of six shield volcanoes that have merged into a single land mass it has the highest point in the archipelago at Wolf Volcano, altitude 1646m . Only the faster boats are able to go to Isabela due to the distance, so its remoteness adds to the sense of a natural island. Here you will find the Cromwell current; a deep submarine current that up wells at the volcanic platform of the western islands. These cool nutrient-rich waters attract plenty of sea-dependent species which include brown pelicans, blue-footed boobies, noddy terns, shearwaters and the only tropical penguin on Earth, the Galapagos penguin.








Fernandina is the youngest and most active volcano in the Galapagos with eruptions taking place every few years. The flat lava of Punta Espinosa offers a stark and barren landscape, but here flightless cormorants build their nests on the point, sea lions laze on the beach or swim in the tide pools and marine iguanas climb over one another.














San Cristóbal is the easternmost island in Galapagos; on its southwestern side is the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the capital of the Galapagos. On Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the Interpretation Centre opened by the Galapagos national park in 1998, which is truly an extraordinary contribution to the information and education of the islands communities and the travellers. On the north part of the island is the Junco volcano, the slopes of which descend towards the south and are covered with dense vegetation until reaching the port. San Cristobal is the only island with a freshwater lake, which is found in the crater of the 'El Junco' Volcano, it holds the liquid vital for the town on the Island and for the majority of tourist ships in the Galapagos. This water comes from the condensation of water vapour.




This island is thought to be an uplifted lava flow and one of the oldest islands. Punta Suarez, renowned as the only location on earth that is home to the waved albatross which nests here between March and December. Hood mocking birds, red billed tropic birds, brightly coloured marine iguanas and lava lizards are found here, as are nesting colonies of nazca boobies and blue-footed boobies.






Officially named Santa Maria, Floreana is an island with a most interesting human history, haunt of the erratic baroness and her entourage. It also has a main post box, an old casket that has been on the beach since 1763 for sailors to place their mail in and collect the post on their way home. It still works today! Land on a green beach of olivine sand and see the pink flamingoes in the lagoon. Over the hill is a coral sand beach known as a nesting area for green turtles, which brings in the white tipped sharks visible from the shore. Here is another amazing opportunity to snorkel in a volcanic crater, the Devil's Crown, making it one of the best snorkelling areas in the Galapagos.




Genovesa (Tower) is known as 'Bird Island' for its profusion of bird life, especially the blue-footed boobies and, more uncommonly the red-footed boobies, some of the great birding characters on these islands. Frigate birds fill the skies and at night the only nocturnal gulls in the world, the swallow-tailed gulls, keep the air alive with sound. The beauty of this island is that it can only be reached on faster vessels and therefore its remoteness adds to its tranquility and its enjoyment. Snorkelling here is full of surprises with it's nutrient rich waters.




A steep eroded tuff cone is surrounded by the Canal San Salvador which is so deep that boats cannot anchor. Located 50 km north of Puerto Ayora. Wildlife to view here includes the red-billed tropicbirds and Darwin's finches.