Samba Explorer Galapagos Cruise

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

Fly from the UK to Quito

Depart the UK on a daytime flight to Quito, arriving the same evening. You will be met by our representative and taken to your hotel for a 2-night stay including breakfast. Our guide will provide you with expert local advice, explain your programme and answer any questions you may have.

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Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Optional Guided Tour of Quito

Today is at leisure to rest and adjust to the high altitude and explore Quito at your own pace.

Or you take an optional guided tour of Quito in the afternoon, including the historic old part of the city with its fabulous colonial architecture, many convents, churches and small streets to explore. We will visit the three main squares including impressive San Francisco square as well as the Presidential Palace and the Gold Museum.

Thursday, 25 June 2026

Fly to the Galapagos & embark M/S Samba

Transfer to the airport and fly to Balta Airport in the Galapagos Islands and transfer to the M/S Samba.

In the afternoon, visit the Charles Darwin Research Station, an important partner in the duty of preservation of this pristine archipelago is the National Park Service and they run the tortoise breeding centre. 

 

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Friday, 26 June 2026

Floreana Island

We arrive at Floreana and visit Punta Cormorant, home to greater flamingos, sea turtles, himbrels, herons and stilts are other common shore and migratory birds of the wetlands. On the other side, sea turtles use every corner of a white sand beach to deliver their eggs. You often see stingrays and reef sharks from the shore and, if you are lucky, turtles basking. Enjoy a dinghy ride and snorkel at Champion Islet. This small piece of land is one of two places were the Floreana mocking bird survives after its extinction on the big Island. The snorkelling around the island is extraordinary, lots of fish, rays, sharks and the playfulness of the Galapagos sea lions.

In the afternoon, adventure, survival, mystery and murder are the main ingredients for our next stop. Post Office Bay has a legacy of pirates, whalers and scientific expeditions. After a wet landing, we walk a very short distance to learn about Post Office Bay and this important Galapagos tradition.

Later we will Kayak or ride our dinghies to the west, going through a small set of islets with a sea lion colony, boobies and mangroves. Finally, following our ride, we will land at the Baroness lookout. On top of this eroded spatter cone we will embrace the vivid obscurity of the human history of "Las Encantadas". 

 

 

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Saturday, 27 June 2026

Española (Hood) Island

In the morning we visit Punta Suarez on Española Island, home to waved albatrosses, fiery marine iguanas, playful sea lions, colourful Sally Lighfoot Crabs and charming blue-footed boobies.

After lunch, visit Gardner Bay with its tranquil white sandy beach. Sea lions and mocking birds will keep you company. We will snorkel or kayak around Gardner Island. Its calm waters and attractive landscape give you a great experience above and below water.

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Sunday, 28 June 2026

San Cristobal Island

In the morning explore San Cristobal Island. You will wake up to the barking of Galapagos sea lions, the animals after which the Island was named. After a dry landing on Isla Lobos, we walk over very rocky terrain, where frigate birds, with their magenta and green iridescent feathers, decorate the saltbushes.

The island is also the nesting ground of blue-footed boobies. Don't miss the chance to swim with sea lions; few sea creatures are as playful as these marine mammals. Before lunch we navigate past a dramatic tuff cone formation - Kicker Rock. The eroded structure has vertical walls of over 450 feet and has a great numbers of sea birds nesting and resting on it. 

After lunch, visit Punta Pitt and enjoy the sunset. This point is closest to mainland South America. Nazca boobies, red-footed boobies, frigate birds and storm petrel nest in the area.  The ochre colour beach is perfect for a relaxing plunge after the walk.   

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Monday, 29 June 2026

Sante Fe & South Plaza

Today visit Barrington Bay, one of the most picturesque inlets of all visitor sites of the Galapagos. The white sand on the seabed reflects the light to turn the calm waters turquoise. Santa Fe is an ancient extinct volcano and it has been isolated from other islands long enough to have an endemic land dragon. Paler in colour than its relatives, the Barrington terrestrial iguana has a primitive morphology. Galapagos hawks, mocking birds and finches also inhabit the island.

After lunch, visit South Plaza where Land iguanas wander through bright red carpet weed, swallow tailed gulls nest around the overhang tops and red-billed tropicbirds and shearwaters perform acrobatic flying displays. South Plaza is also one of the best spots in the archipelago to see land iguanas and swallow-tailed gulls, both indigenous to the Galapagos. 

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Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Santiago & Bartolome

This morning we explore Sullivan Bay, with its coiled shiny structures of the pahoe-hoe lava, which appear as if they were formed only yesterday. The contrast of colours and shapes of the basalt, and the distinction of rust and shine of its surface create a bizarre, almost Mars-like landscape.

 
In the afternoon, visit Bartolome Island offers an explosive volcanic landscape, offering perhaps the finest vista in all the Galapagos at Pinnacle Rock. Later, we take a walk on magical golden beaches, where sea turtle nest (December to March), with time to swim near penguins, harmless sharks and lava tubes. 
 

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Wednesday, 01 July 2026

Rabida & James Bay

This morning we visit the island of Rábida where you will see lavas rich in iron that have turned red. The rusted volcanic material has eroded to form a beautiful crimson sandy beach, perfect for a walk. The protected shore provides excellent conditions for a Galapagos sea lions nursery and brown pelicans also use the nearby saltbushes as a resting and nesting area.

Hawks and mocking birds are common visitors and snorkelling here offers encounters with harmless sharks, rays and many colourful fish.

After lunch, we visit Puerto Egas (also known as James Bay). The magical shorelines here are a combination of tuff cone, lava flows and organic sand. A rocky coast with a very gentle slope is used by a great number of shore birds and reptiles. Oystercatchers, whimbrels, sanderlings, turnstones, tattlers and other waders are mixed with marine iguanas and brightly-painted crabs to feed by the rich littoral zone.

Large lava tunnels, that are partially collapsed, are the homes of the Galapagos fur sea lions. The snorkeling here is amongst the best in the archipelago, with sea turtles, parrot fishes, damsel fishes, harmless white tipped reef sharks and many more frequently encountered.

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Thursday, 02 July 2026

North Seymour and fly back to the UK

A visit to North Seymour is the best way to say goodbye to the Galapagos. Following a dry landing at sunrise, we will walk amongst the largest blue-footed booby colony of the Islands. We will be back on board for breakfast.

Your guide will accompany you to Baltra airport for the flight back to the mainland and onward overnight flight back to the UK.

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Friday, 03 July 2026

Arrive in the UK

Arrive in the UK in the morning.