Plazas & Santa Fe

We collect you from your hotel at 07:30 and sail for the Plazas islands, two volcano-less formations raised by submarine uplift: one flat, one tilted. North Plaza is reserved for science and conservation, so the visit is to South Plaza.

Its steep, sloping surface hides exuberant wildlife and a flora that has progressively taken the island over. The cliffs hold swallow-tailed gulls, lava gulls, frigatebirds, masked boobies, blue-footed boobies, pelicans and red-billed tropicbirds. It is easy to come across a gull nest and watch the chicks beating their wings. South Plaza is also home to large sea lion colonies.

After lunch aboard the WindRose we head for Santa Fe, also called Barrington, formed from submarine basaltic lava uplifted some four million years ago. Much of it is a plateau covered by a forest of giant Opuntia. A short, dense trail — mind the Croton bushes, endemic and leaving an indelible stain — leads to the most spectacular cactus in the archipelago and to the headline species: the Santa Fe land iguana, paler than its relatives and endemic to this island. The Galápagos hawk is often visible from the park monument, and the island holds a large sea lion colony with enormous territorial males.