Day Trip to South Plaza Island from Puerto Ayora

Day Trip to South Plaza Island from Puerto Ayora takes you to a remote smaller island located to the East from Santa Cruz. This is an absolutely perfect destination if you wish to discover real wildlife of Galapagos protected areas and experience incredibly colorful landscapes of South Plaza Island. We start our adventure by picking up the Day Trip to South Plaza Island participants from the selected hotels in Puerto Ayora. In order to reduce the driving time within Puerto Ayora, we collect from the bigger hotels. No worries, if your hotel is not on the list, we will appoint you one of the bigger hotels located within walking distance from you.

After all the participants of the trip collected, what takes us approximately 15 minutes our coach takes the course to the Itabaca Canal on North edge of Santa Cruz island, so by the way, along about 50 minutes drive we will cross whole the island. This is also a nice occasion for scenic sightseeing of typical Santa Cruz landscapes.

Once we arrived at Itabaca Canal, we get to the yacht and lead to our first destination of the day - Punta Carrión. This one of the best snorkeling spots in Galapagos and we are doing here an hour-long stop for snorkeling. Those who decide to snorkel will try the luck to observe with own eyes creatures of marine life. At the Punta Carrión, you have a very good chance to spot white tip sharks, different kinds of colorful fishes, marine iguanas, as well as sea turtles, rays, Galapagos sharks and much more. This amazing snorkeling experience takes place in shallow waters and absolutely safe. Those who are not for snorkeling may simply enjoy the peaceful scenery and chill out on board with a glass of drink.

Later on, we start the engines and direct straight to the ocean to discover our main destination of the day - the South Plaza Island. This is one of the smallest and, relying on the time of year, most picturesque of Galapagos Islands. Here you can find a lot of sea lions, land and hybrid iguanas and innumerable birds flying by the cliffs.

The South Plaza is an unpopulated and extremely well-preserved island neighboring to North Plaza island. These two islands are fascinating geological formations and they haven't a volcano rising from the sea. Combination of 2 islands, one flat and the other higher, it develops very unique ecosystem dynamics. North Plaza has explored only with scientific and preservation purposes and South Plaza island receives a very limited number of visitors. The largest Land Iguana population is residing on these islands and easy to spot. There is a special environment created of Cactus Opuntia which holds a big population of Land Iguanas.

The walking tour around South Plaza island lets the visitor see the entire Land Iguana population as well as to discover how these animals survived in this environment when they showed up and set down. Sometimes even a hybrid of Marine and Land Iguana can be spotted along the hike we take as a part of our Day Trip to South Plaza Island.

Once you step on the shore you will be simply amazed by so unusual and colorful scenery. Pristine turquoise waters are combined with the intense red color natural carpet and cactuses - all this create a mind-blowing scenery! You will be greeted by sea lions, and you will surely spot land iguanas, marine iguanas, sea lions, Galapagos lizards, and finches. Here, on the South Plaza island, also countless sea birds fishing and flying around, including swallowed tailed gulls, pelicans, and masked boobies. We are going to spend two hours discovering the island and later on going back to the yacht to have a very tasty lunch onboard admiring the scenery of these remote islands.

Right after lunch, we set sails back to the Itabaca Canal pier where our coach already waiting to take you back to your hotel in Puerto Ayora. You can be sure, the Day Trip to South Plaza Island will be unforgettable and one of the best your experiences along with your visit to Galapagos Islands!

IMPORTANT! Booking Day Trip to South Plaza Island from Puerto Ayora you must understand that for this tour are special and non-standard conditions apply - right after paying the required booking deposit, you will have to pay also the remaining balance in advance. It because the trip is so popular. After the tour is booked and availability confirmed, we will contact you by TripsPoint Messenger or email providing payment details to pay the remaining balance - it could be paid with bank transfer or with PayPal (in the case of PayPal additional surcharge of PayPal commission applies). Once the booking deposit and remaining balance paid (so the booking is fully paid) you are getting the tour Voucher which you show on pick-up. Exact pick-up time from your hotel in Puerto Ayora depend on the hotel location and specified in your Voucher as the start time.

Please, also read the detailed schedule of the Day Trip to South Plaza Island from Puerto Ayora in the Itinerary section below.