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Ecuador Vacation: Galapagos Tours Aboard Luxury Yachts

On Austin-Lehman Galapagos Tours you'll venture each day from a 20-passenger luxury yacht with a naturalist guide to a new island and get up close and personal with the stunning terrain and fearless exotic creatures that make Galápagos their home. Hike along volcanic trails and protected highlands and marvel at lava bombs and lava tubes on you way to the top of an inactive volcano. Come nose to nose with a 600-pound, 150-year-old tortoise, snorkel alongside warm-water penguins and watch as a blue-footed booby dances in courtship. Return each night to a delectable meal and a restful night’s sleep in the comfort of your signature yacht.

On your Ecuador vacation you'll relax your mind, energize your body and ignite the adventurer within as you explore the Galapagos Islands with Austin-Lehman.

Why Choose Galapagos Islands Tours?

Galapagos Islands Tours take you into the heart of Darwin's natural laboratory.

Galapagos - Wildlife Sanctuary

Galapagos Tours begin as an Ecuador vacation in Quito, Ecuador.  You'll take a short flight from Quito to Galápagos, where a crew awaits to  escort you to your yacht. Set sail for Playa Ochoa, pausing for a swim with a colony of sea lions along the way.  Cruise around Leon Dormido (Sleeping Lion Rock), a vertical tuff cone formation jutting 500 feet out of the ocean. Look for blue-footed boobies, masked boobies and magnificent frigate birds.  Spend the entire day on Genovesa (Tower) Island, considered to be one of the most spectacular Islands in Galápagos for bird species.  Galapagos Islands travel takes you to visit Prince Philip’s Steps where you will be welcomed by red-footed and masked boobies.  Walk across an open lava field, home to large numbers of storm petrels and the elusive short-eared owl. After lunch, sea kayak the shoreline looking for the beautiful red-billed tropic bird and snorkel the inner rim of the volcanic crater. Next stop: Darwin Bay, a coral sand beach where swallow-tailed gulls gather near tide pools. Enter a forest of Optuntia cactus and  mangroves where colonies of great red-throated frigate birds nest. Top off your Ecuador vacation day with a swim with sea lions. Enjoy a visit to Las Baches (Barges) where you will look for flamingos along a stretch of soft white-sand beach and snorkel from the beach. Check out a floating pier – remnants of the U.S. presence from World War II.  Disembark on North Seymour and follow a trail on the lookout for swallowtailed gulls, blue-footed boobies and land iguanas. Visit the largest colony of frigate birds found in the islands and stroll the beach watching as sea lions body surf the northern swells.  Explore Isabela, the largest of the Galápagos Islands. Hike to Darwin Lake, a salt-water lagoon, for spectacular views of the ocean, lava fields and volcanic formations. Explore Tagus Cove in pangas or sea kayak to find Galápagos penguins, boobies and pelicans. Cross the Bolivar Canal, on the look out for whales and dolphins. Disembark on Fernandina, the  youngest and most pristine Island found in Galápagos, where hundreds of marine iguanas (the largest colony in the islands) bask in the sun along a rugged lava shoreline. Watch as resident sea lion bulls carefully guard their territory, as flightless cormorants build their nests and as  Galápagos hawks soar overhead and choose to snorkel with sea turtles. Stroll along the shore of Santiago (James) Island looking for octopus, starfish, marine iguanas, American oystercatchers and lava and yellow-crowned night herons.  Explore the grottos, deep pools of clear water home to fur sea lions (once on the verge of extinction), teeming with tropical fish and – the perfect spot for an afternoon snorkel.

In Bartolome, climb 30 minutes up to the summit of a once active volcano, marveling at lava bombs, spatter cones and cinder cones along the way. Soak up sweeping views of the island and Pinnacle Rock, an eroded tuff cone. Snorkel with schools of tropical fish, Galápagos penguins, sea turtles and white-tipped reef sharks. Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station where tortoise hatchlings are nursed and visit Lonesome George, the last surviving member of the Pinta Island tortoise subspecies.  After lunch on board, travel by bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, winding your way through all seven vegetation zones found in Galápagos. From June to January, you can find giant tortoises roaming free on a private farm in the highlands. Visit Los Gemelos (The Twins), a pair of large pit craters home to the bright red male vermilion flycatcher.  Stop at “the tunnels,” the largest lava tubes found in Galápagos, and stroll through Puerto Ayora, the social heart of the Islands, to pick up some souvenirs or mail a postcard. Explore Española (Hood Island) - walk sandy beaches alongside colonies of sea lions, keeping an eye out for the Galápagos hawk, Darwin finch and Hood mockingbird. Swim  with sea lions from the beach and snorkel off Gardner Islet and Tortuga Rock. Disembark at Punta Suarez and spot curious Hood mockingbirds. From April to November, the waved albatross, found only on Española, perform their wild mating ritual. Colonies of bluefooted boobies engage in “sky-pointing” to show off for potential mates, masked boobies busily care for their young and redbilled tropicbirds take shelter under the cliffs.  Here, where colorful sally light-foot crabs crawl along the shoreline near the famous “blow hole,” we can also observe a unique species of marine iguana, the “Christmas Iguana,” identified with traces of red and green colorings. This is the scene most people envision when they decide to visit Galápagos and is a glorious finale to your island nature cruise. Visit the Interpretation Center in San Cristobal to learn more about the history of the Islands.  Discover more about our Galapagos Tours - Wildlife Sanctuary >>

Interested in exploring more of Ecuador?  Choose our pre-trip add-on to discover Quito and Ovalo and visit the most well known Indian Market.  Download our Ecuador Vacation/Galapagos Islands Tours itinerary on our Galapagos - Wildlife Sanctuary trip page.