6-Day Western Islands: Punta Vicente Roca's Mantas

Most Galapagos itineraries begin here. Baltra's airport is the world's first fully ecological airport, run on solar and wind power and built largely from recycled materials, including old oil pipes repurposed into the terminal structure. Land iguanas, wiped out here by the 1950s and reintroduced through a decades-long breeding program, now number in the hundreds again, some right around the airport grounds. From the terminal, a short bus transfer brings you to the pier for the panga ride out to your ship.

Up in the cool, misty highlands of Santa Cruz, a short walk brings you among wild giant tortoises moving through the undergrowth on their own terms. No fences, no enclosures, just several-hundred-pound reptiles going about their day. This is one of the best places anywhere in the islands for that encounter, and the surrounding vegetation is good habitat for several of Darwin's finches, heard as often as seen.

At first glance Punta Moreno looks like little more than a lava flow at the base of Cerro Azul, but its black surface holds a series of lagoons with a surprising amount of life. Flamingos are a fairly good bet in the pools, and paint-billed crakes, white-cheeked pintails, and common gallinules turn up for those willing to watch the water closely.

There's no landing here. The whole visit happens aboard a zodiac. The route passes the Marielas Islets, home to the largest and most important Galapagos penguin colony in the archipelago, before easing into a cove ringed by red mangroves. Flightless cormorants perch at the water's edge, sea turtles surface nearby, and golden rays glide beneath the boat now and then. It's one of the best places in the islands to watch this much wildlife without ever stepping ashore.

At the base of Alcedo Volcano on Isabela, Urbina Bay marks a dramatic geological event: a 1954 uplift left blocks of coral fully exposed on dry land, well above the waterline. A long, level walk leads out to them, passing land iguanas and flightless cormorants along the way, and, on occasion, a giant tortoise.

Fernandina is the only major island in the archipelago with no introduced species, which makes Punta Espinosa one of the most pristine wildlife encounters anywhere in the Galapagos. A wet landing brings you onto black lava draped with the largest gathering of marine iguanas in the islands, alongside Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants, both drawn here by the cold, nutrient-rich current. Around June, when marine iguana hatchlings emerge, keep an eye out for the Galapagos racer snake hunting along the nesting zone. Snorkeling here is a rare chance to watch marine iguanas feeding underwater, a behavior found almost nowhere else.

A zodiac ride along Tagus Cove's cliffs is the first stop, tracing walls carved with the graffiti of sailors and whalers going back over a century. Charles Darwin himself anchored here in 1835. Watch the rock for Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants before you land and set off on a gently climbing trail, roughly 30 minutes each way, to a viewpoint over Darwin Lake, a crater lake saltier than the ocean itself. Along the way, look for land birds that are easy to miss: ground and tree finches, yellow warblers, large-billed flycatchers, and, with a little luck, the tool-using woodpecker finch. Land iguanas and giant tortoises sometimes cross the path as well. Back at the water, most visits close with a dinghy ride or a snorkel along the submerged cliff wall, depending on the day's plan, with another good chance at penguins and cormorants gliding by.

There's no landing at Punta Vicente Roca: this dramatic, eroded caldera on Isabela's coast is explored entirely by snorkel, dinghy, or kayak. The cold Cromwell Current runs through here, and it's what keeps the water so alive: blue-footed boobies nest reliably along the cliffs, and in the water you can expect Galapagos penguins and, between July and November, ocean sunfish rising to cleaning stations in the cold upwelling. Sperm whales pass through on rare occasions, and giant manta rays are a possibility during the same cooler months.

A quiet landing on Santiago's western coast, best known as a nesting ground for Pacific green sea turtles, who come ashore to lay their eggs between December and June.

Puerto Egas stands out for its black volcanic sand and a shoreline where land and sea meet in close quarters. Galapagos hawks are often seen along the walk, and at the far end waits a colony of Galapagos fur seals tucked into shaded rock grottoes, one of the more reliable places in the islands to see this endangered species.

The return transfer is straightforward: a panga ride from your ship to the pier, then a short bus ride to Baltra's airport, the world's first fully ecological terminal, run on solar and wind power. Land iguanas, reintroduced here after being wiped out decades ago, are sometimes seen right around the grounds on the way to your flight.