5-Day Santa Cruz

Experience the ultimate Galapagos adventure with our 5-day hotel and diving holiday package. Especially designed for divers of all skill levels seeking a truly immersive experience of the islands’ diverse marine life, with the convenience of a guided tour and comfortable accommodations.

Stay in one of our hand-picked hotels with modern amenities and personalized service, and explore Puerto Ayora at your own pace to discover the vibrant and colorful Galapagos maritime culture, with shops, restaurants, cultural centers, and more just walking distance from your hotel. Spend magical and unforgettable moments discovering this Galapagos Island’s wildlife underwater and on land! Galapagos is famous for its endemic wildlife, and on this diving trip there is no shortage of animal sightings, including iconic giant tortoises and sea turtles, diverse bird species, marine iguanas and sharks .

Day 1: Welcome to the Enchanted Islands

Upon your arrival to the Galapagos Islands, you will meet your driver at the airport exit and start your journey from the airport on Baltra Island to the town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island.

First, you will take a bus from the airport to the Itabaca Channel that separates the two islands. You’ll then cross the channel by ferry. During this short transition from Baltra to Santa Cruz, you will have the chance to observe sea birds fishing. Your driver then takes you from the north coast of Santa Cruz Island to your hotel in the town of Puerto Ayora in the south. The drive takes approximately 45 minutes and leads through the island’s lush highlands. Your hotel is conveniently located at walking distance to the port, the main avenue, many restaurants, as well as the dive shop.

After lunch at a local restaurant, your guide will pick you up and you head to the Charles Darwin Station that is located a little outside of Puerto Ayora. Here, you will visit the interpretation center and the breeding center for giant tortoises. At the interpretation center, you’ll learn about the continuous work of the Galapagos National Park and its allies to protect the archipelago’s unique and fragile ecosystems and species. At the breeding center for giant tortoises, you can watch hatchlings and adult tortoises, and your guide will show you how to distinguish different tortoise species.

After this visit, your guide drops you at the dive shop, so you can try your diving gear, sign the release form and receive important information about tomorrow’s diving day trip. From the dive shop, it is a short walk back to your hotel.

Meals included: Lunch

Day 2: Galapagos Underwater Magic

After an early breakfast, you will head out to meet your guide and other divers to start today’s diving adventure. As most dive sites lie in the north, you will first journey to the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island by car and board the diving boat at Itabaca Channel. If you go to a southern dive site like Floreana, you will board the boat directly in Puerto Ayora (the dive sites available will depend on the dates of your booking). The transfer to the dive site usually takes 45-90 minutes.

As you get closer to the first dive site, your bilingual guide will brief you on the site and the dive that you are about to do. At around 10 AM, you’ll enjoy your first Galapagos dive to explore the abundant marine wildlife for approximately one hour.

After the first dive, you’ll get back on board and while you warm up, the boat usually navigates a short distance to a second dive site. At around noon, you will be enjoying your second dive of the day.

After about one hour, you will get back on board, dry off and enjoy lunch. While navigating back to Santa Cruz Island, you can exchange stories with your fellow divers and ask your guide questions. You will be back at the dive shop in Puerto Ayora at around 3 PM. There, you can update your log book, check out the pictures and videos of the dives and receive information for tomorrow’s diving day trip.

Meals included: Breakfast (or box breakfast), lunch

Day 3: Exploring the Galapagos Waters

Today you go on another diving day tour to further explore the Galapagos marine wildlife by doing two more dives. In Galapagos, you have the chance to swim with turtles, sea lions, rays, sharks and other fish. If you are lucky, you might encounter manta rays and/or hammerhead sharks.

There are seven different diving day trips from Puerto Ayora. We send you the list of available dive sites with your quotation and you may choose your favorite options. Our Midland Travel Galapagos experts are able to recommend dive sites for you according to your interests and experience.

Most dive sites in the Galapagos Islands are suitable for beginners. Only for the diving day trip to Gordon Rocks, a minimum experience of 25-30 logged dives is required.

Meals included: Breakfast (or box breakfast), lunch

Day 4: Iconic Wildlife Ashore

After breakfast, your guide will pick you up from your hotel and take you to the ever-green highlands of Santa Cruz Island. There you’ll hike through a ranch where you can observe giant tortoises in their natural habitat. If you are lucky, you might see some of these gentle giants taking a relaxing mud bath. Apart from tortoises, you can also observe different birds like ducks, waders and Darwin’s finches. Another highlight in the highlands are the lava tunnels, through which you can walk. Your guide will explain how these formed.

After lunch in the highland, your guide will drop you at the hotel and you’ll then be free to enjoy the afternoon at your leisure. We recommend a visit to the paradisiac beach at Tortuga Bay. The hike to the beach takes approximately 45 minutes and leads through an arid forest. On the way, you can stop at Laguna de las Ninfas, a small brackish lagoon surrounded by three types of mangroves. If you do not want to hike to the beach, you can take a water taxi from the port to the bay.

Meals included: Breakfast, lunch

Day 5: Good-Bye Galapagos

If your flight schedule permits it, you can stroll through Puerto Ayora and buy Galapagos souvenirs after breakfast. At an agreed-upon time (3 hours before flight departure), your driver will arrive at the hotel to pick you up and transfer you to Baltra airport.