Galapagos Santa Cruz Explorer: 4-Day Wildlife, Lava Tunnels & Snorkel Adventure

You step off the small ferry into a breeze that smells of salt and sunbaked rock; frigatebirds wheel overhead and a marine iguana basks on a black lava outcrop as if expecting you. Puerto Ayora hums with a slow, purposeful energy: guides loading coolers, fishermen mending nets, and tourists trading binoculars for reef boots. This four-day loop through central Santa Cruz moves fast enough to reveal the archipelago’s contradictions — raw volcanic geology rubbing shoulders with tender conservation work — but measured so you can actually notice the details.