Activity Level: E-M Start / Finish: Quito / Quito The Wildest Place You’ll Ever Go Step aboard your own private Beagle and explore the land that stirred Darwin and turned science on its ear. A pantheon of the animal kingdom’s strangest and most wonderful creatures await just off the coast of Ecuador, and with the Isabela II—our seaborne boutique hotel—you’ll get closer to them (and they to you) than you ever thought possible via daily on-shore walks. And when our on-board naturalists aren’t separating the boobies from the cormorants and pointing out the world’s most northerly penguin, we’ll snorkel off-shore and toast the horizon as we cross the equator. The evolution will not be televised; this is the real thing.   Read more about this trip from the perspective of a first time traveller, in our newsletter, The Slow Road! For an exhilarating exploration of the isolated towns, bustling markets and lush valleys of the Ecuadorean Andes, check out our Andes Pre-Trip. Take a look at our complete lineup of By Sea trips. Day 1 Take a guided tour of the UNESCO World Heritage city of Quito Day 2 Board the Isabela II and learn to step around local residents who won’t raise a flipper to get out of your way Day 3 Get submerged during some of the best snorkelling in the Galápagos Day 4 Keep an eye peeled for flamingoes, rays, white-tipped reef sharks and other exotic fauna Day 5 Tour the Charles Darwin Research Station Day 6 Spot red-footed boobies and cormorants on the beaches of Genovesa Island, then go snorkelling in search of hammerhead sharks(!) Day 7 Seek out the Southern Cross and join us in a Champagne toast at our “Happy New Hemisphere” party on the bridge Day 8 Swim and snorkel with penguins off Bartolomé Island Day 9 Disembark the Isabela II and adiós in Quito