Award yourself a leisurely cruise on our boat the Tip Top II as we explore Ecuador’s Islas Encantadas, the incomparable Galápagos, for a full week this summer. Situated 600 miles off shore in the deep blue waters of the Pacific, each islet and island has a unique personality and a distinctive ecology, both above and below the waterline. Our lazy voyage on the 16 passenger, 85’-long Tip Top II is designed for anyone who enjoys bird and marine wildlife watching, as well as swimming, snorkeling, shelling, tide pooling, with the comfort of a private cabin with private facilities at your disposal. Specifically we will look for Caribbean Flamingo and Lava Heron on Floreana; Green Marine Turtle and endemic Lava Gull at Santa Cruz; Land Iguana and both Nazca and Blue-footed Boobies at Plaza Sur; a different endemic species of Land Iguana and the endemic Galápagos Hawk on Santa Fe; Red-footed Booby, Swallow-tailed Gull, and Great Frigatebird on Genovesa (Tower); Galápagos Penguin on Bartolome; and possibly swim with Galápagos Fur Seals and California Sea Lions at James Bay on Isla Santiago. One of the most memorable of all the 22 major Galápagos Islands is Española—or Hood, the southernmost landfall in the archipelago. Española’s spectacular bird assemblage includes virtually the entire breeding population of the 12,000 Waved Albatross in the world. Their nursery area is only about one-half mile from shore, where the largest and most brilliantly colored subspecies of Marine Iguanas provide tremendous photo opportunities. Masked Boobies, Blue-footed Boobies, Red-billed Tropicbirds, Audubon’s Shearwater, and clouds of Magnificent Frigatebirds share Española with a number of endemic birds, including the beautiful Galápagos Dove, the confiding Hood Mockingbird, and several of Darwin’s finches. Large Cactus-Finch, Warbler Finch, and Small Ground-Finch are among the 13 species of this closely related genus that led Charles Darwin to devise his theories of adaptive radiation and ultimately the evolution of species based on his observations in 1835. Sea caves at waterline, forests of massive Prickly-pear Cactus, most of the 26 endemic species of birds, and a visit to the Giant Tortoise—they weigh up to 550 pounds—propagation facility at the Charles Darwin Research Station are all among the panoply of delights that await us in these legendary “Islands of Enchantment.”