**This trip is sold out.**

The Trip

Join Carleton Professor Matthew Rand for an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime journey aboard the state-of-the-art exploration vessel M.V. SANTA CRUZ. Designed specifically to navigate the Galápagos Islands, it is fully equipped with everything necessary to make your Galápagos experience complete, from complimentary snorkeling gear to a fleet of Zodiacs and a Boston Whaler glass-bottomed boat. Highly-qualified certified naturalists lead excursions and share knowledge to enhance your understanding and enjoyment of this fascinating, mysterious natural realm.

With few natural predators on the islands, the abundant wildlife is nearly fearless and innocently receptive to human company up-close, unlike any other place on our planet! Here, you can almost touch spiny-backed iguanas and snorkel alongside playful seals and tropical penguins. To complement your Galápagos Islands cruise, we are pleased to offer an optional post-tour extension to Peru with Carleton Professor Nancy Wilkie to experience the marvels of the legendary “lost city” of Machu Picchu and the breathtaking Sacred Valley.

To make a reservation please call 800-811-7244 or email Carleton College Alumni Adventures with your cabin preference.

View Full Brochure of this trip

Highlights

• Join this incredible nine-day journey featuring a four-night cruise in the remarkable Galápagos Islands, a nature lover’s dream destination and UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Discover this “living laboratory of evolution,” with 95 percent of its natural biodiversity still intact, the home of the exotic birds, animals and plants that inspired Darwin.
• Visit seven islands and observe up-close their distinct and abundant wildlife, including flightless cormorants, marine iguanas, playful seals and red-footed boobies.
• Spend three nights in Quito, Ecuador, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and see some of the finest colonial architecture in South America.
• Join an optional excursion into the Andean highlands for visits to a traditional village and the ancient Andean town of Otavalo, site of one of the largest and most colorful markets in South America.
• Learn about the Galápagos’ unique ecosystem, natural history and the challenges facing its environment during daily briefings and presentations by our ship’s naturalists.
• Explore a magical underwater world—including breathtaking coral, tropical penguins and a myriad of fish—while snorkeling and riding aboard the ship’s special glass-bottom boat.
• Six-night Post-Program Option featuring Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley and Lima, Peru.

  ---

Faculty Leaders

Dr. Matthew Rand, an Associate Professor of Biology, has been teaching courses in animal behavior, physiology, morphology, and reproduction at Carleton College for the past seventeen years. In 2002 and 2009, he offered off-campus courses on animal behavior to Carleton students in the Galápagos Islands, and he has led two previous alumni trips to the Galápagos. Matt believes that the Islands afford one of the best environments on Earth in which to observe animal behavior with a unique and diverse set of organisms. This will be his sixth visit to the Galápagos, where he will facilitate an appreciation for this extraordinary opportunity to view animal behavior under natural conditions.

Dr. Nancy Wilkie is a distinguished archaeologist and professor who has lectured on numerous study tours around the world, including a recent trip to Peru that included visits to Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Nancy is the William H. Laird Professor of Classics, Anthropology, and the Liberal Arts, and Co-Director of the Archaeology Concentration at Carleton College, where she has been on the faculty since 1974.
In April 2003 the President of the United States appointed her to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department, on which she currently serves. The Committee reviews requests from foreign governments for the protection of their cultural property and recommends a course of action to the U.S. State Department.

 If you book before September 1, 2012 the Early Booking Discount will be applied.
Pricing listed below is for the Main Tour only. Extension pricing is listed below the abbreviated extension itinerary.
Pricing is Per Person in U.S. Dollars.

[SantaCruzDeckplan] 

What to Expect

In order to fully participate on this program you must be in good physical condition, as the days are very active. Passengers must be able to negotiate a steep gangway and get in and out of the Zodiacs with minimal assistance. Most shore excursions involve a fair amount of walking up and down hills and over uneven and/or slippery terrain in warm to hot temperatures. There will be several hours of walking each day, sometimes in heat or mud, or at high altitude. It is essential that you are able to climb in and out of boats, walk over uneven rocks and loose boulders, and hike on rough trails. Quito, Ecuador is located at an elevation of more than 9,000 feet. Cuzco, Peru (on the post-tour extension) is the highest elevation at over 11,000 feet. If you have questions about or are unsure of your ability to participate, we recommend discussing the itinerary with your physician.

In March, the average temperatures in the Galápagos Islands and Guayaquil range from the low 70s to high 80s, whereas average temperatures in Quito range from the high 40s to low 70s. On average, in March, there is relatively little precipitation in the Galápagos, although there and on the mainland it is the wetter of the two main seasons. In Cuzco, Peru, average daytime temperatures are in the 60s and average nighttime temperatures are in the 40s.

Itinerary (abbreviated)

Friday, March 8, 2013 - Depart from the U.S. or Canada | Quito, Ecuador
Saturday, March 9 - Quito
Sunday, March 10 - Quito (Otavalo | Peguche optional excursion)
Monday, March 11 - Quito | Fly to Baltra Island, Galápagos Islands | Embark M.V. Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz Island
Tuesday, March 12 - Santiago Island (Puerto Egas)
Wednesday, March 13 - Rábida Island | Bartolomé Island
Thursday, March 14 - Genovesa Island (Prince Philip’s Steps | Darwin Bay)
Friday, March 15 - San Cristóbal Island | Disembark M.V. Santa Cruz | Fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador
Saturday, March 16 - Depart Guayaquil | Return to the U.S. or Canada

Extension Itinerary (abbreviated)

Saturday, March 16 - Guayaquil, Ecuador | Lima, Peru
Sunday, March 17 - Lima | Cuzco | Sacred Valley
Monday, March 18 - Sacred Valley | Machu Picchu
Tuesday, March 19 - Machu Picchu | Cuzco
Wednesday, March 20 - Cuzco
Thursday, March 21 - Cuzco | Lima
Friday, March 22 - Lima | U.S.

Extension Prices Per Person (based on a minimum of 20 participants):
Double Occupancy $2795
Single Supplement $700