The 15-day liveaboard isn't only about what happens underwater — the extra days on the itinerary make room for a real spread of land excursions across several islands. On Rábida, sometimes called the Red Island for its distinctive red sand, guests hike beaches and crater trails past sea lion colonies, pelican nesting grounds, flamingos in a saltwater lagoon, and stands of Palo Santo forest.
Fernandina Island is a different landscape entirely — jet-black lava fields that guests trek across on foot, home to some of the largest marine iguana colonies anywhere in the archipelago, along with flightless cormorants, Galápagos hawks, sea turtles and Sally lightfoot crabs. At Tagus Cove on Isabela Island, the excursion includes a hike up to a viewpoint over Darwin Crater Lake and a dinghy tour along the coastline, where Galápagos penguins — the only penguin species found north of the equator — share the water with blue-footed boobies and terns.
Bartolomé Island adds its own well-known landmark: a Summit Trail hike past volcanic rock formations up to a view of Pinnacle Rock, plus penguin and sea lion colonies at the base. Inland on Santa Cruz, the itinerary shifts to the highlands — wild giant tortoises, lava tunnels to walk through, and the twin sinkholes known as Los Gemelos. North Seymour rounds it out with blue-footed booby courtship displays, frigatebird nesting colonies, and land iguanas that can reach up to 1.2 meters long.
Taken together, the land excursions aren't a break from the trip's wildlife focus so much as a continuation of it in a different setting — the same conservation-minded attention paid to the animals underwater extends to what guests are shown, and asked to respect, on shore.
Source: adapted from Galápagos Shark Diving's own published article on the land excursions included on its 15-day liveaboard.