The Galapagos: Inner Loop / Outer Loop (8 Days)

Guests fly in on the included charter flight from Quito or Guayaquil to San Cristóbal and transfer to Silver Origin. After embarkation and the safety briefing, the ship repositions to Kicker Rock, the eroded volcanic tuff cone rising some 150 metres straight out of the ocean. Zodiac cruising and deep-water snorkelling in the channel between the two towers bring sea lions, rays and, in season, Galápagos sharks.

The morning is a boardwalk ascent of Bartolomé's 114-metre summit for the most photographed view in the archipelago, over Pinnacle Rock and the twin crescent bays. Snorkelling below the rock is the classic spot for Galápagos penguins and white-tipped reef sharks. The afternoon moves to Santiago Island — Zodiac exploration of the eroded cliffs and sea caves of Buccaneer Cove, or a landing on the golden sands of Espumilla Beach with its seasonal flamingo lagoons.

Punta Vicente Roca sits at the base of Ecuador Volcano on Isabela's north-western tip and is one of the best snorkelling and diving sites in the Galápagos, in cold, nutrient-rich water rich with Pacific green turtles and the endemic flightless cormorant. The ship then crosses the Bolívar Channel to Fernandina, the youngest and most pristine island in the archipelago. Punta Espinoza's lava flows hold the largest marine iguana colonies anywhere, with sea lions, penguins and Galápagos hawks.

Tagus Cove is a sheltered anchorage whose walls carry graffiti left by whalers and pirates from the 1830s onward; a steep trail climbs past saltwater Darwin Lake to viewpoints over Darwin and Wolf volcanoes. Kayaking and snorkelling along the cliffs are offered here. The afternoon is a two-hour Zodiac ride through the red mangrove lagoons of Elizabeth Bay, home to turtles, golden rays, penguins and flightless cormorants; there is no landing at this site.

Post Office Bay preserves the wooden barrel used by 18th-century whalers as an unofficial mail drop, and visitors still leave and hand-deliver postcards. Punta Cormorant has an olivine-green beach at one end and a flour-white beach at the other, with a brackish lagoon between them where flamingos, pintails and stilts feed. Deep-water snorkelling off Champion Islet is among the best in the islands and one of the few places to see the Floreana mockingbird.

Cerro Dragón on Santa Cruz's north-western shore is a land iguana conservation success story, with a trail past a brackish lagoon and up through palo santo forest to a viewpoint over the bay. The afternoon is spent on the white coral sand of Las Bachas or Bahía Bowditch, a green turtle nesting beach where the rusted remains of Second World War barges still lie in the sand. Swimming, snorkelling and beach time are the order of the afternoon.

A morning in the Santa Cruz highlands takes in the Los Gemelos twin pit craters, a walk through Scalesia cloud forest and giant tortoises in the wild on the farms of the transition zone. The afternoon visits Puerto Ayora and the Charles Darwin Research Station with the Fausto Llerena Tortoise Breeding Center, where the captive-rearing programme for the archipelago's endemic tortoise races can be seen. Free time in town allows for the fish market, galleries and local shops.

After breakfast, guests disembark and transfer to the airport for the included charter flight back to Quito or Guayaquil. Silversea handles luggage and transfers throughout. Depending on the loop and departure date, disembarkation is at either Baltra or San Cristóbal.