Galapagos Islands Shark Adventures
8 days | 4 Islands | 4 Biomes
J u l y 2 0 2 6
1st TRIP from 5 to 12, July 2026
2nd TRIP from 12 to 19, July 2026
What’s Included
All 7 hotel nights in Guayaquil and the Galápagos Islands (Look at the note).
Round-trip flight ticket from Guayaquil to the Galápagos Islands.
Galápagos National Park Fee.
Galápagos Islands entrance card.
Breakfasts from Day 2 to 8.
Lunches from Day 2 to 7.
Welcome and farewell dinner in the Galápagos Islands.
Local guide experts and their tips.
Snorkeling Gear for all water tours.
All land and sea transportation.
Galápagos and Coastal Ecuador field guide.
Note: Accommodations are in twin-share rooms, but we can also arrange same-room family accommodations. If you want single or upgraded accommodation, please contact us. This will incur an extra cost and is date-dependent.
Day 1
First, arrive at José Joaquín de Olmedo Airport (GYE) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, South America. Here, our staff will greet and transfer you to your comfortable accommodation. Please, take your time to relax and settle down in your room.
Join us before dinner at the hotel for the Welcome toast and briefing, where you'll learn about the "Biomas Conservation and Education programs. We’ll also go over the 8-day itinerary. Meet your fellow travelers and guides during the toast, and feel free to ask any questions.
Note: We recommend arriving to Guayaquil one (1) to two (2) days before this Biomas Adventure’s starting day.
We have a suggested (NOT INCLUDED) full-day adventure to the Western Andean Slope Forest and Cocoa plantation experience.
Day 4
We’ll be boat riding to Sta Cruz Island for a half-day activity to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. Then leaving to Floreana Island in the afternoon. This island showcases how Galapagos islanders used to live in the past.
We will meet our shark scientific host partners, who will explain every detail of the Bullhead Shark Conservation Project and why is that of your visit with Biomas Adventures is so important.
Day 2
Morning departure to the Capital of the Enchanted Islands, San Cristobal Island.
We will arrive at the islands right before lunch. After lunch in the Enchanted Islands, we’ll have our first Galapagos Adventure. We will hike to Tijeretas for a breathtaking view and then jump in the ocean for a refreshing dip and our first Galapagos underwater experience.
For those who haven’t been in the ocean before, this would be a great time for a snorkeling briefing. And for those eager to explore the underwater world in the Galápagos, a great location to possibly swim with sea lions and sea turtles
Day 5
This will be a full-day adventure science experience with our Bullhead Shark host partners.
Wake up early to have a morning briefing and get set to have very dawn snorkelling in the bay where the Bullhead Shark research and monitoring is happening.
Day 6
We will start early morning. Bullhead sharks are more active during dawn and dusk, and we will jump into the water to search for these charismatic sharks in the morning.
This will be a full-day adventure science experience with our Bullhead Shark host partners
Day 3
Join us for an unforgettable full-day adventure to Kicker Rock Islet, the most iconic destination on San Cristóbal Island!
This dramatic rock formation is renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and incredible biodiversity, making it one of the top snorkeling spots in the Galápagos. Immerse yourself in nutrient-rich waters, where you may encounter graceful sea turtles, majestic sharks, and big schools of fish.
Day 7
We’ll start our day with a walk to one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world and also Gianna’s favorite place on Earth, Tortuga Bay Beach. We are eager to share this fantastic and relaxing place with you.
For those interested in kayaking, this is a great spot for it too. Later, we’ll have the opportunity to do one of the very first tours in Santa Cruz.
Day 8
We’ll end our week of adventures visiting the living dinosaurs, the Galapagos Giant Tortoise in the highlands of Santa Cruz, and also visit “The Twins or Los Gemelos” a stunning pair of volcanic sinkholes nestled in the lush Scalesia Cloud Forest of Santa Cruz Island.
You’ll board your flight back to mainland Ecuador, where transportation will be ready to take you to your accommodation.
As you set off on your next adventure, remember that while you may be leaving Ecuador, Ecuador will never leave you.
Your Team Leaders
We’re biologists and ecologists, and we’re so excited to show you our home country and share with you our experiences as we learn from you in this Biomas Adventure!
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Gianna Haro is a proud Galapagueña, from Santa Cruz Island. She is a Biologist with a master’s in Environmental Management from Cornell University, USA.
As a raised Galapagueña, she spent her childhood swimming in the ocean, collecting dead plants and insects, and inventing scientific names for them. This early curiosity led her to pursue a Biology degree at U. California Santa Barbara, shaping her career in community-based conservation and ecotourism.
With over seven years of experience, she has worked as a biologist, environmental educator, eco-entrepreneur, as the first Certified Ecuadorian Women Freediving Instructor and as a certified naturalist guide in the Galápagos and Alaska.
She has shared Galápagos and Alaska’s unique biodiversity to diverse audiences, including tourists, students, scientists, park rangers, and NGOs.
She is a NetGeo Field Educator and a member of the Island Education Network (IEN), where she is currently contributing to a book on island education worldwide.
After six years guiding for NatGeo-Lindblad Expeditions, Silversea Cruises and Swimtrek, Gianna wanted to enhance her career. She pursued her master’s at Cornell University and she is currently working in climate resilience, geographic information and water equity in New York State.
Despite living in the US for now, Galápagos keeps her eyes sparkling, as here is where her heat belongs. This is why she co-created Biomas Adventures with her husband Juan de Dios Morales.
Her favorite biome is the ocean, which inspired her to develop educational programs like the National Environmental Education Plan for Sea Turtle Conservation with Wild Aid in Ecuador. Her passion for experiential learning led to the creation of "Galapa-Guess," a fun, interactive game about the Galápagos that she loves sharing during Biomas Adventures; along with a few dad jokes (watch out)!
interesting fact!
She produced “Journey Back to Alcedo”, the first Galápagos documentary ever produced by a Galapagueña that highlights women in science and conservation.She is second generation of naturalist guide in Galápagos. Her dad, Roberto, was one of the first Ecuadorian Galápagos naturalist guides (1978) in a tourism-market mainly led by english/german nationality.
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Juan de Dios Morales is an ecologist with a master’s in Environment from the U. of Melbourne, Australia.
His career pathway has taken him to become a creative biodiversity conservationist, nature/travel photography awardee, ecotourism leader/guide, entrepreneur advocate, environmentally sustainable, and a eco-communicator.
His passion for culturally and naturally rich adventures has led him to visit earth’s most precious biomes. He is deeply connected to his home region of South America, with places such as the Galápagos National Park, the Uyuni Saltflats in Bolivia, and the Ecuadorian Amazon. He has traveled to all continents and enjoyed many outstanding Biomas Adventures, from scuba diving at the breathtaking great barrier reef and swimming with great white sharks in Australia, all the way up to hiking at the purified peaks of the Himalayas in Nepal, into the deepness of the Malaysian Borneo old grown forest searching for wild orangutans, to searching for whales and penguins in Antarctica. He has also visited different world-renowned national parks such as Komodo National Park in Indonesia and the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, and mystical places like Myanmar where cultural heritage has ignited his desire for creating Biomas Adventures for everyone.
Him and his partner, Gianna, moved to the US to achieve a family goal, Gianna’s masters at Cornell University. With a customer service mindset, Juan de Dios has worked for Cornell at the lab of Ornithology and the Statler Hotel.
His favorite “bioma” (biome) is the tropical dry forests (TDFs) of Ecuador, where he has boosted his conservation and ecotourism career when he created the award- winning Wild GYE Initiative (WGI). With WGI he published two books and reached out to people to protect the TDF. This biome substantially contributes to endemic species of birds, reptiles, and plants in the region and due to the fast destruction, this biome is struggling to thrive.
Interesting fact: He comes from a legacy of traditionally rooted and globally-minded family that has worked in the travel and tourism industry for generations.
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Maximilian Hirschfeld PhD. is a marine biologist and population geneticist whose career has been shaped by a deep fascination with the hidden lives of sharks and the evolutionary stories written across the world’s oceans. He holds a PhD in Marine Sciences from James Cook University, where he investigated how oceanic barriers and island landscapes shape genetic and biogeographic patterns in elasmobranchs—sharks, skates, and rays.
His research across the Indo-Pacific and the Galápagos revealed how physical isolation and species biology regulate genetic connectivity, especially in archipelagos and shallow-reef ecosystems. His findings have been published in leading scientific journals, shedding light on how marine species evolve and persist over millions of years.
Before his doctoral work, Maximilian completed a Master’s in Tropical Ecology at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, conducting extensive research with the Galápagos National Park, followed by a Bachelor’s in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Salzburg. He has been part of international research groups across Australia, Ecuador, and Europe, contributing to conferences, scientific committees, and key marine conservation initiatives. With expertise spanning population genetics, conservation biology, marine protected areas, and science communication, he bridges research excellence with a passion for sharing the oceans’ most extraordinary stories.
Today, he brings that spirit of discovery to travelers—inviting them to dive into one of the most remarkable conservation adventures in the Archipelago: the search for the ancient Galapagos bullhead shark.
Interesting fact: He is an underwater photographer from Munich-Germany, who has been featured on German TV broadcasts and has published the first research about the Galapagos Bullhead Shark.