Scuba Diving Tours and Scuba Dive Vacations

ECUADOR ADD ON TOUR IDEAS

 ADD ON TOURS BROUGHT TO YOU BY ECUAULTIMATE TOURS (http://www.ecuaultimate.com/)

DAY TOURS FROM QUITO:

1.  COLONIAL QUITO  AND EQUATORIAL LINE:  approx 5hrs

Pick up at the hotel to start and head into the old city.

Tour starts in Orellana`s to view the oldest church in the Guapulo valley; drive to the colonial centre of Quito, on the road visit to the National House of Congress (stone-carved façade).

Arrival to the city centre to see the Independence Square, with the Presidential Palace, the Cathedral and El Sagrario. Visit the Church of La Compañía (1605), (if open), with its breathtaking gilded altars, considered the finest example of baroque art in America, the Moorish influences can be noted in the intricate designs carved on the magnificent red and gold columns and ceilings. Next, visit the church and monastery of San Francisco (1535). The oldest Ecuador church, the main altar itself is a spectacular example of baroque carving, there is also a good collection of Quito school art.

Afterwards we will visit to the Equatorial monument, where the Equatorial line marking latitude 0° 0` 0", a unique place where one be literally with one foot in one hemisphere and with another foot in other.

A visit to the Ethnographical museum and to the colonial town built in the surroundings of the monument are also included in this tour.

2.  QUITO/ CALDERON/ CAYAMBE / OTAVALO MKT/ COTACACHI: Full Day Tour

Driving to the North of Quito, start your trip through in Calderón, a town where the famous bread-dough figures are done, continue the trip to Cayambe for the local specialty "Bizcochos". Before you arrive to the Province of lakes. At the entrance of Otavalo one can see the Saint Pablo Lake, (at the skirts of the Imbabura volcano). Immediately, continue to the famous indigenous market, the largest one in South America, just in time to bargain for colorful and beauty tapestries, naïve painting, hand-knitted wool sweaters, wood carvings, silver jewelry, woolen and straw hats.

 Lunch in one of the local haciendas .In the afternoon we will visit the famous little town of Cotacachi, very well known for its handmade leather clothing. Return to Quito.

3.  Quito to Papallacta Mountian Bike Tour (mostly downhill):  Full day tour

This is an excellent way to see a cross section of Ecuador’s ecosystems in one day: the first part of the trip starts high up in the páramo – the Ecuadorian equivalent of the arctic tundra – and ends in low montane cloud forest at the edge of the Amazon basin. Once we reach our first destination, we throw our bikes on the jeep’s roof and drive back up the pass to the Papallacta hot springs for a soothing swim in the natural thermal pools. If the day is clear, views of Antisana Volcano will bedazzle. After lunch we drive over the Papallacta pass at 4200m and remount our iron horses for the two thousand meter (over 6000ft.) whiz downward to Tumbaco valley just outside of Quito.

MULTIPLE DAY TOURS IN ECUADOR:

1.  SACHA LODGE: AMAZON RAIN FOREST: 3 or 4 nights most common

A typical day at Sacha begins at sunrise or earlier, in order to take advantage of the cool morning hours when the rainforest`s animals are most active. Each group may decide on its own wake-up and breakfast time, as well as the difficulty and duration of their morning outings. In the afternoon, visits begin at around 3:00 and often continue into the evening, when the nocturnal insect and frog chorus begins.  The accommodations are individual units nesteld within the forest resting on stilts and off the forest floor