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The Clockhouse, Bonnington Mill Business Centre,
72 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh Scotland EH6 4JG
44 (0)131 467 7086, info@andeantrails.co.uk
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General Information | Boats & Cruises |
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Galapagos Weather
Please see our Galapagos weather page for seasonal highlights and visit our boats and trips page to see some of our great travel options.
Fernandina Island (Narborough)
Fernandina is the
youngest of the Galapagos Islands, and it is also the most active
volcanically, with frequent eruptions. It is one of the least
contaminated islands in terms of introduced species. You can visit
Punta Espinoza, where there are marine iguanas, flightless
cormorants, sea lions, penguins, and Galapagos hawks on the
relatively young lava landscapes.
North Seymour Island
This is an uplifted
island, which is quite flat. There is a trail to follow which takes
you through Palo Santo forest, past colonies of blue-footed boobies,
frigate bird colonies and beaches with marine iguanas and sea lions. |
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Santa Cruz
(Indefatigable)
This is the most
populated of the islands. Puerto Ayora is the main town, with all
the amenities you would expect to service the large number of
tourists passing through and the resident population. The Charles
Darwin Research Centre is within walking distance of the town, and
definitely worth a visit. Here you can see the giant land tortoises,
or Galápagos, which once roamed the islands. In the 1800s their
populations were severely reduced as whalers would capture them and
keep them on board as a fresh meat supply.
Also from Puerto Ayora
you can walk the 3km to Turtle bay, just southwest of town. A trip
to the interior of the island is fascinating, to see the twin
craters Los Gemelos in the highland Scalesia forest. This lush
forest is found above the dry zone on Santa Cruz, and receives most
of its moisture from the garúa, a mist often present in the
highlands particularly during July and December.
About 10km from Puerto
Ayora there are several lava tubes you can go inside. These are
characteristic of volcanic scenery, and are formed by the cooling of
the outer layer of flowing lava leaving the molten lava inside still
flowing leaving a space behind it and creating a tunnel. The other
place you can visit on the island is the Tortoise Reserve near Santa
Rosa.
The Charles Darwin
Research Centre
The Charles Darwin
Research Station (CDRS) is the operative branch of the Charles
Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, an international,
non-governmental, scientific, non-profit organization dedicated to
the protection of the Galapagos Islands since 1959.
As part of a formal
agreement with the Government of Ecuador, CDRS conducts and
facilitates research in Galapagos to supply information and
technical assistance to the Galapagos National Park Service and
other branches of the government. CDRS also provides environmental
education to island communities and schools and to the visitors that
come to Galapagos each year. Ecuadorian university students receive
hands-on training in science, education, and conservation at CDRS
through volunteer and scholarship programs.
The principal focus of
Charles Darwin Research Station is scientific research. Research by
staff scientists and consultants is directed mainly toward the
conservation and management of Galapagos National Park and the
Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve. Visiting scientists from all
over the world come to Galapagos to perform research on a wide
variety of topics, such as evolutionary biology, geology,
eco-tourism, climatology, and population genetics.
CDRS promotes research
tables and cooperative research agreements with both national and
international scientific research institutions. The information
generated by this research is provided to decision makers of the
Government of Ecuador, published in refereed scientific journals and
internal reports, and interpreted for visitors and environmental
education programs in the Islands.
The major physical plant
of CDRS is located on Santa Cruz Island, and is reached by air from
the airport on Baltra Island, north of Santa Cruz. The Station
facilities include a Library, Museum, Herbarium, Marine Laboratory,
Darkroom, Computer Center, Research Boat “Beagle”, and Forestry
Nursery. There is accommodation for visiting researchers, students,
and staff; office and laboratory buildings; and a public area which
constitutes an official Visitor Site of Galapagos National Park,
where visitors can view young and adult giant tortoises in the
Breeding and Rearing Center. CDRS also has representatives on San
Cristobal and Isabela Islands, who offer support to researchers and
perform environmental education.
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Española (Hood) This is the oldest of the islands, and it has eroded away to such an extent that it is quite small and flat, with no visible volcanic crater. There are two places to visit on the island, Gardner bay on the east and Punta Suarez on the western side. Gardner bay has a long white sandy beach which is a nesting area for marine turtles, and is also used by sea lions. Snorkelling is good, you may see turtles and sharks. Near Punta Suarez is the only colony and nesting site of the waved albatross on the Galapagos. Approximately 12,000 pairs come to the island to breed between late March and December. In addition there are many other interesting species of wildlife to be spotted here including an endemic marine iguana, Hood mockingbirds, lava lizards, cactus finch, blue-footed boobies, masked boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropic birds, oyster catchers. Beyond the waved albatross colony there is a spectacular blowhole at its best in heavy swell, when it spouts water 20m into the air. |
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Floreana (Charles)
There are three areas
to visit on Floreana Island, Post Office Bay, Devil’s Crown and
Punta Cormorant. Post Office bay is the site of the original
Post Office barrel placed by British Whalers to send letters
home in 1793. The barrel today isn’t the same one but you can
still leave letters here in the hope that another passing
tourist will pick them up and take them to their destination.
Punta Cormorant has
two contrasting beaches. You land at a dark coloured beach with
olivine crystals, and then walk, past a salt lagoon where you
may spot wading birds including flamingos, pintails and stilts,
to a fine golden sandy beach where is a nesting site for green
sea turtles. You may also see sting rays in the water.
It isn’t permitted to
go in the water here. Just offshore from Punta Cormorant lies
the Devil’s Crown. It is a collection of rocks, a half-submerged
crater. The snorkelling around here is excellent with plenty of
fish and the chance to play with young sealions. The rocks
themselves are a popular roosting site for boobies, pelicans,
and frigates. Red-billed tropicbirds can also be seen and
sometimes nest in crevices in the rocks.
Isabela (Albemarle)
This is the largest
island in the Galapagos archipelago, nearly 5,000km2, and 112km
from end to end. It is one of the youngest islands and consists
of a series of five volcanoes connected by their lava flows. The
highest of all Galapagos peaks is found here, it is Volcan Wolf
(1,707m).
The latest eruption
in the Galapagos was on Isabela Island when Cerro Azul Volcano
began erupting. This was the first eruption in the Galapagos for
twenty years.
Isabela is one of the
most dramatic of all the islands, with some superb volcanic
scenery. There are several interesting sites to visit on Isabela
including Alcedo Volcano, Elizabeth Bay, Tagus Cove and Urvina
Bay. There are five distinct subspecies of the Galápagos
tortoise on Isabela.
The Volcano Alcedo is
one of five shield volcanoes on the island. It is a four to six
hour strenuous trek to get to the rim of the crater. The views
inside and outside the crater are outstanding. There are
steaming fumaroles and Galapagos giant tortoises of the Alcedo
subspecies. It’s a good idea to spend a night in this area if
you have time, and there are several placesto camp, at the
beach, on the way up and around the crater.
Elizabeth Bay is a
good place for seeing marine turtles, flightless cormorants and
rays. Tagus Cove was popular with pirates and whalers, and some
of the names of the many ships that visited the cove are painted
on the cliffs. On land you can see a salt water lagoon and the
lava fields of Darwin Volcano, while along the cliffs from the
sea you may find the elusive Galapagos penguin, the flightless
cormorant, and other sea birds.
Urvina Bay, on the
west side of the island is the remains of a coral reef uplifted
from the sea in 1954. The area is good for seabirds, especially
flightless cormorants and brown pelicans. You can also find an
endemic marine iguana, rays, and marine turtles.
The crater of Sierra
Negra Volcano at the southern end of Isabela measures 10km
across. It is possible to visit this area and also the area just
to the north known as Volcan Chico. This comprises a groups of
craters where you can see fumaroles.
On the southeast of
the island is Puerto Villamil, a small fishing village with
about 500 inhabitants. A road with good views of the southern
Galapagos Islands goes from here towards Sierra Negra. Near
Puerto Villamil there are lagoons and mangrove forests with
flamingoes and other wading birds.
There is also an
Experimental Station near the port of Villamil, where the
Galapagos National Park are doing experiments to aid
reproduction of the subspecies of Geochelone elephantopus
gunteri (tortoise).
Las Tintoreras,
a few minutes by boat from the Port of Villamil, is a good place
to see the White tipped shark.
Visit our Diving page for more information about the fantastic diving that the Galapagos offers.
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