This group of 13 islands, 17 small islands and 47 reefs, disseminated on a surface of 8.000 km² in the Pacific Ocean, is a world with share, some 1.000 km of the Ecuadorian coasts.
Preserved continental life, the archipelago is a corner of the world to no one another similar, where nature holds the most beautiful surprises. The best way of discovering the archipelago is certainly there to go on a cruise. Because of their too fragile ecosystem, certain islands cannot be visited. It is the case of Pinta, Marchena, Wolfe, Darwin and Pinzon.
Among the most interesting islands, and that you will be able to visit, you will find:
- Isla Santa Cruz
It acts of the most populated island archipelago. Its principal city is Puerto Ayora, where are installed the great majority of the hotels, the restaurants and the souvenir shops.
- Isla Espanola
It acts of the one of the most interesting islands of the archipelago. This island shelters the most important colonies of marine birds of the archipelago of Galapagos. A curiosity to be seen is the "hole blower", it acts of a rock formation which creates a water geyser a height which can reach until 20m height when the sea is strong.
The island is uninhabited.
- Isla Santa Fé
Origins of this small island of 24 km² go up with nearly 4 million years and do of it one of the oldest islands of the archipelago. This island has a beautiful vegetation of Palo Santo and Cactus with rackets.
- Isla Santa Maria or Floarena
She is spread out over 173 km² and one of the five inhabited islands of the archipelago (approximately 70 H) constitutes. This island is of a great botanical interest, the species are numerous there and the vegetation gives him the aspect of a tropical paradise.
- Isla Santiago
Fourth larger island of Galápagos with 585 km², she has four interesting sites:
- the James bay is one of the most visited lieus, of the marine caves shelter there important colonies of otaries with fur.
- the island of Bartolomé is one of most spectacular of the archipelago. It is completely deprived of vegetation and offers a completely unreal lunar landscape.
- the brown sand beach of Espumilla lends itself well to the bathe, it is one of most beautiful of the island, it is bordered of mangroves where take refuge of many birds, stilts, pink flamingos and ducks.
- the Sullivan bay is of a great geological interest. The volcanic formations are very astonishing and one can observe gas pockets there taken under fine layers of lava.
This island is uninhabited.
- Isla Bartolomé
It is one of smallest (1,1 km²) archipelago, but also one of most interesting. At the top of Pinnacle Rock you will be able to contemplate one of most photographed the panoramas archipelago.
Then on the beach, or you with the otaries bathe will slacken. Penguins, shark-hammers and marine tortoises can be seen sometimes there.
- Isla Genovesa
With nearly two million birds on a surface of 14 km², island of Genovesa deserves displacement if one is set on ornithology. Among the species that one finds there, there is the insane one with red legs, the petrel, the frigate, the insane one masked and sometimes the insane one with blue legs.
- Isla Isabela
Being spread out over 4.588 km² and strewn with many active volcanos, Isla Isabela is the largest island of the archipelago of Galápagos, long 132 km out of 84 km broad.
The sight since the top of the volcano Sierra Negra (1.390m) there is spectacular, and its crater 11 km in diameter is the larger second of the world.
It has an abundant fauna of which marine flamingos, penguins, cormorants and iguanas.
- Isla Fernandina
It acts of the one of the rare islands of the world on which no animal was never introduced by the man, and it has also the characteristic to have the most active volcano of the world.
It is the third island of the archipelago by the size with 642 km²
One finds there an impressive concentration of marine iguanas, otaries, cormorants and penguins. This island is visited little.