Bartolomé is a small island just east of Santiago is best known for Pinnacle Rock, the stark remains of an eroded tuff cone that juts like a large sail out into Bartolomé’s northern bay and which is easily one of the most familiar landmarks of the archipelago.
The most southerly island in the archipelago, dramatic Española is also one of the oldest and breathtaking. It plays host to several unique species and sub-species and is a great Galapagos environmental success story.
The third largest, youngest and westernmost of the islands that form the Galapagos archipelago, Fernandina’s 642 m2 is mostly barren black lava with La Cumbre Volcano dominating the landscape. Its massive domed cone continues to grumble, erupting on average every five years making Fernandina, alongside neighboring Isabela, one of the most volcanically active of the islands.
Several curiosities are associated with Floreana, the sixth largest island in the archipelago, not least the whiff of scandal and intrigue that surrounds three groups of German settlers who arrived on the island in the 1930’s and that, one by one, mysteriously began to die or disappear.
The horseshoe shaped island of Genovesa is one of the youngest in the archipelago, being a mere one million years old. As it is the only island north of the equator that allows visitors, this makes it an even more special destination.
By far the largest island in the archipelago at 4,588 km2 and measuring 130 km north to south and 70 km at its widest point and occupying over 58% of the Galapagos’ entire land mass.