ISABELA ISLAND

Puerto Villamil

Is located on Santa Cruz Island; the guided tour thru the station’s visiting sites is an educational experience. The visitor can enter the giant tortoise corrals and have a close look to this ancient giants Tortoises of this corral are accustomed to humans; it is an excellent spot for visitors to be photographed with them. There is a breeding center for the giant tortoise and land iguanas.

Vicente Roca Point

Located on the most western northern tip of Isabela Island is a spectacular landscape view of the Ecuador’s volcano’s caldera. The spot is a popular anchorage from which to take panga (dingy) ride along the cliff that are the remains of the volcano or snorkel in a partially sunken cave which is rich in marine life and a breathtaking experience. Masked and bluefooted boobies sit perched along the point and the sheer cliffs, while flightless cormorants inhabit the shoreline.

Tagus Cove

Is located west of Darwin Volcano on Isabela Island. The route of the trail is about 1800 meters. This was a favorite spot for pirates and whalers. At the start of the walk, going up and passing the staircase, is a small cave where we find inscriptions dating to the 1800s, proof of this visits to the islands.

Urbina Bay

Is located at the east base of the Alcedo volcano. The trail starts on the beach where a wet landing is made, the tour is approximately 3200m, and runs through sand substrates, pumice rock, lava, coral and vegetable formations in a coastal area that has had a lift; in addition burrows of land iguanas can be seen.

Elizabeth Bay

Is located on Isabela Island`s west shore, this site is extremely interesting for observing marine life. Galapagos penguins are often seen on the rocky formations s one of the best places to observe this species at the Galapagos. Through a small canal passage lined with mangroves you emerge into an enclosed cove where sea turtles, rays, sea lions are abundant.

Moreno Point

Is located on the north coast of Isabela Island between the volcano Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcano. The main attractions at Punta Moreno are coastal lagoons amid black lava flows where there are several species of birds. It has a panoramic view of three volcanoes, the most active of the Galapagos that are Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul of Isabela Island and La Cumbre of Fernandina Island.

Wetlands

The visitor site “Wetlands�, is a complex of trails that include the following sites. Cerro Orchilla, a lookout which you can access via a staircase; from this site you can see the bay and the town of Puerto Villamil, Sierra Negra Volcano, the Cerro Azul Volcano, islets and rocks. These sites form spectacular scenery. El Estero is a 227m path of lava rocks, 1.5 meters wide. It consists of a picnic site where the people come to do leisure activities. On this site you can see the four species of mangrove found in Galapagos and a small majagual forest. La Poza Escondida is a path of stone and wood, where the main attraction is a mangrove forest and at the end of this path is a this pool. Poza Redonda, is a path of 50 meters long, of lava plates leading to a pool formed inside a collapsed lava tube. Tunel del Estero, a path 75m long and with adequate lava plates ending in a staircase inside a lava tunnel. Above the tunnel you can see the intertidal landscape that offers a tapestry of Galapagos Sesuvium between “El Túnel del Estero� and Love Beach.

Love Beach, has a rocky sea access, is a site frequently used by the community of Isabela.

Los Tunos Viewpoint and Pozas Verde are paths with several lookout points that allow observation of birds and plants. La Playita: Is a path that leads to a small beach that is part of the greater beach in Villamil.

Wall of Tears

Is a historic site in Isabela. Between 1946 and 1959 Isabela was a penal colony, where prisoners were made build a wall with huge blocks of lava as punishment. The wall is 100 metres long and 7 metres high. Due to the arduous labour and harsh conditions in which the prisoners lived, this site is known as the wall of tears.

Tortoise Breeding Center

The Tortoise Breeding Center of Isabela is located 1.5 km from Puerto Villamil. You can walk or drive.

In this Breeding Center populations from South Isabela (Sierra Negra Volcano, Cerro Azul): Cazuela, Cinco Cerros, Roca Union, San Pedro, Tables and Cerro Paloma have been reproduced in captivity. In total there are 330 between juvenile and adult tortoises. The Center has beautiful gardens consisting of native plants, as manzanillo (Hippomane mancinella), mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), prickly pear (Opuntia spp), palo santo (Bursera graveolens), lime prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum Fagara), thorn shrub (Scutia pauciflora) Galapagos croton (Croton scouleri),and many other native flora.

Sierra Negra Volcano

Is the second widest crater in the world. From this viewpoint, you have fantastic sights to the wide crater. From here we can hike to Chico Volcano to watch the striking lava formations, examples of the geological occurrences that have created the Galapagos Islands.

Concha de Perla

The visitors site Concha de Perla is in Puerto Villamil, a few meters from pier "El Embarcadero".

Access to the site is by a wooden walkway, the same that runs through a mangrove forest, up to an intertidal pond.

Concha de Perla is structured as a kind of hollow circular enclosure of natural rock, which is fed by the sea with the changing tides. Locals use this site as a place for swimming and snorkeling.