Isabela Island Visitor Sites Part III - Hiking the Volcanoes

Introduction to Isabela Island

Map of Isabela from JunglePhotos.com
Which reproduced it with permission from Instituto Geografico Militar del Ecuador

Landscape on Isabela Hiking Up Volcan Sierra Negra
Photograph from CreativeCommons by Michael R. Perry

If you read Parts I and II of my Isabela posts, you know that Isla Isabela:

• is the largest island in the Galapagos comprising a full 60% of the total land mass in the Galapagos National Park and Reserve. 
• is the product of not one, but six integrated separate still-active volcanoes. 
• has a magnificent and diverse landscape and sites and attractions inland and around the entire Island.

In this post  I will take you on a huge adventure: You will experience the diverse landscape, the enormous beauty and the majesty of the Galapagos Island, Isla Isabela, its creatures and their natural habitat by hiking the stunning volcanoes from which the island was created. Have fun on the journey - but be prepared, not all of this walking will be easy.

Isabela Island Visitor Sites Part II - Sites Visited by Boat

Geography of Isabela Island                                                                      

Map of Isabela from JunglePhotos.com
Map reproduced with permission from Instituto Geografico Militar del Ecuador

If you read Part I of my Isabela post about visitor sites on Isla Isabela, you know:

Blue Footed Boobies Mating Dance

• is the largest island in the Galapagos
• comprises a full 60% of the total land mass in the Galapagos National Park and Reserve. 
• is the product of not one, but six integrated separate still-active volcanoes. 
• has a magnificent and diverse landscape with many individually interesting tour sites and attractions. 

If your cruise takes you to the western side of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, your ship will take you to marvelous inlets, coves, beaches and pools all around Isabela Island. This post will bring you yet another new point of view and opportunity for learning and experiencing, not from the land, as my last post, but from the beautiful, stunning and ever changing Pacific Ocean.

Isabela Island Visitor Sites Part I - Sites from Puerto Villamil

Basic Geography and Overview of Isabela Island

Map of Isabela from JunglePhotos.com
Map reproduced with permission from Instituto Geografico Militar del Ecuador

Landscape/Moonscape on Isabela Hiking Up Volcan Sierra Negra
Photograph from CreativeCommons by Michael R. Perry

Isla Isabela, located in the western Galapagos Islands, is one of the newest geological land masses in the archipelago. If you have experienced the eastern islands, heavily eroded over the millennia by wind and waves, you may find the baked lava terrain surrounding the volcanoes on Isabela in stark contrast. It is rugged and challenging. It displays different colors; different minerals catch the light; it is mountainous and stark; it is intriguing at every turn.

Isabela is also unique because it grew not from one volcanic eruption, but by the integration of six separate underwater volcanoes. It is the largest land mass in the island system, accounting for 60% of the total land area. Moreover, due to its size and the fact that it arose from the sea as a result of multiple different natural occurrences and eruptions, its landscape is varied and it has many individually interesting tour sites and attractions.

This is the first of three posts I will write about Isabela Island. Here, I focus on the remarkable visitor sites accessible from the main town of Puerto Villamil. Get ready - you are about to experience everything from blue footed boobies to steps carved into a volcanic hillside, from flamingos to a bustling town. Indeed, each visitor to Isabela will experience this enchanted ground from a difference perspective, and, like the Galapagos Islands themselves, Isabela has something to offer everyone.