Darwin Island cruises

About the island

Darwin Island

Darwin is the northernmost island of the Galápagos, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Wolf and far from the rest of the archipelago. It is the eroded top of an extinct volcano: a small, steep block of cliffs that rises to about 165 meters (540 feet) above the sea. It was named in honor of Charles Darwin, although he never came this far north.

There is no visitor site on land, and the island can only be seen from the sea. Darwin is reached only on liveaboard dive cruises, which usually spend a day or two here and at Wolf. Both islands are protected by the Darwin and Wolf Marine Sanctuary, created in 2016, and their waters hold one of the largest concentrations of sharks on the planet.

Darwin is famous above all for its schools of scalloped hammerheads and, from about June to November, for its whale sharks, most of them large females. Galápagos and silky sharks, dolphins, eagle rays, green sea turtles, tuna and great schools of jacks are part of almost every dive. The classic dives are around the remains of Darwin's Arch, the most photographed landmark of Galápagos diving, whose top collapsed on 17 May 2021 and left two pillars of rock, and on El Arenal, the sandy slope below them.

Above the water, Darwin is a seabird island: red-footed and Nazca boobies, frigatebirds and swallow-tailed gulls nest on its cliffs, and it is the only island in the Galápagos where sooty terns breed. With Wolf, it is also the only home of the vampire finch, a ground finch that pecks at seabirds to drink their blood.

The currents are strong, the surge can be heavy and there are often thermoclines, so Darwin is for experienced divers only, usually with advanced certification.

Fast facts

• Darwin is the northernmost island of the Galápagos and can only be visited on liveaboard dive cruises.
• Darwin's Arch, the most famous landmark of Galápagos diving, collapsed on 17 May 2021, leaving two pillars of rock.
• From about June to November, large female whale sharks pass by Darwin.