Isabela Island cruises

About the island

Isabela Island

Isabela, historically Albemarle Island, is by far the largest island of the Galápagos: shaped like a seahorse, 120 kilometers (75 miles) long and bigger than all the other islands put together. Six shield volcanoes formed it, five of them still active, and its western coast, bathed by cold, rich waters, is one of the best places in the archipelago for wildlife.

Isabela covers about 4,600 square kilometers (1,800 square miles) and rises to 1,707 meters (5,600 feet) at Wolf Volcano, the highest point in the Galápagos. Its volcanoes, Wolf, Ecuador, Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul, are home to more wild giant tortoises than all the other islands combined, with a different species on each volcano. Its only town, Puerto Villamil, is a small place of sand streets and white beaches on the south coast.

On our cruises Isabela is the heart of the western routes, nearly always combined with Fernandina, and often with Santiago and Santa Cruz, on itineraries of five to eight days. The west coast sites are the most remarkable: Tagus Cove, where pirates and whalers painted the names of their ships on the cliffs, with a hike to a saltwater crater lake; Urbina Bay, a coral reef lifted out of the sea in 1954, with giant tortoises and land iguanas; Elizabeth Bay, a panga ride through mangroves and the Marielas islets; and Vicente Roca Point, with fur seals and some of the best snorkeling in the islands. On the south coast, cruises call at Puerto Villamil for the tortoise breeding center, the flamingo lagoons and Las Tintoreras, where white-tipped reef sharks rest in a lava channel.

The Cromwell Current wells up along the west coast and feeds an extraordinary concentration of life: Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants, sea turtles, rays and, at times, whales and dolphins; 16 species of whales have been recorded around the island. In a few patches of mangrove survives the mangrove finch, one of the rarest birds in the world.

Isabela suits travelers who want the wilder side of the Galápagos and are happy with longer navigation, as the western sites are often reached overnight. Some trails, like the one at Tagus Cove, climb on loose volcanic ground, and the water on the west coast is cool, especially from June to November.

Fast facts

• Isabela is larger than all the other Galápagos islands combined, with about 4,600 square kilometers (1,800 square miles).
• Wolf Volcano, at 1,707 meters (5,600 feet), is the highest point in the Galápagos.
• Isabela has more wild giant tortoises than all the other islands together, with a different species on each volcano.