Daphne Major

About the site

Daphne Major

Daphne Major is a small, treeless tuff cone that rises steeply from the sea north of Santa Cruz, between Baltra and Santiago. From 1973 the biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant studied its Darwin's finches year after year, watching their beaks change from one generation to the next after droughts and floods: evolution before their eyes. Their story is told in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Beak of the Finch.

To protect this living laboratory, the Galápagos National Park restricts landing to scientists with special permits. Cruise visitors see the island from the boat or on a panga ride along its cliffs.

From the water you can watch the seabirds that nest on its slopes and in its crater, Nazca and blue-footed boobies, red-billed tropicbirds with their long white tail streamers, and frigatebirds, while sea lions rest on the rocks at the waterline. Below the surface, the walls of the islet are a well-known dive site, with rays, sea turtles and sharks.

Daphne Major is usually seen on the navigation between Baltra or Santa Cruz and the islands to the north and west, a short and memorable stop for anyone interested in Darwin and evolution.

Highlights

• Birdwatching