Darwin Bay

About the site

Darwin Bay

Darwin Bay is the coral-sand beach inside Genovesa's caldera, where the island's bird colonies come right down to the shore. The pangas land you directly on the sand (a wet landing), and an easy trail of about two hours leads along the beach, through saltbush and mangroves, past tide pools and up to a viewpoint over the cliffs and the bay.

Red-footed boobies nest at eye level in the bushes, together with Nazca boobies and great frigatebirds, whose males inflate their red throat pouches to court the females in the breeding season. Swallow-tailed gulls and lava gulls rest on the rocks, yellow-crowned night herons hunt in the tide pools, and Galápagos doves and Darwin's finches walk along the path. Sea lions often share the beach.

After the walk there is usually time to snorkel from the beach or along the cliffs, with sea lions and reef fish, and hammerhead sharks are sometimes seen in deeper water. A panga ride along the cliffs shows the nesting ledges from the sea.

The trail is mostly flat but uneven in places, and there is no shade: bring a hat, sunscreen and water.

Highlights

• Birdwatching
• Red-footed Booby Colony