Galapagos Islands

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Galapagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which is administratively a province of Ecuador. The 19 islands and surrounding marine reserves in the Pacific Ocean, about 1000 km from the South American continent, have been described as a unique "living museum and showcase of evolution". Situated at the confluence of three ocean currents, the Galápagos Islands are a melting pot of marine life. Constant seismic and volcanic activity reflects the processes that have shaped the islands, which, together with their total isolation, have led to the creation of extraordinary fauna such as the land iguana, the giant tortoise, and the many varieties of finches that influenced Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection after his 1835 visit. The Galápagos Marine Reserve is an underwater wonderland, home to a wide variety of creatures from corals to sharks, penguins to marine mammals. There is no other place in the world that offers the experience of diving with such a variety of marine life that has become so familiar to divers that they accompany them. In addition, the variety of underwater geomorphologic formations offers a unique spectacle found nowhere else in the world. Since Charles Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" in 1839, the origin of the flora and fauna of the Galápagos Islands has been a subject of great interest. The islands offer a nearly unique example of how ecological, evolutionary and biogeographic processes influence the flora and fauna of both individual islands and the archipelago as a whole.
Bartolomé Island

(4 images)
Española Island

(2 images)
Fernandina Island

(4 images)
Floreana Island

(2 images)
Genovesa Island

(3 images)
Isabela Island

(3 images)
North Seymour Island

(4 images)
Santa Cruz Island

(3 images)
Santiago Island

(3 images)
South Plaza Island

(4 images)