Fernandina Island

Fernandina Island

Fernandina Island is the newest and third largest of the Galápagos Islands, and the most westerly. The island was named in honor of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who supported the voyages of Christopher Columbus. It has a surface area of 642 km2, an elevation of 1,476 meters, and a caldera at its top that is about 6.5 km wide. Formed less than one million years ago, it is younger than Isabela. Like the rest of the islands, it was formed by the Galápagos hot spot. Last erupted in January 2020, the island is an active shield volcano. The caldera collapsed in 1968 when parts of the caldera floor fell 350 meters. The northern caldera floor has occasionally been occupied by a small lake, the last time in 1988. Because of recent volcanic activity, the island has little vegetation and its terrain is mostly rocky. For safety reasons, visitors to Fernandina Island are restricted to the rim of the crater. Hundreds of Marine Iguanas congregate in large groups on the black lava cliffs along the narrow coastline called Punta Espinoza, and the island is home to the famous flightless cormorant, also known as the Galápagos Cormorant, as well as penguins, pelicans and sea lions. The Narborough Island Tortoise is a particularly elusive species of Galápagos Tortoise confined to the island, which was thought to be extinct after not being sighted for 113 years after 1906, until an old female was found in 2019.