Española (Hood)

Its name was given in honor of Spain. It also is known as Hood after an English nobleman. It has an area of 60 square kilometers (23 mi²) and a maximum altitude of 206 meters (676 ft). Española is the oldest island at around 3.5 million years and the southernmost in the chain. The island's remote location has a large number of endemic fauna. Secluded from the other islands, wildlife on Española adapted to the island's environment and natural resources. Marine iguana's on Española are the only ones that change color during breeding season. 

The Waved Albatross is found on the island. The island's steep cliffs serve as the perfect runways for these large birds which take off for their ocean feeding grounds near the mainland of Ecuador and Peru. Tourists come to see the albatrosses and the mating dances of blue-footed boobies on Española Island. 

Two spots are especially popular with visitors: Bahía Gardner, which has a lovelybeach; and Punta Suárez, of interest because of its varied bird-life. This island has its own species of animals, such as the Española (Hood) Mockingbird, which has a longer and more curved beak than the one on the central islands; the Española lava lizard; the marine iguana, which has red markings on its back; among others. Punta Suarez has migrant, resident, and endemic wildlife including Swallow-tailed Gulls, Blue Footed Boobies and Nazca Boobies, Galápagos Hawks, a selection of Finch, and the Waved Albatross. 

5 June 2007 – Morning Visit to Bahía Gardner, Isla Española (Hood)

Located on the eastern coast of Española, Gardner Bay provides an excellent beach for swimming and an opportunity to observe the Galápagos sea lions.

PRINCIPAL ATTRACTIONS: swimming beach

OTHER ATTRACTIONS: sea lions (occasional); Galápagos hawks; finches

MAIN PLANT SPECIES: pasto de playa (beach grass); algarrobo; cacho de chivo (puncture vine); monte salado (salt bush)

5 June 2007 – Afternoon Visit to Punta Suarez, Isla Española (Hood)

Punta Suarez is an uninviting at first sight, but this rocky point of land contains one of the most impressive and varied colonies of seabirds in the Galápagos. Along its southern shore, high cliffs rise up from the sea, providing you with spectacular views of soaring birds and the famous blowhole where, depending on the surf’s intensity, water spouts from 50 to 75 feet into the air. Hood is an “outpost” island, and has a high representation of Galápagos forms which have been altered by speciation to extremes not found on other islands.

PRINCIPAL ATTRACTIONS: waved albatrosses; blue-footed boobies; masked boobies; marine iguanas; lava lizards; mockingbirds; blowhole

OTHER ATTRACTIONS: red-billed tropicbirds; swallow-tailed gulls; sea lions; Galápagos doves; Sally Lightfood crabs; tide pools

MAIN PLANT SPECIES: Alternathera species; Trianthelma portulacastrum; Cryptocarpus pyriformis (monte salado or salt bush); Lycium minimum; Sesuvium edmonstonei; Prosopis juliflora (algarrobo); Tribulus cistoides (cacho de chivo or puncture vine)