Advanced Ecuador
Galápagos
Cold water on the equator, hammerhead schools, and endemic wildlife alongside tropical and temperate species
You're standing on the equator and the water can be sixteen degrees. That contradiction, geographic tropics with cold water, is exactly what produces the hammerhead shark schools people come here for.
In this profile you'll find which currents converge on the archipelago and why that produces the wildlife it does, where each thing happens between the central islands and the northern ones, when to go depending on what you're after, what the diving here demands, and what rules govern a national park that's also a World Heritage Site.
It's the most famous evolutionary laboratory on the planet and one of the few places where you can see, on the same dive, tropical, temperate, and endemic species found nowhere else.
Geography and access
Galápagos is an Ecuadorian volcanic archipelago located about a thousand kilometers from the mainland, sitting over a hotspot that continues producing new islands to the west.
Three currents converge here: the cold Humboldt Current from the south, the cold, deep Cromwell Current from the west, and a warm current from the north. That convergence brings enormous quantities of nutrients into equatorial waters.
The result is extremely high productivity that sustains a density of life unusual for the latitude, and a unique mix of fauna: penguins and sea lions living alongside corals and tropical fish.
The central islands are accessible with daily boat trips and offer abundant wildlife in more manageable conditions.
The two islands at the far north of the archipelago, well separated from the rest, are where the large hammerhead shark schools and whale shark passages are concentrated. They can only be reached by liveaboard with limited spots.
Access is by international flight to mainland Ecuador and a domestic flight to the archipelago. Entry to the national park is regulated and subject to fees.
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