Punta Espinosa

Fernandina’s only visitors site lies on the island’s northeast corner across from Isabela’s Tagus Cove. After a dry landing in a grove of white mangroves, you’ll come to a sandy point that’s partly covered by rough lava from recent flows. The largest colony of marine iguanas in the Galápagos nests nearby, sneezing like the cold ward in a hospital. As you proceed single file down the beach (to avoid stepping on buried nests), you’ll see shells and bleached mangrove trunks littering the sand, evidence of recent volcanic uplifts.
  Sea lions fill the pools among the jagged rocks, females and pups playing while males patrol. At the tip of the point waits the highlight: the flightless cormorant nesting site. Each nest—a ragged witch’s mop of seaweed and twigs—supports a female sitting regally while her mate hunts for fish. Keep your eyes open for returning males, who offer a seaborne trinket to the female before drying their stubby wings in the ocean breeze.

  Back near the landing site. you’ll take a detour over the jagged lava, spotted with short, squat brachycereus lava cacti. Brilliant vermillion flycatchers often sit in the mangrove branches.