Punta Suárez, Española

Punta Suárez at a glance

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   Española — Punta Suárez

   Punta Suárez is a rocky headland at the western end of Española and the single densest wildlife walk in the archipelago. On one loop you pass nesting boobies, the red-and-green marine iguanas found only here, a blowhole, and — between roughly April and December — the world’s only breeding colony of waved albatross.

How you get there

On a southern cruise itinerary

The only way. Española is the southernmost island and too far from the ports for a day boat. Usually the same day as Gardner Bay.

It sits on Española, so how you reach the island decides how you reach this.

What you actually see

The albatross, in season

Birds with a two-and-a-half-metre wingspan sitting on open ground beside the path, and the courtship dance — bill-clacking, sky-pointing — going on around you. They leave the island entirely from about January to March.

The cliff launch

They cannot take off from flat ground with a full load, so they walk to the cliff edge and drop off it. Watching one commit to that is the moment people remember.

The red iguanas and the blowhole

The Española marine iguana turns red and green in the breeding season and exists nowhere else. Beyond them, a fissure in the lava throws seawater twenty metres into the air on the right swell.

What goes wrong

We run these trips, so we know what people complain about afterwards. Better to read it here than find out on the day.

People come outside albatross season

From about January to March there are none — every bird is at sea. Itineraries do not always make that clear, and it is the single biggest disappointment on this site.

The trail is loose boulders

Not a path so much as a marked route over rock. It is the walk where ankles go on southern itineraries.

The blowhole depends on the sea

Flat day, no spout. It is swell, not schedule.

Who this is not for

Saying this costs us bookings and saves the trip. If any of these is you, tell us and we will build the day differently.

• Anyone unsteady on loose, uneven rock — there is no smooth section.
• Visitors travelling January to March who came for the albatross. They are not there.
• People who cannot manage a dry landing onto rock from a moving dinghy.

What lives here

• Waved albatross — The world’s entire breeding population, April to December.
• Nazca booby — Nesting on the open ground beside the path.
• Blue-footed booby — Displaying on the trail itself in season.
• Marine iguana — The Española race, red and green, found only here.
• Galápagos hawk — Frequently overhead and unusually tolerant of people.

Nearby

Every visitor site we have written up → · Española, the whole island →