Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela

Punta Vicente Roca at a glance

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   Isabela — Punta Vicente Roca

   Punta Vicente Roca is on the north-western tip of Isabela, at the mouth of the channel opposite Fernandina. There is no landing: you ride under collapsed tuff cliffs by dinghy and snorkel in the cold upwelling below them. Mola mola, penguins and turtles are the draw, and it is usually paired with Fernandina the same day.

How you get there

On a western cruise itinerary

The only way. This coast is far from the ports and there are no day boats. Western routes are fewer and cost more, and this site is one of the reasons they are worth it.

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

What you actually see

The cliffs from the dinghy

A collapsed tuff cone with a partly submerged cave, layered in yellows and greys, with the sea running into it. You go under the overhangs and it is genuinely dramatic.

The cold water below

Turtles in numbers, penguins hunting, flightless cormorants, and — the reason divers talk about this coast — mola mola, the ocean sunfish, which comes up to be cleaned.

The wreck of a whaling past

Not visible, but this bay was a stop for whalers. The naturalist will explain why the tortoise populations of western Isabela took the damage they did.

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.

The cold ends the snorkel

This is the coldest water most visitors will get into in the islands. Without a full wetsuit people last fifteen minutes. Ask what the boat provides before you book the western route.

The mola mola is not scheduled

It is the headline animal and it is unpredictable. Plenty of visits see none.

Swell can cancel the dinghy ride

The overhangs are only safe in reasonable conditions. When it is up, you look from further out.

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 who is not comfortable in cold water, even in a wetsuit.
• Visitors on a central or southern itinerary — this cannot be added on.
• People who want to set foot on land. There is no landing here at all.

What lives here

• Green sea turtle — In numbers, and unusually large here.
• Galápagos penguin — Hunting in the cold upwelling.
• Flightless cormorant — On the rocks along this coast.
• Mola mola (ocean sunfish) — The reason divers come west. Never guaranteed.

Nearby

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