Place · Punta Suárez
Punta Suárez and its Blowhole: Española's Wild Lava Coast
Cliffs, seabird colonies and a natural geyser of seawater on the oldest island of Galápagos.
- Island age
- ~3–4 million years
- Blowhole spray
- up to ~20–30 m
The oldest island
Española is the southernmost and one of the oldest islands of Galápagos, formed around 3 to 4 million years ago. It has no active volcano; its flat profile is the result of millions of years of erosion. Its isolation produced many endemic species found nowhere else.
The blowhole
On the southern cliffs of Punta Suárez, waves rush into a lava tube and are forced out through a narrow crack, shooting seawater many metres into the air. Around it you walk among Nazca boobies, blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropicbirds and the colourful Española marine iguanas.