Santa Fe
is the eleventh biggest island of the Galapagos. It covers a
total area of 9.3 square miles (24 square kilometers) and rises
to 850 feet (259 meters). Santa Fe is a Spanish city. It is also
(rarely) called Barrington, named by the English after Admiral
Samuel Barrington. The island is an extinct single volcano.
Santa Fe is notable for the size of its giant prickly pear
cactus which are truly the size of trees, reaching over 20 feet
high. These are the biggest giant cactus in the Galapagos.
The biggest specimen fell down in 2000, victim of the El Niño
whose heavy rainfall weakened the trunk. Also notable are the
Santa Fe land iguanas, found nowhere else in the world, which
are much bigger than elsewhere in the Galapagos. They are also
colored khaki brown, like army camouflage, so that one
particularly large individual acquired a nickname: "The
General".
Santa Fe
is a great place for snorkeling. The waters in the cove are a
radiant green where you can see sea turtles gracefully swimming
by. There's also a big colony of sea lions - something you'll
never tire of seeing in the Galapagos.
