Tortuga Bay is located on the

Santa Cruz Island Santa Cruz Island (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Isla Santa Cruz'', Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Limuw'') is located off the southwestern coast of Ventura, California, United States. It is the largest island in California and largest of the ei ...

, about a 20-minute water-taxi ride from the main

water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a boat used to provide public transport, public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an Urban area, urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a simil ...

dock in

Puerto Ayora Puerto Ayora is a town in central Galápagos Province, Galápagos, Ecuador. Located on the southern shore of Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos), Santa Cruz Island, it is the Canton seat, seat of Santa Cruz Canton. The town is named in honor of Isidro ...

. There is also a walking path, which is and is open from six in the morning to six in the evening. Visitors must sign in and out at the start of the path with the Galapagos Park Service office. Tortuga Bay has a gigantic, perfectly preserved beach that is forbidden to swimmers and is preserved for the wildlife where many

marine iguana The marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus''), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galápagos marine iguana, is a species of Iguanidae, iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Unique among modern lizards, it is a m ...

s, galapagos crabs and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s are seen dotted along the

volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

s. There is a separate cove where you can swim where it is common to view white tip reef sharks swimming in groups and on occasion

tiger shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus '' Galeocerdo'' and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large apex predator, with females capable of attaining a length of over . Popula ...

s There is always a large variety of small fish, birds, including the

brown pelican The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth ...

and gigantic

galápagos tortoise The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger'') is a very large species of tortoise in the genus ''Chelonoidis'' (which also contains three smaller species from mainland South America). The species comprises 15 subsp ...

. The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535, but first appeared on the maps, of

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a Flemish people, Flemish geographer, cosmographer and Cartography, cartographer. He is most renowned for creating the Mercator 1569 world map, 1569 world map based on a new Mercator pr ...

and

Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the list of atlases, first modern ...

, in about 1570. The islands were named "Insulae de los Galopegos" (Islands of the Tortoises) in reference to the giant tortoises found there.The first navigation chart showing the individual islands was drawn up by the pirate

Ambrose Cowley William Ambrosia Cowley, also known as Ambrose Cowley and Captain Cowley, was a 17th-century English people, English buccaneer who surveyed the Galápagos Islands during his 1683–1686 circumnavigation of the world while serving under several c ...

in 1684. He named them after fellow pirates or English noblemen. More recently, the Ecuadorian government gave most of the islands Spanish names. While the Spanish names are official, many researchers continue to use the older English names, particularly as those were the names used when Darwin visited. This article uses the Spanish island names.

Gallery

File:Tortuga Bay Galapagos photo by Alvaro Sevilla Design.JPG, Tortuga Bay Galapagos File:Opuntia echios, isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 20.JPG, ''Opuntia echios'' in the way to the bay. File:Walking path to Tortuga Bay in the Galapagos photo by Alvaro Sevilla Design.JPG, Walking path to Tortuga Bay (almost at the beach). File:Pelícano pardo de las Galápagos (Pelecanus occidentalis urinator), Bahía Tortuga, isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 34.JPG, Galapagos brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis urinator'') in Tortuga Bay. File:(Pelecanus occidentalis) Tortuga Bay on the Island of Santa Cruz, Galápagos.JPG, Galapagos brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis urinator'') in Tortuga Bay. File:Iguana marina (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), Bahía Tortuga, isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 30.JPG, Closeup of a marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus'') in Tortuga Bay. File:Iguanas marinas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), Bahía Tortuga, isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 29.JPG,

Marine iguana The marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus''), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galápagos marine iguana, is a species of Iguanidae, iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Unique among modern lizards, it is a m ...

s (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus'') on the beach at Tortuga Bay. File:Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz - Tortuga Bay Marine Iguana.JPG, (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus'') in Tortuga Bay. File:(Pacific Ocean), Tortuga Bay is located on the Santa Cruz Island.JPG, Tortuga Bay Volcanic Rocks. File:Lava rocks on Tortuga Bay in the Galapagos a photo by Alvaro Sevilla Design.JPG, Volcanic Rocks & Grapsus grapsus Galapagos crabs (Tortuga Bay). File:Persona enterrada en bahía Tortuga, isla Santa Cruz, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-26, DD 31.JPG, Tourist in the beach.

Notes

References

*Galapagos Nacional Park, Tortuga Bay http://www.galapagospark.org/sitio.php?page=bahia_tortuga ecuador-travel.net *Tortuga Bay, Galapagos http://www.ecuador-travel.net/galapagos.site.tortugabay.htm *Galapagos Nacional Park on galapagos.org http://www.galapagos.org {{Authority control Galápagos Islands task force articles Galápagos Islands Landforms of Galápagos Province Bays of Ecuador Tourist attractions in Galápagos Province

Gallery

See also

Notes

References