Santa Fe (Galapagos)

Santa Fe Island, (Isla Santa Fe or Barrington Island) is one of the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

Santa Fe is a small island, but has an interesting cactus forest and range of birds. As it's close to Santa Cruz, it can get quite a few people on day trips.

See the Galapagos wildlife page for information on the flora and fauna of the islands.

Santa Fe can only be visited via authorized guided tours. Most visitors arrive on day boats from Puerto Ayora (Santa Cruz Island), with the journey taking about 1.5–2 hours depending on sea conditions.

There are no roads or infrastructure on the island. Visitors disembark via a wet landing on a beach in Barrington Bay, which is usually crowded with sea lions. Movement on the island is restricted to designated trails and must be done with a licensed naturalist guide.

A wet landing on a sea lion covered beach leads to two different trails.

One of the trails leads through an Opuntia cactus forest where you can see Yellow Warblers, Galapagos Mockingbirds, Galapagos Doves, Lava Lizards and of course some Darwin Finches.

The highlight of visiting Santa Fe is to see the endemic chocolate brown Santa Fe Land Iguana.

Apparently there is good snorkeling off Santa Fe.

The closest islands to Santa Fe are:

• Santa Cruz - the main island, with quite a few interesting visitor's sites as well
• South Plaza - a small island, good for wildlife
• San Cristobal - capital of the Galapagos with many interesting visitor sites