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Ecuador EcuadorGalapagos IslandsVolcanic islandUNESCO World Heritage

Fernandina Island

646 km² rising to 1,476 m out of the Pacific Ocean.

When to go

Fernandina Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 5 km

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

646km²

Area

124km

Coastline

1,476m

Highest point

Las Cumbres

0

People

26°C

Warmest sea

March

1,168km

To the mainland

When to go to Fernandina Island

Best for the beach from November to January and from May to June.

The sea is warmest in March (26 °C) and coolest in August (21 °C). Comfortable swimming (21 °C or more): from September to July.

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Western island in the Galapagos Archipelago in Ecuador

Fernandina Island is an volcanic island in Ecuador. It belongs to Galapagos Islands. It covers 646 km², with 124 km of coastline. Its highest point, Las Cumbres, rises to 1,476 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 1,168 km away. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Fernandina Island.

  • 1named peaksVolcán La Cumbre crater
  • 1volcanoesVolcán La Cumbre

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 307 m above the sea. 55 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 26 %0–50 m
  • 29 %50–200 m
  • 23 %200–500 m
  • 14 %500–1,000 m
  • 8 %1,000–2,000 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Fernandina Island646 km²
Madeira Island742 km²
Tenerife2,038 km²

20 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)282930292826252525252626
Night low (°C)232525252422212020202122
Sea (°C)242626252423222121212222
Rain (mm)425948531698867912
Wet days81212942211124
Sun h/day6.97.68.68.38.07.77.68.08.28.58.06.9
Wind (km/h)12109101416171717161615

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020−0.6−0.1−0.9+1.3−0.1−2.0−1.8−1.2−1.5−1.1−0.3−1.1
2021−0.8−0.3+0.1−1.6−0.6+0.5+0.5−0.4−0.6−0.4−1.4−3.2
2022−1.6−2.1+0.4−1.1−2.1−1.6−0.3+0.6−1.3−2.8−1.8−1.8
2023−1.3+0.5+0.1+0.8+1.3+2.5+3.7+3.7+2.1+2.3+2.7+1.8
2024+1.1+1.2+0.9−0.9−1.7−1.6−0.9−0.8−0.9−0.1+0.5−2.0
2025+0.1+0.5+2.0+0.7−0.9+0.2−0.1−0.7−1.4−1.0−2.1−2.0

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Fernandina view
jthetzel · CC BY 2.0
Heliaster cumingi 16 May Fernandina Snorkel (47927465516)
brewbooks from near Seattle, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Fernandina island
putneymark · CC BY-SA 2.0

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q83582) · CC0
Outline© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

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