Cape Douglas

Cape Douglas on Fernandina's northwestern coast is where the full force of the Cromwell Current meets the island's volcanic shoreline, creating one of the most productive upwelling zones in the Galapagos. The underwater topography is stark and primeval — bare black lava shelves, volcanic boulders, and fields of rubble swept by strong currents and colonized by cold-water invertebrates. This is the best site in the archipelago to encounter Mola mola in the thermocline, with individuals sometimes approaching divers out of curiosity while flightless cormorants hunt in the shallows above.