The beautiful white sand beach of Gardner Bay is situated on the north coast of Española, one of the oldest islands in the Galapagos archipelago. Just offshore is Gardner Islet, a great snorkelling spot where you can see sea lions, green turtles and (if you're lucky) reef sharks and rays.

Española is the most southerly island in the Galapagos, and the remote location means it’s home to several endemic species, including the Española lava lizard and the Española mockingbird. In addition, the island is the sole breeding ground for the world’s entire population of waved albatrosses, which can be seen here between April and December.

The name is slightly misleading, as you won't find any cormorants here! Instead you'll discover a wonderful white sand beach where turtles and stingrays swim in the shallows, and a brackish lagoon where vivid pink American flamingos nest.

Flamingos, cormorants and sea turtles can all be found around Floreana, and the island also has an interesting human history. This is the site of the famous Galapagos ‘post office’, a barrel where sailors would place letters to be transported home by passing ships.

South Plaza is one of the smallest islands open to visitors in the Galapagos, dotted with prickly pear cacti and home to a wealth of wildlife, including red-billed tropic birds, land and marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and a large colony of sealions.

The summit of Bartolomé Island offers outstanding views of some of the Galapagos archipelago’s most spectacular volcanic scenery, including the much-photographed Pinnacle Rock. The island is also home to penguins, sea lions and turtles, with some great snorkelling spots just offshore.

The otherworldly lava fields of Sullivan Bay are formed from rope-like lava known as pahoehoe, and date back to an eruption in 1897. Vivid red Sally Lightfoot crabs are a common sight scuttling across the black rocks, and the bay is home to a very small colony of Galapagos penguins.

Access to Daphne Major is highly restricted and you won’t be able to land here, but a circumnavigation reveals birdlife including Nazca and blue-footed boobies, frigatebirds, red-billed tropicbirds and swallow-tailed gulls. Daphne Major was also the site of Peter and Rosemary Grant’s 40-year study of Darwin’s finches, documented in the fascinating book ‘The Beak of the Finch’.

The aptly named Cerro Dragón, or ‘Dragon Hill’, is known for its population of land iguanas. These creatures were very nearly wiped out by feral dogs in the 1970s, but the conservation efforts of the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park have been very successful in protecting the iguanas and growing their numbers.

Puerto Ayora is the largest town in the Galapagos, on the south coast of Santa Cruz island. From here you can visit the lush highlands where giant tortoises roam free, and you can learn more about tortoise conservation at the Charles Darwin Research Station.