Galapagos High Sea

The eastern approaches to the Galápagos cross a wide reach of the Pacific west of Ecuador. The islands lie near the meeting of several ocean currents, which bring together marine life from tropical and cooler waters. Early European sailors could be carried toward the archipelago by currents and calms, as happened to the ship of Bishop Tomás de Berlanga in 1535. The isolation of the islands made both landfall and the search for water uncertain.