We’re sailing on Barefoot, a 42’ sailboat, from San Cristobal Island to Isabela in the Galapagos Islands, under red skies and a setting sun, with a full moon rising. Located on the eastern side of the archipelago, San Cristóbal is the fifth largest island, the oldest geologically. Composed of three or four fused volcanoes, all extinct, and home to the oldest permanent settlement of the islands, San Cristóbal is where Charles Darwin first went ashore in 1835. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the port city and the capital of the Galapagos province where the majority of the island’s 6,000 residents live.

The Galapagos archipelago is located 600 miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador. Isabela Island is the largest island of the Galápagos, almost four times larger than Santa Cruz, the second largest of the archipelago. It was named after Queen Isabella of Spain. One of the youngest islands, Isabela is located on the western edge of the archipelago near the Galápagos hotspot. At approximately 1 million years old, the island was formed by the merger of 6 shield volcanoes - Alcedo, Cerro Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negra, and Wolf. And last but not least, Bartolomé Island is a volcanic islet just off the east coast of Santiago Island. It is one of the "younger" islands in the Galápagos archipelago, renown for its landscapes and marine life.

Documentary Travel Photography: Gail Fisher