Espanola Island, or Hood Island, is the most southern in the archipelago and is considered by many visitors to be one of the best. Its distance from the other Galapagos Islands has meant that there are some species that are endemic to this island alone.
These include the Hood mocking bird and the Española lava lizard. The marine iguanas are some of the largest in the Galapagos and have particularly vivid red and green colouration throughout the year.
The diving is done on the north coast at Gardner's Seamount (Gardner's Shallows or Bajo Gardner). Actually there are two places on the Galapagos, called Gardner - one on Española, the other on Floreana, but most divers only visit this one.
There usually is a moderate current which makes for relatively easy diving. This is a nice dive site with much to see. If you are lucky you can encounter large schools of eagle rays, manta rays, Jacks, Galapagos shark, white tip reef sharks lying on the sandy area, mackerels and sea lions.
This is a good place to see large schools of fish. On the sand there are garden eels and perhaps you will also find a red lipped batfish here. On the rocky areas you might find tiger snake eels who have large dark oval spots.
