Jacques Cousteau Island

The Isla Cerralvo ( Spanish pronunciation: [' Izla se'ralbo ] ), common name, official name Isla Jacques Cousteau ( Spanish pronunciation: [' Izla ʝak ' kusto ] ), is the southernmost of the Mexican islands in the Gulf of California.

The island was renamed in honor of the French marine explorer Jacques -Yves Cousteau, the Mexico owes its first marine research station in Lower California in November 2009 against a number of protests in the country. The Isla Cerralvo is 136.5 km ² in size, in north-south direction 29.5 km long and up to 7.2 km wide, and is 11.7 km from the coast in the vicinity of the state of Baja California Sur -listed town La Paz in the municipality of La Paz between lies the Canal de Cerralvo. The island is volcanic and reaches a height of 771 meters. At the southeast end of the island, Punta Montaña, is a 11 meter high lighthouse.

Since 2005, the island belongs with 243 others in the Gulf of California, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In her live a number of endemic species, eg the iguana Ctenosaura hemilopha insulana, the lizards Sceloporus and Cnemidophorus grandaevus ceralbensis and the snake Rhinocheilus etheridgei. Often through the Cerralvo channel for whales.