Mexico's Most Remote Territory

Where Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma passes through Chapultepec Park there are always interesting photographic displays hung on the park fence.

On my recent trip there was an exhibit of photos of Mexico's remote Revillagigedo Islands.

The widely scattered Pacific archipelago consists of four volcanic islands... San Benedicto, Socorro, Clarión, and Roca Partida (which is nothing more than an outcropping of rock).
The nearest island to the Mexican coast is 240 miles to the southwest of Cabo San Lucas.  Except for a small navy base the islands are uninhabited.  They have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and last year they were declared a Mexican national park.  Fortunately there are no plans to develop the islands for tourism.

In 1952, the volcano on San Benedicto erupted and nearly eliminated all life on that island.  The ecosystem has recovered since then.

The tallest peak in the island group is Cerro Evermann, a still active volcan. It is on the island of Socorro.

The islands are sometimes referred to as Mexico's "Little Galapagos" because of the variety of wildlife found nowhere else.  Many of the species are endangered.

The waters around the islands teem with marine life.

There are thirty varieties of sharks to found here, and four endangered species of marine turtles.

The exhibit gave me a glimpse of a remote part of Mexico that I will never see.