Puerto Baquerizo Morno is the capital of the Galápagos Province

Galápagos Province

Galápagos is a province of Ecuador in the country's Insular region, located approximately off the western coast of the mainland. The capital is Puerto Baquerizo Moreno....

, in Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It is located along the southwestern coast of San Cristóbal, the easternmost island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in the archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

.

Even though it is the capital, the town has only the second largest population: 5,600 inhabitants, mainly fishermen. The primary industries are artisan fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, and arable farming. The town includes an Interpretation Center, but its tourism infrastructure is not as advanced as in Puerto Ayora

Puerto Ayora

Puerto Ayora is a town in central Galápagos, Ecuador. Located on the southern shore of Santa Cruz Island, it is the seat of Santa Cruz Canton. The town is named in honor of Isidro Ayora, an Ecuadorian president. The town is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Santa Cruz.Puerto Ayora is the most...

.

The city takes its name from the president Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (1859-1951).

Residents founded and still operate the Albatross Foundation USA

Albatross Foundation USA

The Albatross Foundation USA is a non-profit, community-based organization, which was initiated and is led by residents of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in San Cristóbal Island, the administrative capital of the Galápagos Islands Province of the Republic of Ecuador...

.

Climate

Like the majority of the coastal areas of the Galapagos Islands, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno has a cold semi-arid climate (Koppen Bsk), mainly due to its coastal location. Despite being less than one full latitudinal degree away from the Equator, temperatures in the town and the surrounding area on the island never reach the unbearable heights expected for such an equatorial location. Temperatures remain astonishingly similar year-round, fluctuating only several degrees from January means to July means. However, two seasons predominate: the cooler, dry season that typically lasts from June to November and brings light drizzle, oceanic coastal fog, mild to warm temperatures, and mainly overcast skies. All of these characteristics are evident due to the presence of the cold Humboldt Current that flows north from Peru and Chile. Although this is considered the dry season for the actual total rain amount at this time is exceptionally light, it tends to precipitate very slowly in the form of extremely light drizzle and is often accompanied with grey, overcast skies. The wet season lasts roughly from December to May, and brings an abundance of bright sunshine along with sporadically brief, yet often intense, tropical thunderstorms. Annual average precipitation amounts to approximately 451 mm (17.76 in), 86% of which falls in the five-month wet season period spanning December till May. Precipitation falls an average of 42 days a year.