Don Martin Island
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Don Martin Island, also known as Don Martin Islet or San Martín Island, is an island belonging to Peru located in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the department of Lima. It is located one kilometer southwest of Vegueta Point and has an area of approximately 16.50 hectares.[1][2] The island is very important because it is a guano deposit and the habitat of numerous species of marine birds, which have found a feeding, breeding and resting area on Don Martín Island.[3] For this reason, in 2009 the island was protected by law within the National Reserve System of Islands, Islets and Puntas Guaneras, a natural reserve that protects and preserves representative samples of the biological diversity of the marine-coastal ecosystems of Peru.
Don Martín Island is under the influence of the cold waters of the Humboldt Current and is located around 11º 01' S latitude and 77° 40' W longitude. The highest point of the island is 50 meters above sea level. It is approximately 800 m long, in a north–south direction, and 200 m wide from east to west. The whitish color of the island is the result of the mixture of the guano layers and the erosion of the rocky surface.[2]
Don Martín Island, with its trapezoidal shape and almost flat relief, has small rocky formations on the southwest side and on the east side there is an area known as La Península, which is a space where, in addition to a dock, there are also areas that house a contingent of workers who come to the island during the guano extraction season.