Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
Our morning cruise into Academy Bay was very calm and easy. It provided us with a very smooth disembarkation on a not so small city called Pto. Ayora. This town is located at the south-eastern side of Santa Cruz, and happens to be the largest tourism area within the Galápagos Islands. Once on firm land, we boarded the buses that took us to the highlands were we enjoyed the majestic view of the Galápagos Giant tortoises. There were so many of them roaming around on their own, foraging or sleeping, living their simple tortoise’s life.
Later on we had a short ride to a nearby lava tunnel, where the light inside allowed us to go through it to explore its dramatic natural shapes inside. These formations were the result of successive volcanic eruptions that took place several hundreds of thousands years ago.
After having breakfast in a nice open-air restaurant at the highlands, we headed back to town for souvenir shopping or simply to have a cold beer in one of the local bars and cafés.
For the afternoon we visited North Seymour Island, one of the most important seabird colony grounds in the Galápagos. It was here where magnificent and great frigate birds were found in their full mating display. Male frigates displayed their red gular sacs, while females flew over our heads, checking which one was the most promising and successful male to choose. This behavior would result in favoring the gene pool of the birds, as the better skilled descendents will make possible the survival of the species.
Swallow tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies and other seabirds were also found in very romantic moments, as we were leisurely walking the surrounding trails of the island.As we were getting ready to come back, a land iguana was found literally in the middle of the trail feeding on a prickly pear cactus pad, cleaning it of its spines by scrapping it against the ground then swallowing pieces.
Once at the main dock, marine iguanas and Galápagos sea lions were found resting along the shore line, while the blue-footed boobies were in their last attempts to find their daily catch and were part of a feeding frenzy almost close to sunset.Just another regular day in the Galápagos!
Our morning cruise into Academy Bay was very calm and easy. It provided us with a very smooth disembarkation on a not so small city called Pto. Ayora. This town is located at the south-eastern side of Santa Cruz, and happens to be the largest tourism area within the Galápagos Islands. Once on firm land, we boarded the buses that took us to the highlands were we enjoyed the majestic view of the Galápagos Giant tortoises. There were so many of them roaming around on their own, foraging or sleeping, living their simple tortoise’s life.
Later on we had a short ride to a nearby lava tunnel, where the light inside allowed us to go through it to explore its dramatic natural shapes inside. These formations were the result of successive volcanic eruptions that took place several hundreds of thousands years ago.
After having breakfast in a nice open-air restaurant at the highlands, we headed back to town for souvenir shopping or simply to have a cold beer in one of the local bars and cafés.
For the afternoon we visited North Seymour Island, one of the most important seabird colony grounds in the Galápagos. It was here where magnificent and great frigate birds were found in their full mating display. Male frigates displayed their red gular sacs, while females flew over our heads, checking which one was the most promising and successful male to choose. This behavior would result in favoring the gene pool of the birds, as the better skilled descendents will make possible the survival of the species.
Swallow tailed gulls, blue-footed boobies and other seabirds were also found in very romantic moments, as we were leisurely walking the surrounding trails of the island.As we were getting ready to come back, a land iguana was found literally in the middle of the trail feeding on a prickly pear cactus pad, cleaning it of its spines by scrapping it against the ground then swallowing pieces.
Once at the main dock, marine iguanas and Galápagos sea lions were found resting along the shore line, while the blue-footed boobies were in their last attempts to find their daily catch and were part of a feeding frenzy almost close to sunset.Just another regular day in the Galápagos!
