Santa Cruz & North Seymour Island
It was another fantastic day in paradise! After an early outing we headed toward the highlands of Santa Cruz, the second largest island of the Galápagos. Soon afterwards we were enjoying a walk in the reserve for the giant tortoises. This area is located in the highlands where the typical mists, called “garua," keep the weather cool and moist, providing a special condition for the growth of different types of weeds and soft fresh grass. This vegetation is the delight of these enormous long lived reptiles that can attain a weight of more than five hundred pounds and live more than 150 years. We were amazed to see the emblematic giants from afar and watch as they slowly walked and grazed totally unhurried, as if they knew time did not run fast in their biological clocks.
There was much more of the terrestrial life in terms of birding; such as Darwin’s finches, mockingbirds, warblers and the fearless flycatcher to mention a few. Our expedition continued by visiting one of the many lava tubes found on the island; evidence of a very active volcanic past. After all of these activities I could say “we earned our breakfast."
Back onboard the Islander we continued our journey to our next destination on the north side of Santa Cruz. We admired the view of the island as it was left behind, while observing different types of seabirds along the way.
Late afternoon we found ourselves on North Seymour, one of the most beautiful sea bird colonies. This island is most certainly a breathtaking place! The scent of wilderness in the air, the sounds of sea lions, blue-footed boobies, swallow tailed gulls and frigate birds that are the icon of this island with unique courtships, complex sounds and their big red pouches gave to the island a taste of nature at its more pure state! At the time we watched a reddening sun setting on the western sky. Just unbelievable!
It was another fantastic day in paradise! After an early outing we headed toward the highlands of Santa Cruz, the second largest island of the Galápagos. Soon afterwards we were enjoying a walk in the reserve for the giant tortoises. This area is located in the highlands where the typical mists, called “garua," keep the weather cool and moist, providing a special condition for the growth of different types of weeds and soft fresh grass. This vegetation is the delight of these enormous long lived reptiles that can attain a weight of more than five hundred pounds and live more than 150 years. We were amazed to see the emblematic giants from afar and watch as they slowly walked and grazed totally unhurried, as if they knew time did not run fast in their biological clocks.
There was much more of the terrestrial life in terms of birding; such as Darwin’s finches, mockingbirds, warblers and the fearless flycatcher to mention a few. Our expedition continued by visiting one of the many lava tubes found on the island; evidence of a very active volcanic past. After all of these activities I could say “we earned our breakfast."
Back onboard the Islander we continued our journey to our next destination on the north side of Santa Cruz. We admired the view of the island as it was left behind, while observing different types of seabirds along the way.
Late afternoon we found ourselves on North Seymour, one of the most beautiful sea bird colonies. This island is most certainly a breathtaking place! The scent of wilderness in the air, the sounds of sea lions, blue-footed boobies, swallow tailed gulls and frigate birds that are the icon of this island with unique courtships, complex sounds and their big red pouches gave to the island a taste of nature at its more pure state! At the time we watched a reddening sun setting on the western sky. Just unbelievable!
