North Seymour & Rabida Island
This time of the year Galápagos is being bathed by the Panama current, bringing very warm waters with average temperatures around 80F. This is the main reason we are seeing lush vegetation everywhere we go. This time of the year sea birds and sea lions are not breeding, because there is not enough food in the ocean to feed their chicks and pups. On the other hand, reptiles and land birds are taking advantage of the good conditions, to breed all over the archipelago.
This morning we visited North Seymour and our highlight was the frigatebirds. This particular small place is probably one of the few places in Galápagos to see these birds in action all year round; chicks, juveniles, males courting and building nests were spotted. This ten-square-mile island is a good spot to start our adventure. Apart from those spectacular birds we also saw sea lions, the endemic swallow-tailed gulls, land iguanas, blue-footed boobies, noddy terns, pelicans and many other species.
Snorkeling along the coast line of the same island was also spectacular. We start drifting with a very gentle current and as we swam, a sea lion came to play with us. Sharks, guineafowl puffers, parrot fish, salemas, damselfish, grunts, trumpets, cornet fish and many other species of fish were there for our delight.
In the afternoon, as soon as we dropped anchor, we started our activities with more deep-water snorkeling, kayaking, glass-bottom boating, and to finish our day, a half-mile hike to explore Rabida Island. This visitor site was closed for few weeks, due to an ongoing eradication program of introduced rats, in order to restore the ecosystem of the island. This is just one example of the conservation efforts made by the Galápagos National Park Service, to preserve these unique islands.
This afternoon, everybody was very happy to know that most of the endemic flora and fauna of Galápagos still exists, like hundreds of years ago, despite the introduced species. The goal of the National Park is that the whole archipelago will be restored in the future.
