North Seymour and Rabida Islands
Our second day in the archipelago began with calm weather and very smooth ocean. The first view showed us North Seymour and Baltra Islands with their unmistakable landscapes; flat and surrounded by cliffs, formed by volcanic pressure lifting up big parts of the sea floor.
Our first outing started with a landing on North Seymour Island, a small island located in the middle of the archipelago and home of many different species of marine and land birds. We began to walk along the cliff observing Galápagos sea lions and swallow tailed gulls resting on the rocks. Further inland the landscape changed completely, showing us a forest of incense trees which looked naked, with no leaves but covered by white lichen to protect their trunks against the inclemency of the weather.
We observed land iguanas feeding on cacti’s pads, showing us their pink tongues and their powerful claws removing the spines; on the rocks, another group of them laid on the rocks warming their bodies with the first beam of sun. At the distance, we heard a symphony of noises, some of them like whistling and others like honks. Of course, we approached to the source of them, and certainly we found it; there were blue footed boobies everywhere, nested on the ground protecting their eggs or chicks. It was amazing to observe the tameness of them and the contrast of their blue feet with the brown soil. Our guests could take many pictures of them, enjoying the scene a lot.
If we enjoyed the blue footed boobies on the ground, in the trees the frigate birds delighted us. We observed the two species that nest in the archipelago with their fluffy chicks and juveniles, some of them still with their red pouches inflated calling the attention of some females; a little bit late if we consider the mating season was over weeks ago.
We arrived at the National Geographic Endeavour and immediately started a long navigation to get Rabida Island. In the middle of this navigation we observed a humpback whale and many manta rays jumping, showing us their black and white bodies.
In the afternoon, our guests could take different activities such as kayaking, deep water snorkeling and a glass bottom boat ride. The underwater world showed us many different species of colorful fish, green sea turtles and Galápagos sharks.
Our last outing began landing on the red beach of Rabida. The first attraction was a group of sea lions interacting with each other; a male barking along the shore was patrolling his territory while on the beach, females nursed their babies. Walking inland, we observed the cacti with their soft spines as indicating to us this island never had big predators such as giant tortoises or land iguanas. Flying or perched on the branches of trees, finches and mockingbirds observed us peacefully, telling us this day was over. The sunset at the west was incredible with the last beams painting the islands with an orange color. Tired but happy, our guests finally arrived to our dear National Geographic Endeavour.
