On our first morning in Galapagos, we got to explore North Seymour Island and in the afternoon we headed to Rabida Island both are located in the central region of the archipelago.
North Seymour Island is located just north of Baltra Island, and as we explore the coast and the interior of the island, we encountered several Galapagos land iguanas, some of these iguanas were males, these were exhibiting bright yellow color, in contrast the females showed darker color. These iguanas are descendants of the ones on Baltra Island and introduced to North Seymour in the early 1930s, nowadays these are quite abundant on North Seymour. Some Galapagos land iguanas were repatriated to Baltra and can occasionally be seen at the airport.
Some of the other species of animals observed today include blue-footed boobies; at this time of the year, this species is nesting in several small groups around some islands in the archipelago. In the case of the great and magnificent frigatebirds, we found many with youngsters. At this time of the year only the males magnificentfFrigatebirds have, the bright red gular sac inflated as a sign to attract females.
For the afternoon and after a calm navigation to Rabida Island, we went snorkeling from the shore and from the Zodiacs in deeper waters. Our guests observed several types of fish, rays, and some spotted white-tipped reef sharks. After these water activities, we stopped by our ship to change into dry clothes and headed ashore to explore this island. On our walk here, we saw some Galapagos mockingbirds, Galapagos doves and several finches looking for food around the bushes, there were some Galapagos sea lions resting on the red color sand beach.
