North Seymour & Rabida, 7/18/2021, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
Today was the first full day of our itinerary. In the morning, we visited North Seymour Island for a hike. We observed and photographed marine birds like blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds. During the afternoon, our guests had the chance to snorkel off the coast of Rabida Island.
Salvador Cazar studied biology at the Universidad Nacional Del Sur, Bahía Blanca, in Argentina and at the Catholic University of Ecuador. Between 1988 and 1994, Salvador worked as a naturalist and tour leader for several national and international to...
Andrés grew up in Floreana, an island with 150 inhabitants in the Galápagos Archipelago. Living without internet, television or cellphones encourages him to become a creative observer and a nature lover. He spent most of his childhood interacting wit...
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Today we explored Bartholomew Island, starting early before breakfast. We hiked along the national park trail that leads to the summit of Bartholomew Island. As we reached the top, our guests marveled at the incredible landscape. This region is quite arid and that contributes to the best preservation of the volcanic formations. We followed the hike up with a snorkeling excursion or a ride on the glass bottom boat. During the afternoon, we went to Chinese Hat Islet to snorkel and go on a Zodiac ride in the late hours of the day. We had a great time looking for Galapagos penguins and Galapagos sea lions.
Our expedition day started with a pre-breakfast hike at Cerro Dragon to see the land iguanas. They were along the trail basking in the early morning sun. Also nearby were flycatchers, and at one point five of them surrounded the group as if they were joining in our hike. After a delicious breakfast, we got ready for our second activity of the day, which was snorkeling along Northern Santa Cruz. Afterwards, we had plenty of sunshine to enjoy while watching wildlife in Borrero Bay by Zodiac cruising and kayaking. To end our day, we celebrated with a wine tasting on the sky deck during sunset while we circumnavigated Daphne Major. It was a full day of exploration aboard National Geographic Endeavour II .
Visiting Santa Cruz is always a key part of this expedition. During the morning walk through Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, we enjoyed and learned all about the work these two institutions have done to help preserve such an important site. We spent the afternoon surrounded by farms and tortoises, which inspired us to be in contact with nature and to appreciate the benefits we get from it. Giant tortoises are the highlight of this island, and they never disappoint us!
