We woke up to the sight of sea birds flying all over the ship, with North Seymour Island visible in the distance.
After breakfast, we had a dry landing onto North Seymour; this is a small, uplifted landmass holding a large nesting colony of sea birds. We spotted two endemic subspecies of frigatebirds. Some of the males were in their courtship display. We also saw a few swallow-tailed gulls and blue-footed boobies with small chicks.
The island revealed wildlife’s unique behaviors, including Galapagos land iguanas and Galapagos sea lions at the visitor site.
After lunch, we had a presentation about the oceanography and geology of the Galapagos Islands. Soon after, we went snorkeling from the beach at Rabida Island, where we saw large schools of fish and a few playful Galapagos sea lions that stayed close to us.
After snorkeling, we went back to National Geographic Islander II and either went kayaking along the coast of Rabida Island or took stroll along the beach.
