Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
Our day started early in the morning with a wonderful outing in the highlands of Santa Cruz which are well known for the giant tortoises like this one found around an area called “El Chato.” To reach this particular location, we used some of the local buses, and all along the way, we were just astonished because of the many tortoises found along the road. We also found that it has been raining the last couple of days so this was an amazing contrast with last week’s weather. Our goal this morning was to get to the tortoise reserve and the usual fresh water pond that was nonexistent in the last two months until we finally had some rain water. We encountered many tortoises wallowing in the mud, and we even encountered one couple mating.
We followed with an incredible visit to a lava tunnel, and after admiring and walking through it, we had a wonderful breakfast in a restaurant where the view is just breath taking. Some of our guests went exploring the town, while others went to visit the Charles Darwin Centre, and others enjoyed observing the locals going to compete in a swimming competition. The competition is one of several local festivities going on here in Galápagos. They are celebrating the time when Ecuador claimed the archipelago as part of our territory in 1832.
During the afternoon, we disembarked on North Seymour Island, and we encountered a large number of Galápagos land iguanas along our trail as well as some mating frigates. Both species great and magnificent were seen displaying their red balloons. At this time of the year, the great frigate birds are just beginning with their mating season and will go on until May.
We had a great time observing male blue footed boobies displaying their best dancing skills to convince some of the flying females to join them as their mate for the season; we found one of the first nests of the season with one egg in it. We know this is not going to be the last and only as we found lots of couples starting with their mating displays.As we left North Seymour behind, we had a beautiful sunset and an incredible full moon.
Our day started early in the morning with a wonderful outing in the highlands of Santa Cruz which are well known for the giant tortoises like this one found around an area called “El Chato.” To reach this particular location, we used some of the local buses, and all along the way, we were just astonished because of the many tortoises found along the road. We also found that it has been raining the last couple of days so this was an amazing contrast with last week’s weather. Our goal this morning was to get to the tortoise reserve and the usual fresh water pond that was nonexistent in the last two months until we finally had some rain water. We encountered many tortoises wallowing in the mud, and we even encountered one couple mating.
We followed with an incredible visit to a lava tunnel, and after admiring and walking through it, we had a wonderful breakfast in a restaurant where the view is just breath taking. Some of our guests went exploring the town, while others went to visit the Charles Darwin Centre, and others enjoyed observing the locals going to compete in a swimming competition. The competition is one of several local festivities going on here in Galápagos. They are celebrating the time when Ecuador claimed the archipelago as part of our territory in 1832.
During the afternoon, we disembarked on North Seymour Island, and we encountered a large number of Galápagos land iguanas along our trail as well as some mating frigates. Both species great and magnificent were seen displaying their red balloons. At this time of the year, the great frigate birds are just beginning with their mating season and will go on until May.
We had a great time observing male blue footed boobies displaying their best dancing skills to convince some of the flying females to join them as their mate for the season; we found one of the first nests of the season with one egg in it. We know this is not going to be the last and only as we found lots of couples starting with their mating displays.As we left North Seymour behind, we had a beautiful sunset and an incredible full moon.
