Santa Cruz and North Seymour Island
What a wonderful day! In the morning we visited “Cerro Dragon” or Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island. We had a bizarre wildlife combination while walking through different vegetation zones. We started at the litoral zone with flamingos feeding in a brackish lagoon surrounded by succulents and prickly-pear tree-like cactuses. The official transition to the Arid Zone was announced by the deciduous Palo Santo (Holy Stick) and the endemic Galápagos Cotton. Dramatically, the landscape changed into a desert; nevertheless, we encountered several Land iguanas, because this is their nesting area. Male land iguanas establish their territories and more than a few females dig their burrows and fight for them. After the hike, we refreshed ourselves snorkeling on a beach area.
The afternoon started with the underwater world. We had a surprising snorkeling: a pod of dolphins feeding, Angelfish, colorful parrot fish, Moorish idols, stingrays, and even a white-tip reef shark was spotted. Later on, we went for a Zodiac ride along North Seymour’s coast. Numerous sea birds like Swallow-tailed gulls, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies and the Galápagos fur sea lions were seen. This up-lifted island holds a breeding area for the two frigate bird species: the Fregata magnificens and the Fregata minor. Frigate birds chase other sea birds in the air, pull them from their feathers, and make them regurgitate to catch their food. Due to the meaning of their first name (to steal in Italian) they are known as the pirates of the air, for that reason blue-footed boobies that live there, too, don’t like their cleptoparasitc behavior. Additionally, we had a farewell committee with lots of new born sea lion nursing and playing.
We closed the day with a spectacular sunset!
What a wonderful day! In the morning we visited “Cerro Dragon” or Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz Island. We had a bizarre wildlife combination while walking through different vegetation zones. We started at the litoral zone with flamingos feeding in a brackish lagoon surrounded by succulents and prickly-pear tree-like cactuses. The official transition to the Arid Zone was announced by the deciduous Palo Santo (Holy Stick) and the endemic Galápagos Cotton. Dramatically, the landscape changed into a desert; nevertheless, we encountered several Land iguanas, because this is their nesting area. Male land iguanas establish their territories and more than a few females dig their burrows and fight for them. After the hike, we refreshed ourselves snorkeling on a beach area.
The afternoon started with the underwater world. We had a surprising snorkeling: a pod of dolphins feeding, Angelfish, colorful parrot fish, Moorish idols, stingrays, and even a white-tip reef shark was spotted. Later on, we went for a Zodiac ride along North Seymour’s coast. Numerous sea birds like Swallow-tailed gulls, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies and the Galápagos fur sea lions were seen. This up-lifted island holds a breeding area for the two frigate bird species: the Fregata magnificens and the Fregata minor. Frigate birds chase other sea birds in the air, pull them from their feathers, and make them regurgitate to catch their food. Due to the meaning of their first name (to steal in Italian) they are known as the pirates of the air, for that reason blue-footed boobies that live there, too, don’t like their cleptoparasitc behavior. Additionally, we had a farewell committee with lots of new born sea lion nursing and playing.
We closed the day with a spectacular sunset!
