North Seymour and Rabida Islands, 6/20/2022, National Geographic Islander
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander
Galápagos
As the dry season arrives to the Galapagos Islands, we see how the forests by the coast dry out. This was our first impression as we disembarked today in North Seymour Island. However, as soon as we started to walk along the trail, we found many seabirds present on this island. Frigatebirds are in their mating season these days, so we could see a number of males showing their bright red inflated pouches, ready to find a mate. Blue-footed boobies were incubating eggs or caring for baby chicks that were impatiently waiting for some food. This visit offered a spectacular opportunity for our guests to practice photography skills as these animals allow a close approach.
During lunch, we navigated towards Rabida Island. On this island, we observed one of the few red beaches found in Galapagos. We disembarked for a snorkeling adventure where guests could practice their skills in the water. We finished this visit with a natural history walk along the beautiful beach while the sun was setting, offering great light to take photos of sea lions and the outstanding landscape of this place.
Javier grew up on Santa Cruz island where his grandparents first arrived in the 1940´s. Veritable pioneers, his grandparents settled in the highlands where they found a place to raise their children.
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Continuing on with our expedition, we sailed east to visit one of the most famous islands in the archipelago, Floreana. Named after the first Ecuadorian president, Juan Jose Flores, this island was the first political capital of the Galapagos. The famous naturalist, Charles Darwin, also visited the island. Early in the morning, we started our activities by landing at Post Office Bay. This historic spot was well known by ancient whalers and buccaneers, who installed the first mailing system in the South Pacific to allow sailors to send letters to overseas relatives. This tradition has been kept alive for many years. Nowadays, our guests maintain the tradition by leaving postcards in the barrel and taking others to hand deliver back home. Afterwards, we headed to the shallows of the island for kayaking or Zodiac tours. We observed the island’s geology with its many hills. Along the shore, playful sea lions chased our Zodiac. On the rocks, blue-footed boobies and pelicans fished for delicious meals as they took advantage of the last beams of the sun. After breakfast, we headed to Champion Islet. Our first mission was to observe the elusive Floreana mockingbird, whose population became extinct after the introduction of animals to the main island of Floreana. The mockingbirds found refuge on small satellite islets. We observed two flying freely over the trees. Along the cliffs, swallow-tailed gulls, tropical birds, Nazca boobies, and sea lions were the delight of our guests. After that, we came back to the same islet to discover an incredible underwater world. The snorkeling was spectacular with hundreds of colorful fish swimming around us indifferently. The best part was when juvenile sea lions swam with us, as if inviting us to play with them. What an experience! After lunch, we headed to Punta Cormorant. We had a spectacular experience along the white beach as we observed several green sea turtles swimming close to the shore. They were likely waiting for the right moment to abandon the ocean and head to the top of the beach for nesting. Back on the landing beach, we passed by the lagoon behind it. From a distance, we observed some waders and American flamingos as they fed in the lagoon. Just behind the beach, we spotted several blue-footed boobies nesting; they were feeding their chicks, which were completely fluffy and white, probably no more than three or four weeks old. It was late when we decided to return to National Geographic Islander . In the west, the sun disappeared, and birds in the air returned to their nests to rest. Our guests were tired but happy after enjoying another beautiful day in this paradise called Galapagos.
We woke up off the coast of Bartolome Island. We headed out for an invigorating, early morning walk to the top of the island. The entire walk was full of incredible landscapes. The different lava fields we observed and various interesting formations like lava tunnels, tuff cones, and spatter cones all made this walk enjoyable. When we got to the top, an astonishing view was waiting for us. Pinnacle Rock, the most iconic view of the islands, offered the perfect scenery for pictures. The contrast in the vegetation, the golden sand beaches, the tuff formations, and the shades of blue in the ocean all made for a great vista. Later in the morning, we got ready for our first water activity of the expedition. We landed on the golden sand beach, where we prepared to discover the beauty of the undersea life of the Galapagos Islands. We swam with Galapagos penguins, whitetip reef sharks, Pacific green sea turtles, and many different species of fish. It was a wonderful experience. For our afternoon adventure, we sailed to the next island. We disembarked on the northern side of Santa Cruz Island. We walked along the beach and had our first encounter with marine iguanas. The iguanas were sunbathing on the beach before going into the sea for algae to eat. As we moved farther inland, we arrived at Dragon Hill. We found many Galapagos land iguanas as we walked around the hill. Some of them posed for us to take pictures, and some were more difficult to spot. They blend in perfectly with the vegetation that surrounds them.
We woke up early in the morning to start our pre-breakfast exploration along the coast of Santiago Island. This is not just one of our favorite islands. It was also one of Charles Darwin’s favorites. Charles Darwin spent nineteen days on land in the Galapagos, and nine of those days were on Santiago. We started our day with a walk along Espumilla Beach. This was an incredible way to start the day, as we observed blue-footed boobies, ghost crabs, and brown pelicans fishing along the coast. Some of us chose to go kayaking and spotted a couple of Galapagos fur seals resting on the black lava flows. After breakfast, we navigated about a mile from our first landing site and went deep water snorkeling along the coast of Buccaneer Cove. We were lucky to spot a few whitetip reef sharks, a couple marbled rays, and large schools of fish. After lunch, National Geographic Islander repositioned to a new visitor site for us, Puerto Egas. We had a wet landing on a black sandy beach and soon continued on a hike along the black lava fields and collapsed lava tubes on Santiago. We also had the opportunity to take our young explorers out for Zodiac driving lessons, and we definitely had an incredible time. What an amazing experience! Some guests chose to go deep water snorkeling after the walk. Snorkeling was quite amazing. We spotted three species of sharks: blacktip reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, and Galapagos sharks. We even spotted a group of sea lions fishing. We returned to National Geographic Islander and enjoyed a unique sunset / wine tasting experience.
