Located in the northernmost area, off of Santa Cruz Island, North Seymour is a small and flat island that was formed after the uplifting of the sea floor, a long time ago. Two weeks ago, it looked dry with palo santo trees completely naked, with no leaves; but today, all of the trees had recovered their greenery due to the last rainfalls which occurred a few days ago. After breakfast, we headed ashore to explore this island, and right from the very beginning we were greeted by Galapagos sea lions and colorful Sally Lightfoot crabs. As we walked into the interior, the lush vegetation contrasted with the dryness observed a few weeks ago. We observed some land iguanas climbing trees or bushes to eat their new green leaves, while others were trying to prevent overheating, resting along the shades under the rocks. One of the best attractions was a Galapagos dove nesting on a cactus tree, whose beauty was overtaken only by its meekness. Walking along the frigatebirds nesting area, we observed many males inflating a their colorful red pouch, that resembles a bright red balloon, and then flapping their wings and making loud sounds to get the attention of females.
As we looked at frigates and their colorful pouches, we also encountered blue-footed boobies, who were also busy with their always entertaining courtship rituals. This involves sky pointing, offerings of nesting material, marching and wing shaking. Nowadays, sightings of this species of bird are becoming rare as their numbers are a bit low, so we were happy to see that they were hard at work, trying to attract a mate. Along with the birds, we also saw Galapagos marine iguanas sunbathing on the lava rocks along the coast. After a great morning on North Seymour, we returned aboard and headed towards Rábida Island, where we arrived just after lunch. We had many different options at this site. Some of our guests went snorkeling along the cliffs and found white tipped reef sharks, sting rays, black stripped salemas, parrot fish and lots of marine invertebrates. For our guests who wanted to see the marine life without getting into the water, there were a couple of outings on board our glass-bottom boat. Later into the afternoon we also had long and short walks on Rábida Island and found some Galapagos sea lions resting on the beach, while others were fishing off the coast. Just before sunset we returned aboard, leaving behind the incredible creatures that captivated us with their innocence and uniqueness in this magical place called Galapagos.
