Today we landed on North Seymour Island, an island that is well known for the many colonies of seabirds that nest here all year long. As we began walking on the volcanic terrain, we quickly spotted swallow tailed gulls nesting, Galapagos land iguanas feeding on vegetation, and blue-footed boobies in their courtship rituals.
Along the coast, we also observed groups of male magnificent and great frigatebirds with their red gular pouches inflated, trying to attract females. In the case of great frigatebirds, this is the best time of the year to see them in full display. This behavior extends all the way from February until June, as opposed to the behavior of the magnificent frigatebird, who engage in mating displays and nesting all year long.
At the end of the morning, we returned aboard and began to navigate towards Rábida Island. This island is a very colorful one with bright red sand and green vegetation. As we dropped anchored, we put on to our snorkeling gear and headed to the red cliffs to go deep water snorkeling. Conditions were great this afternoon, with warm, calm waters, and we got to see a great variety of fish. Some of our guests also had the chance to swim with a Galapagos sea lion, while others found a lonely white-tipped reef shark. After snorkeling, we returned aboard and headed to the red beach, where we had a walk that took us to a small lagoon and spotted a greater flamingo that was feeding on the small crustaceans found here. We had a great first day in Galapagos, and this is just the beginning of a great adventure.
