North Seymour and Rabida Islands, 3/24/2024, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
Today is the beginning of our adventure in Galapagos and we had a great opportunity to explore North Seymour Island with one of the most important nesting colonies for great and magnificent frigatebirds.
This afternoon we went to Rabida Island, with its bright red sand, and snorkeled for the first time.
We had a great introduction to the archipelago's wildlife and amazing landscapes.
Gilda was born in Ambato, located in the very heart of the Ecuadorian Andes. Since she was a child, she loved animals, often rescuing street cats and dogs. Her parents always made sure there were nature books and plenty of Jacques Cousteau’s videos a...
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Today we were taken back in time as we visited Santiago Island. Starting the morning activities at Buccaneer Cove, we enjoyed the wonderful landscape while kayaking and paddle boarding. Afterwards we had fun snorkeling. It was delightful to swim among big schools of colorful fish and whitetip reef sharks. The afternoon brought us to Puerto Egas where several of our guests went for a walk along the coast, following in Charles Darwin’s footsteps. Others enjoyed the black sandy beach and the easy snorkeling off the shore. Today there was even time for two presentations, one on human history given by Omar Adrian, and I gave the second lecture about Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle. It was such an amazing day, making memories that will last a lifetime!
We arrived at Isabela, the sea horse-shaped island, in the west of the Galapagos Archipelago. We hiked on a beautiful oasis of green poison apple tree leaves where we found some of the Galapagos land iguanas basking in the sun. The highlight of the morning was the Alcedo Volcano giant tortoise species that we found in large numbers walking on our trail. It was an amazing morning surrounded by these giants of the wilderness! After lunch we navigated towards Tagus Cove. This site offered the opportunity to kayak along the coast with sightings of Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, and Galapagos sea lions resting near the shore. Some of us also went deep-water snorkeling to swim among Pacific green sea turtles. Later on, we had the opportunity to go hiking up a trail around Darwin Crater Lake. We finished our day watching a beautiful sunset. We had a magical adventure on our third full day of expedition!
This morning National Geographic Endeavour II welcomed the dawn upon arriving at Fernandina Island, the youngest volcano of the archipelago and still in formation. We took a walk along the shoreline of Espinosa Point to see one of the largest colonies of marine iguanas in the Galapagos. We also encountered a couple of Galapagos snakes, flightless cormorants, sea lions and a Galapagos hawk. Afterwards, we had an amazing time snorkeling. We saw sea turtles as well as marine iguanas nibbling on the rocky bottom of the sea to feed on the algae. Then, our captain repositioned the ship at the southeastern side of the island where we enjoyed the impressive spectacle of incandescent lava reaching the ocean. Without a doubt, this is one of the highlights of our Galapagos experience this week!
