On our first full day of this amazing expedition onboard National Geographic Islander, we stopped by South Plaza. Located on the east side of Santa Cruz Island, South Plaza is a 0.13km2 island that holds coastal and arid vegetation, mostly dominated by Opuntia cactus and Sesuvium. Along this 1 km walk, our guests enjoyed nice views from a 30 m cliff and sightings of the endemic land iguana. After an hour and a half of navigation, we anchored at Santa Fé Island. Here, we started with a snorkeling activity with sea lions, stingrays, and turtles! After a great snorkel, we concluded with a short walk along the island among some giant cacti and some unique pale land iguanas that are only found on Santa Fé.
5/6/2025
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National Geographic Islander II
North Seymour and Rabida Islands
At 6:30 in the morning, some guests joined us for an expedition on North Seymour Island, which is slowly losing its green color due to the beginning of the dry season. It is a perfect time of year to see blue-footed booby couples starting to reproduce with the typical courtship displays and a good number of male frigatebirds with their red gular sack inflated. We encountered a good number of healthy land iguanas since they still have a lot of food, thanks to the previous wet season. While navigating to Rabida Island, bottlenose dolphins escorted National Geographic Islander II for at least 45 minutes, and guests had an excellent time watching them. In the afternoon, we snorkeled from the beach with colorful fish and young, playful sea lions who put on a great show. At the end of the day some guests took a walk on the red colored sand and watched American flamingos behind the dune at a saltwater lagoon. Others went kayaking along the coast full of land and sea birds.
