Santa Cruz Island
Today without any doubt was an incredible day; we went to the northwestern area of Santa Cruz Island in the central area of the archipelago and during the afternoon to North Seymour Island that it is also located in the central region just a few miles north of Baltra Island.
Our day began with a pre-breakfast outing to Dragon Hill and it was amazing especially because of the light is just perfect for photography and also many of the land birds were very active, we encounter also some of the migratory birds around a brackish water lagoon as least sandpipers, common stilts, and ruddy turnstones.
Our main goal was also accomplished as we encounter the Galápagos land iguanas, endemic to the archipelago and these were starting to warm up under the first sunrays and many were very active. We found some males with their very distinctive bright yellow coloration and large body size, they like to feed on prickly pear cactus flowers and fruits, and a few of these iguanas were patiently waiting under some of these giant trees like cacti.
We returned then to our vessel to put some energies back with a delicious breakfast and went out again for an amazing Zodiac ride that took us through some channels surrounded by mangroves, we found there lots of white tipped reef sharks, a school of spotted eagle rays, and some Pacific green sea turtles were also seen around the same place.
One of the highlights here was a group of blue-footed booby’s plunge diving in the middle of a school of small black stripped salemas; we were able to see some of these boobies with the fish in their beaks.
After an excellent typical Ecuadorian lunch we had some time to rest before going for a snorkeling outing that became for some the most wonderful experience as they were swimming and playing with juveniles Galápagos sea lions and thousands of fish.
After returning from this amazing snorkel we went on shore to visit North Seymour Island and we found some males magnificent and great frigate birds with their gular pouches inflated and ready to start their breeding season. In the case of the magnificent frigate bird they nest all through the year while the great one prefers to nest around this time of the year up until May.
We spotted some couples of blue footed boobies beginning their courtship and it means that many others will come and nest soon.
As you can imagine this was a wonderful day with lots of new experiences.
Today without any doubt was an incredible day; we went to the northwestern area of Santa Cruz Island in the central area of the archipelago and during the afternoon to North Seymour Island that it is also located in the central region just a few miles north of Baltra Island.
Our day began with a pre-breakfast outing to Dragon Hill and it was amazing especially because of the light is just perfect for photography and also many of the land birds were very active, we encounter also some of the migratory birds around a brackish water lagoon as least sandpipers, common stilts, and ruddy turnstones.
Our main goal was also accomplished as we encounter the Galápagos land iguanas, endemic to the archipelago and these were starting to warm up under the first sunrays and many were very active. We found some males with their very distinctive bright yellow coloration and large body size, they like to feed on prickly pear cactus flowers and fruits, and a few of these iguanas were patiently waiting under some of these giant trees like cacti.
We returned then to our vessel to put some energies back with a delicious breakfast and went out again for an amazing Zodiac ride that took us through some channels surrounded by mangroves, we found there lots of white tipped reef sharks, a school of spotted eagle rays, and some Pacific green sea turtles were also seen around the same place.
One of the highlights here was a group of blue-footed booby’s plunge diving in the middle of a school of small black stripped salemas; we were able to see some of these boobies with the fish in their beaks.
After an excellent typical Ecuadorian lunch we had some time to rest before going for a snorkeling outing that became for some the most wonderful experience as they were swimming and playing with juveniles Galápagos sea lions and thousands of fish.
After returning from this amazing snorkel we went on shore to visit North Seymour Island and we found some males magnificent and great frigate birds with their gular pouches inflated and ready to start their breeding season. In the case of the magnificent frigate bird they nest all through the year while the great one prefers to nest around this time of the year up until May.
We spotted some couples of blue footed boobies beginning their courtship and it means that many others will come and nest soon.
As you can imagine this was a wonderful day with lots of new experiences.
