North Seymour & Sullivan Bay
This morning we landed on North Seymour Island, which is one of the greatest places in Galápagos to find both species of frigate birds nesting. Both the great and magnificent frigates are in full courtship now. Usually we find at least a couple of male magnificent frigates, with their bright red pouches all year around. The great frigates birds’ mating season is only from February until June; this year they started early and we saw several males making their loud calls to flying females.
Along the rocky trail we also spotted some Galápagos land iguanas looking for some herbs to feed on. The rains have not arrived yet and food is becoming very scarce, which makes it difficult for some species like the land iguanas and finches to find food. This is a natural, slow and continuous process of selection that only a few may survive.
We also saw the beginning of life, as a female Galápagos sea lion had its newborn pup right next to her; even though she looked exhausted, she still had the energy to gently touch her newborn with her snout. We all love moments like this; it makes it very special to have the chance to witness the development of life in all its forms.
After this incredible walk we returned aboard and went for a very refreshing snorkeling expedition along the cliffs of North Seymour; there were many different species of fish and some of our guests even found a couple of white-tipped reef sharks and small manta rays.
Once we returned aboard from North Seymour we sailed toward the east coast of Santiago Island; we went to Sullivan Bay which has a vast lava flow from the late 1800’s. The formations in the lava are still pretty intact and it looks very fresh, only a couple of species of plants have colonized this place and the rest of it is barren and arid.
We came back to the ship by sunset and enjoyed the contrasting colors of the black and red lava against the dark blue of the sky.
