Our view from the National Geographic Endeavour is spectacular. With deep blue water surrounding our anchorage, our destination of North Seymour appears drab in the distance. As we start to land, “drab” is an entirely inaccurate description of this area. We find an abundance of avian wildlife patrolling the coast for their subsistence. Palo Santo incense trees are littered among the island as white skeletons reaching towards the rainy season. Great and magnificent frigate birds nest on the small shrubbery with males showing their inflated bright red gular sacs.
As we enter a bit further into the island and away from the coast, the landscape changed a bit and was the perfect location for one of the most beautiful birds: blue footed boobies. Apparently some considered this a perfect environment to start breeding and several were performing their very exotic courtship ritual. Some males had established their future nesting areas while others were very well advanced in their dance. The air was full of whistles as their feet were eagerly shown to the females that were interested in looking for a healthy male to reproduce with.
As we left the island of North Seymour and navigated to Rabida Island we got fitted into snorkeling gear in preparation for the afternoon activities. Our afternoon was very interesting and began with kayaking along the red cliffs of Rabida Island. This was a great experience as we encountered several kinds of sea birds, sea lions, and sea turtles. For our guests who wanted to go in the water we had a great snorkeling outing, we saw colorful fish and very playful sea lions that entertained us all along the way. We also snorkeled from the shore. And for those who wanted to explore the world beneath the water while staying dry, we had an outing onboard the glass bottom boat.
Towards the end of the afternoon we went ashore to explore the shoreline where Galapagos sea lions were found all over the place resting on the bright red sand. The last colors and lights of today disappeared, but it was only the beginning for our once in a lifetime experience in Galapagos.
