Matted sunlight pokes through the clouds as we awaken at our anchorage between Baltra and North Seymour Islands. As we land on this unassuming flat island, we do not expect the abundance of life that we encounter. Due to the central position in the archipelago this island and surrounding waters has an abundance of food for the residents a good percentage of the year. This is one of the few places we can encounter the magnificent and great frigate birds breeding throughout the year with the males using their inflated gular sacs to attract possible mates. As we land we are greeted by land iguanas, frigate birds, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, and small lava lizards fliting about. All were taken aback by the abundance of life on this small barren island. Navigating into the afternoon, we arrive to Rabida, which in its dark red coloration we find another unique environment. The marine habitat is explored in all its detail with white tipped reef sharks, Pacific green sea turtles, and Galapagos sea lions making their appearance. The sun continues to try to break the overcast as it falls into the horizon over Isabela Island.
5/29/2025
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National Geographic Gemini
Genovesa Island
Genovesa is considered one of the Galapagos crown jewels, and today it was showing off all of its splendor. Immediately after breakfast we put on our sturdy shoes and set out to explore Prince Philip’s Steps. This area is known for opportunities to observe not only large colonies of nesting Nazca and red-footed boobies, but maybe, just maybe, the short-eared owl which exhibits diurnal behavior on this island. After this walk we got ready for a dip in the Pacific Ocean and snorkeling along the inner coast of this caldera. The afternoon was equally amazing as we disembarked to explore Darwin Bay, along a short and easy trail that was packed with wildlife. Here we observed not only nesting frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies, but also a few yellow-crowned night herons. It was another incredible afternoon in the Galapagos Islands.