Santa Cruz & North Seymour
What a day! We certainly had a great journey in the highlands of Santa Cruz. A couple of days ago, a mysterious rain started totally out of season, and as a result, the highlands are getting very green. We don’t know how long this will last, but for the time being, it's great! We were able to find a good dozen of tortoises in the wild, two of which were jumbo size! The morning didn’t end there, but we had a nice walk through this overwhelming lava tube, and at the other end, a bountiful breakfast was waiting for us.
We left Santa Cruz and after a somehow nice oceanic experience, we arrived to North Seymour. This island is intense, and as soon as we disembarked, some sea lions greeted us. The dry forest of palo santo trees created an incredible contrast with the blue ocean and with the islands of Santiago, the Daphnes and even Isabela in the background. A very sparse presence of blue footed boobies made an abrupt contrast with no less than thirty or more frigates with their gular pouches inflated just waiting for an accepting female. Love is in the air, and life goes on.
However, at the end of the visit, we had a sad sighting: a young male sea lion with a collar of nylon string around its neck. Nothing natural, and for sure, a cause of terrible pain and certain death given the passing of enough time. We couldn’t just pass by and ignore the situation. We tried once to get the string off the sea lion, but the poor animal was stressed, so we decided to give it some time to calm down.
Seven o’clock at night, and we slide quietly again onto the rocks of North Seymour. Though it’s dark we don’t turn our flash lights on. If the sea lion detects us, there is no hope of catching him. We find the young male resting on the sand, and as fast as lightin,g the team of three brave volunteers immobilized the unlucky sea lion victim. With a sharp knife we remove the string. The trophy is pictured here. Now the sea lion will continue to grow and go on with a life free of pain.
Yes, we can call this a successful day on all counts!
What a day! We certainly had a great journey in the highlands of Santa Cruz. A couple of days ago, a mysterious rain started totally out of season, and as a result, the highlands are getting very green. We don’t know how long this will last, but for the time being, it's great! We were able to find a good dozen of tortoises in the wild, two of which were jumbo size! The morning didn’t end there, but we had a nice walk through this overwhelming lava tube, and at the other end, a bountiful breakfast was waiting for us.
We left Santa Cruz and after a somehow nice oceanic experience, we arrived to North Seymour. This island is intense, and as soon as we disembarked, some sea lions greeted us. The dry forest of palo santo trees created an incredible contrast with the blue ocean and with the islands of Santiago, the Daphnes and even Isabela in the background. A very sparse presence of blue footed boobies made an abrupt contrast with no less than thirty or more frigates with their gular pouches inflated just waiting for an accepting female. Love is in the air, and life goes on.
However, at the end of the visit, we had a sad sighting: a young male sea lion with a collar of nylon string around its neck. Nothing natural, and for sure, a cause of terrible pain and certain death given the passing of enough time. We couldn’t just pass by and ignore the situation. We tried once to get the string off the sea lion, but the poor animal was stressed, so we decided to give it some time to calm down.
Seven o’clock at night, and we slide quietly again onto the rocks of North Seymour. Though it’s dark we don’t turn our flash lights on. If the sea lion detects us, there is no hope of catching him. We find the young male resting on the sand, and as fast as lightin,g the team of three brave volunteers immobilized the unlucky sea lion victim. With a sharp knife we remove the string. The trophy is pictured here. Now the sea lion will continue to grow and go on with a life free of pain.
Yes, we can call this a successful day on all counts!
