During our first full day in the Galapagos, we visited two of the most attractive islands in the archipelago. The first one, North Seymour, lies just off the northern tip of Santa Cruz Island, formed from the uplifted marine sea floor and home of great number of marine bird. On the other hand, Rabida a small island just south of Santiago with an incredible red sand beach.
At the distance, North Seymour looked flat, covered with dry vegetation and noisy sea birds flying around the vertical cliffs. With excellent weather conditions we started our activities with a short Zodiac ride along the seashore, where we observed a great number of swallow-tailed gulls, fur sea lions and many male frigate birds with their red pouches inflated, trying to call the attention of a particular female, who flew over them as she selected which would be the best father of her chick. We arrived to the landing rock where Galapagos sea lions and marine iguanas warmed their wet bodies, while in the water aggregations of razors surgeon fish swam along the surface, showing their dorsal fins and their unique colors through the water. Walking inland, our guests were overwhelmed by the amount of fearless birds found on the bushes and rocks; male frigatebirds displaying to attract females, blue-footed boobies courting and parenting their young offspring, land iguanas eating the leaves of salt bushes and sea lions walking around or sleeping indifferently. North Seymour showed us its best today, but the innocence of the animals found there was a good complement to this place that is unique in the world. Afterwards, we arrived to the National Geographic Endeavour and started sailing to Rabida Island.
During the afternoon, we started our activities by landing on the red sandy beach, which is coloured by its high proportion of iron. Along the beach we observed herons, pelicans and sea shore birds, and here our guests had the chance to swim and snorkel with playful sea lions, and to observe a great number of tropical fish and some sting rays. After our visit, nature offered us an incredible sunset, which with the last beam of sun changed completely the color of the island.
Behind we left the island and all of the adventures we enjoyed today, but the remembrance of the creatures and landscapes will be part of our best memories forever.
