Wildlife on North Seymour Island and Beachtime on Santiago Island

April 3: Day 11. We arise to find ourselves anchored off North Seymour Island.

Early morning visitor

Centrally located in the archipelago, the island was formed by the uplift of a submarine lava formation rather than created by volcanism, unlike so many of the other islands. This tectonic uplift led to flat plateaus with cliffs forming the surface. The island is small with an area of just 0.73 mi.² and with low bushy vegetation, but it is richly populated with many species of birds and wild

Ready to go!

 life.

After breakfast with David and Linda, we get ready and head to the base camp section and board a zodiac for our tour the island. Ernesto, our guide and the ship’s naturalist, scours the landscape as we approach the island and spots a herd of fur seals along the shoreline. He then points out a Galapagos land iguana.

Sightseeing N. Seymour

A very large species of the lizard family, these cold-blooded, herbivorous reptiles grow to 3-5 feet in length and weigh up to 30 pounds. North Seymour Island did not always have land iguanas. They were introduced from neighboring Baltra Island in the 1930s and today both islands have thriving populations. The iguanas were very difficult to see in the rocky environment and even more difficult to photograph from a bouncing zodiac.

Fur seal

While North Seymour hosts large populations of frigate birds, swallow-tailed gulls, the ubiquitous Galapagos sea lions, and brown pelicans, the main attraction is undoubtedly the large colonies of blue-footed boobies.

Blue-footed booby

These marine birds are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean with about one half of all breeding pairs nesting in the Galapagos Islands. It is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait and a product of its fish diet. Known for its elaborate mating ritual, males display their feet while strutting before the female, and according to Ernesto, the bluest feet scores.

More boobies

We saw lots of blue feet but were not party to the ritual. As lunchtime neared, we returned to the ship for the ceviche of the day.

While we were eating our lunch, the captain repositioned the ship to Sullivan Bay at Santiago Island.

Santiago Island

The fourth biggest island in the archipelago, this unpopulated island was formed by two overlapping volcanoes. Sullivan Bay was formed in the second half of the 19^th century by a very fluid lava flow. The afternoon’s activities included a wet landing and swimming and beach time on the island. After some relaxing leisure time on the beach, we returned to the ship and readied ourselves for a different dining experience.

Now we're cookin'!

Tonight’s dinner would be served alfresco on the ship’s observation deck, and the cooking would be done by us at our table on hot lava stones. After that entertaining gastronomical experience, we were able to observe the night sky over after dinner drinks. Because we were virtually located on the equator, we were able to observe the night sky of the northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously. The highlight for Capt. Larry was that he finally saw the Southern Cross.