We woke up to a view of North Seymour Island, a small, 1.7 square km uplifted landmass across from Baltra Island. After breakfast, we made a dry landing onto North Seymour to explore some of the breeding sites for seabirds on the island. As we walked farther into the island, we encountered a few blue-footed boobies nesting, magnificent frigatebirds, and Galapagos land iguanas.
We spotted a few land iguanas feeding on prickly pear cacti, while others rested under the shade of bushes. Blue-footed booby juveniles were seen along the trail in their nests. Some of them were fed by their parents, and the parents were very careful not to let frigatebirds steal their food.
The arid zone of North Seymour is occupied by a dry palo santo forest of leafless trees waiting for the rain to produce flowers and fruits. After an incredible walk on North Seymour, we came back on board and went swimming off the stern of National Geographic Islander ll.
During our afternoon expedition, we visited Rabida Island. The red island was seen in the distance as a colony of Galapagos sea lions rested on the red sandy beach. At the beach, we had our first snorkeling opportunity on the expedition. While snorkeling, we spotted a couple of playful Galapagos sea lions, diamond stingrays, sea turtles, and a large variety of fish.
After snorkeling, we went on a walk along the beach and encountered a group of American flamingos nesting by a coastal brackish water lagoon. We finished our afternoon walk with a beautiful sunset and the company of a small colony of Galapagos sea lions on the beach.
