Our trip to the Galapagos Islands was land-based, meaning we didn’t go on a cruise from island to island, but instead based ourselves on one island, Santa Cruz. However, in order to see a bit more of the amazing animals, we booked a day trip to the nearby North Seymour Island, full of nesting birds, and a stop at Mosquera Island to do some snorkeling and to check out the largest sea lion colony.
The day trip was quite expensive (about $840 for the five of us), but that included the boat, a naturalist guide (who spoke English and Spanish), lunch and snorkeling gear. Overall, we had a great day, and while we wouldn’t want to pay that every day, which you essentially do on a cruise, we totally thought it was worth it for the day.
We were instructed to be waiting outside our hotel by 7:45am (not a problem for us and our kids 🙂 ), when a minibus filled with about 10 other people came by to pick us up.
We made a few more stops to pick up more passengers, then the 18 of us, plus the our naturalist guide and driver, headed north to the top end of the island to catch our boat. North Seymour is north of Santa Cruz, so driving across the island made the in-boat time much shorter, a big bonus for those of us prone to seasickness.
Once on the boat, we settled in for an easy ride to North Seymour, passing the super scenic Daphne Minor and Daphne Major islands on our way (two tuff cones made of volcanic ash and each in various states of erosion).
Once we arrived at North Seymour island, we were taken by a small raft to a staircase made of rocks, leading us to the top of the island.
Right away, we could see lots of birds circling around the island, and right where we were dropped off, there was a nest with a mom and fuzzy baby bird.
It was a great start! There were a few other groups on the island (all with naturalists) but they had us spread out nicely so we could walk around with only our group. We followed a marked path across the island, and from the path, we could see many nests of birds, particularly the blue-footed boobies and frigate birds, two well-known Galapagos bird species.
We threaded our way through the island, lucky to see male frigate birds showing off for potential mates by puffing up a large red pouch on their chest.
We also were super lucky to see some male blue-footed boobies doing a mating dance in an attempt to find a mate. However, we were late in the season, so the still-unattached males tended to be less desirable, as evidenced by their pale blue feet (the brighter the feet, the more attractive to the females). None of the females we saw seemed overly impressed with the males’ dances, and most eventually flew away after they had seen enough.
We also got to see a few males hanging out with their babies on their nest.
In addition to birds, we also got a chance to see some land iguanas.
Unfortunately, these land iguanas were not native to the island, and thus, were decimating the local cactus population. Cacti on this island hadn’t evolved to grow high to stay out of the way of hungry iguanas, like those cacti on Santa Cruz island, where the land iguanas were endemic. Our guide explained that the land iguanas came from the nearby island of Baltra. According to him, when US soldiers were stationed on Baltra during WWII, many of the land iguanas were being killed by cars and other vehicles. A good-intentioned soldier moved around 10 land iguanas from Baltra to North Seymour in an attempt to save them, and now there were hundreds. It is amazing that the species of cactus had evolved so differently despite the islands being within eyesight of each other. It was a great example of how delicate ecosystems can be, and how important it is to keep them as pure as possible.
After our tour of North Seymour, we got back on our boat for a short ride over to Mosquera Island, home to the largest colony of sea lions in the Galapagos, and where we would do some snorkeling.
L and N had no interest in snorkeling (as we figured, despite them insisting they DID want to when we were buying the snorkels in Quito), so C and A went in the water to swim for a bit while I got the boys situated on the beach.
There were tons of sea lions hanging out on this tiny island, and where we were dropped off, there was one sitting at the top of a pile of sand, so we were able to get close to it (but still stay the required 2m away). It was really cute as another of the sea lions playmates came scampering up to him, and we all gathered round to ooh and aah and take some pictures. Which was great until the alpha male spotted us and obviously thought we were too close. See the video for that encounter…
We all scattered, and from them on, the little guys were afraid to get anywhere near any sea lions.
After parking the boys near our stuff, I got in the water to join C and A for some snorkeling. We spotted some fish and coral, and enjoyed just swimming around. I later found out the island was a good place for spotting hammerhead sharks – though it would have been cool to see them, I’m pretty glad I didn’t know they were there before I got in – not sure I would have jumped in so willingly!
Eventually one of the sea lions joined us in the water, and we had fun watching him occasionally torpedo past us.
At one point, C had his face in the water and suddenly the sea lion came straight for him, only stopping when he was close enough to splash him in the face (or jump over him, which is what A, watching from the beach, claimed the sea lion did). In any case, it was a cool experience and one C won’t soon forget!
After an hour or so on the beach, it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Santa Cruz. The crew fed us a tasty lunch of tuna, rice and veggies, and even the boys were hungry enough to gulp it down.
We were back to Santa Cruz quickly, and the bus was there to pick us up and take us back to our hotel. We got back about 4pm, and were exhausted but content from a really great day exploring the Galapagos.
