Today we visited the island of San Cristobal. We started our day with a hike at Punta Pitt, where we walked uphill along a beautiful landscape made of tuff. Here we observed the last of the three species of boobies that we can find in the Galapagos, the red-footed booby. To our surprise, we also found nesting blue-footed boobies and chicks. After a delicious lunch, we visited Cerro Brujo, one of the most beautiful beaches found on these islands. This beach was a great place to relax on the last full day of our trip. We spent time walking around and observing the sea lions and a few seabirds feeding along the shore. We ended our day by navigating around Kicker Rock, a tuff cone in the middle of the ocean, just a few miles off the coast of San Cristobal.
5/6/2025
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National Geographic Islander II
North Seymour and Rabida Islands
At 6:30 in the morning, some guests joined us for an expedition on North Seymour Island, which is slowly losing its green color due to the beginning of the dry season. It is a perfect time of year to see blue-footed booby couples starting to reproduce with the typical courtship displays and a good number of male frigatebirds with their red gular sack inflated. We encountered a good number of healthy land iguanas since they still have a lot of food, thanks to the previous wet season. While navigating to Rabida Island, bottlenose dolphins escorted National Geographic Islander II for at least 45 minutes, and guests had an excellent time watching them. In the afternoon, we snorkeled from the beach with colorful fish and young, playful sea lions who put on a great show. At the end of the day some guests took a walk on the red colored sand and watched American flamingos behind the dune at a saltwater lagoon. Others went kayaking along the coast full of land and sea birds.
