Everyone but us was leaving the boat today as most had done either the full week or just the five days and we were really sorry to see them go. There were some very inspirational people on board and we’d made some great friends and had a lot of fun. We’d decided to stay on board while the crew refuelled and got the boat ready for the new folk and kept ourselves entertained by watching the marine life that cruised around the boat. There were three large Galapagos sharks that were on the prowl for something, just circling again and again. We had another group of people arrive and Ben and James, who I've mentioned previously, were part of this group. More new people to get to know!! Yay!! We were lucky once again as we had such a good mix and some really interesting people who were great to spend time with and talk to.
Our first stop was North Seymour Island where we snorkelled and saw the most white tipped reef sharks we’d seen yet, along with eagle and diamond rays, a moray eel and loads of other fish. Unfortunately none of us had an underwater camera or housing.
Our landing on the island was made interesting by a very vocal male sea lion (called a ‘beach master’ by the locals) and he barked and herded his females around, in and out of the water incessantly. It seemed absolutely pointless but he did it even when we weren’t nearby so there must have been a point to it all.
North Seymor has an impressive shoreline, with huge waves crashing into the lava
and, for a split second, in one wave like the below, a few of us saw a silhouette of a surfing sea lion but the image was so fleeting and not even time to lift a camera.
There are loads of birds nesting on the island as well and it was the only place I think Euan and I saw the frigate birds on land.
The males have this weird bit of red skin under their chins that they inflate like a huge balloon.
This is the only time we saw one flying with it inflated
but when its deflated, it just looks like a small patch of red feathers that you can barely see.
.jpg)
There were more land iguanas (but different to the ones on Fernandina)
and swallow-tail gulls that were trying to mate. The male did a good job of balancing, even when the female tipped forward as if trying to get him off!
Others were nesting and didn’t seem too fazed by our presence
When we got back to our landing site the grumpy male was still barking and chasing his females around. He’s in the background and I was keeping half an eye on him as they can move quite fast over land when they want to!
We had to wait for him to pass before we made our way to the boat.
Despite the island being on the route for most of the boats, there weren't too many people around other than us which was quite lucky. That evening we moved on to Espanola Island, about seven hours sailing.
Our first stop was North Seymour Island where we snorkelled and saw the most white tipped reef sharks we’d seen yet, along with eagle and diamond rays, a moray eel and loads of other fish. Unfortunately none of us had an underwater camera or housing.
Our landing on the island was made interesting by a very vocal male sea lion (called a ‘beach master’ by the locals) and he barked and herded his females around, in and out of the water incessantly. It seemed absolutely pointless but he did it even when we weren’t nearby so there must have been a point to it all.
North Seymor has an impressive shoreline, with huge waves crashing into the lava
and, for a split second, in one wave like the below, a few of us saw a silhouette of a surfing sea lion but the image was so fleeting and not even time to lift a camera.
There are loads of birds nesting on the island as well and it was the only place I think Euan and I saw the frigate birds on land.
The males have this weird bit of red skin under their chins that they inflate like a huge balloon.
This is the only time we saw one flying with it inflated
but when its deflated, it just looks like a small patch of red feathers that you can barely see.
.jpg)
There were more land iguanas (but different to the ones on Fernandina)
and swallow-tail gulls that were trying to mate. The male did a good job of balancing, even when the female tipped forward as if trying to get him off!
Others were nesting and didn’t seem too fazed by our presence
When we got back to our landing site the grumpy male was still barking and chasing his females around. He’s in the background and I was keeping half an eye on him as they can move quite fast over land when they want to!
We had to wait for him to pass before we made our way to the boat.
Despite the island being on the route for most of the boats, there weren't too many people around other than us which was quite lucky. That evening we moved on to Espanola Island, about seven hours sailing.
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