The first island on our trip through the Galápagos was North Seymour. A very dry island full of land iguanas and birds.
On the zodiacs, life vests are mandatory!
The crew's attention to detail was often surprising!
Creagrus furcatus
These are nocturnal sea gulls. When the ship sails at night, you can see them following us.
Conolophus subcristatus
The Galapagos land iguana eats cactus figs that fall of the local cactus.
Juvenile frigatebird
There are two kinds of frigatebirds: magnificent frigatebirds and great frigatebirds.
Sula nebouxii
Blue-footed boobies are not afraid of people.
They have these eyes so they can pinpoint fish under water
Are you a fish? Are you edible? If not, move along.
Male frigatebird
It takes them 20min to inflate their gular sac. This impresses the females.
Chilling out
This land iguana is resting on a stone full of bird poop. Cool.
This is a dead land iguana
The islands or so dry that dead animals just get mummified.
Land iguana not thinking about death
They don't hunt for anything. They just wait for fruit to fall from the sky.
Blue footed booby and some eggs
The nest is just a little hole. That's why rats will exterminate these ground-nesting birds.
A female frigatebird is examining the wares
Apparently males will sometimes try and pierce their competitors' gular sac! No kids that year, I guess.
Blue-footed booby feeding a chick
They lay up to four eggs. The number surviving depends on the food available that year.
Hungry blue-footed booby chick wants moar foooo!
These boobies dive into the water at around 70km/h. After about 12 years their eyesight diminishes and they make fatal mistakes.
Juvenile frigatebird
Frigatebirds beat up blue-footed boobies and take their fish to feed their own!
The famous blue-footed booby dance
Showing off their blue feet. It shows that they have eaten well and thus they must be good hunters.
Frigatebirds nest very close to blue-footed boobies
They depend on blue-footed boobies, after all! Frigatebirds can't dive for fish.
Juvenile frigatebird
As they depend on stealing food from blue-footed boobies the frigatebirds take a lot longer to mature.
North Seymour
Any island below 100m is super dry.
Life is hard on a super dry island
Succulents turn red in order to protect against the harsh sun.
DO NOT STEP OFF THE PATH!
The rules are strict. Every little loop is well marked.
Can you see the sea lion? Can you see the blue footed boobies?
Sometimes people would nearly step on them.
Sea lion being sceptical
WTF are all these tourists doing on their beach?
Sea lions just want to sleep on the beach
These are all females. The one male is out there, agressively defending the beach from competitors.
Surf is up!
No surfers allowed, though. Hah!
Sea lions can dive up to 300m deep!
Down there, everything is black. I guess they use their whiskers to know what to bite?
Land iguana dragging its tail
We often saw these lines in the sand.
Sea lions come to rest on the beach in the evenings
These are females, hanging out. They are not afraid of people.
Swallow-tailed gulls
They feed on squid and small fish which rise to the surface at night because of the plankton. Also, no friggin frigatebirds!
Sea lion breastfeeding
When they return to the beach, mother and child recognize each other's voice.
Land iguana eating stuff
They got most of their water from the prickly-pear cactus that makes up 80% of its diet: fruit, flowers, pads, and even spines.
Pelecanus occidentalis
The brown pelican can be found everywhere. Even on the fish market.
Female frigatebird
They can take fish in flight from the sea's surface but they are famous for their kleptoparasitism: harassing other birds to force them to regurgitate their food.
Daphne Major and Daphne Minor
No tourists. Just finches.
Alex & Claudia
I'm not sea sick because I'm taking Cinnarizine.
Alex doing the sea lion face
It might seem hard to believe but I'm having a good time!
