North Seymour / Rabida Island
North Seymour, located north from Santa Cruz, is a little island with a lot of unique animals.
In the morning the weather was perfect for snorkeling; it was warm but with a cool breeze mixed in. Once you get off the Zodiac and step foot on the slippery lava rocks you know that you are going to LOVE it. As soon as you start walking you get very excited at seeing and hearing all the animals around.
Frigatebird!!! That is probably the first thing you see when you start your hike. These amazing creatures have their own unique style of doing things. Like: males blowing up their pouches and flapping their wings to attract females. Frigatebirds are so unique because they don’t really look like any other birds. One main difference is their pouches and their long tails that help them fly through wind. These birds have a way of getting their food from the water but barely touching it. The problem is that their feathers aren’t waterproof, so if they get them wet they get too heavy to fly.
Another animal you might find there are blue-footed boobies. These birds also have an interesting way of attracting each other. Males for example whistle to show off, and act like “look at me I can whistle.” On the other hand, females make a duck-like noise to show off as well. But one thing they both do is the “blue-footed booby” dance. Females and males do it by stomping their feet, trying to get one another’s attention; they also point their tails up, and spread their wings wide open.
AWESOME… That is what I have to say about Rabida. This is also a small island located near the island of Santiago. This is an amazing island that has both red lava rocks and red sand. It’s kind of weird approaching a beach and seeing red sand instead of white, black, or brown sand. When you put your head under water it looks like a whole different world. You see little tiny cardinal fish, parrotfish, butterfly fish, and my favorite, Moorish idol fish.
And last, but not least, the sea lion. This animal is probably one of the few that is found on all islands. They are also the cutest and the friendliest animals in the Galápagos (that’s at least my thought); they will just swim up to you like you are one of them.
