North Seymour & Plazas

We collect you at 07:30 and sail an hour from the Itabaca Channel to North Seymour, a small rocky landmass north of Santa Cruz that concentrates one of the most impressive wildlife colonies in Galápagos.

As you explore the island you will find great frigatebirds that spend hours during courtship passing nesting material to one another, and blue-footed boobies that clear the ground and carry twigs here and there without ever quite building a nest — the area where they lay is marked by a ring of white guano. Heading along the coast you cross a wide stretch of sand furrowed by marine iguana trails; they nest here, so watch where you step. Some of the best waves in the islands break on the rocky beach to your left, where young sea lions often practise surfing. Looking west, there are good views of the two Daphne islands, Major and Minor.

After a delicious lunch aboard the WindRose we head for South Plaza, a small island full of life: swallow-tailed gulls, lava gulls, frigatebirds, masked and blue-footed boobies, pelicans and red-billed tropicbirds. Created by lava tilted towards the seabed, its steep cliffs hold an astonishing variety of birds and large colonies of sea lions.