Galapagos Day 6: North Seymour & Bartolome

The day greeted us with sunshine again as we took the dinghy to the shore. Everyone had slept well as a result of the Beagle being moored for the whole night. The rocking and rolling of the boat during the previous night had left everyone behind on sleep.

By now we have become acquainted with many of the sea birds that gather on Galapagos but today was a chance to get to know two of them - the blue-footed booby and the frigate bird - more intimately.

The blue-footed is one of three types of booby here and is also the most attractive and watchable. Their daring headlong dives into the sea are amazing. Today we saw an adult male attempting to attract a female who was playing hard to get.

Blue footed boobies - mating not happening!

The mating ritual mainly consists of the male practising some dancing steps in his bright sky blue shoes. If the steps are good enough he could be in luck. It is not unlike what goes on in nightclubs in Croydon as I recall except the female booby stands still instead of dancing round her handbag. We watched for a quarter of an hour or so but the female seemed to think that she could get better dancing elsewhere.

Frigate Bird airborne

Nearby the male frigate bird has a different way of impressing the females. They inflate the piece of loose red skin below their neck into a big red balloon. We had previously seen them in the air but here he was in a bush just perfect for mating and nesting. He had the equivalent of his own place and a new red shirt to wear - but like the booby he was having no luck either. The frigate birds dominate the skies, scavenging like magpies, but when it comes to mating on the ground they face the same problems as males of all species.

We left the disappointed booby and frigate bird to try again and the Beagle took us north to Bartolome island where we snorkeled off the coast in search of Galapagos penguins. Our luck was in and we were soon swimming with a group of these miniature penguins only a foot high as they swooped down from the surface in search of fish. They are very cute, even by penguin standards and unique to this place. Having kept us waiting for a few minutes while they stood on the rocks, they then proved to be no more shy than any of the other local wildlife.

This, our penultimate snorkeling trip, was one of the best as it also featured a couple of reef sharks, octopus and a wide variety of colourful fish. On the way back to the dinghy I had to take evasive action to avoid a huge male sea lion which was traveling like a torpedo.

Bartolome is also known for it's beautiful landscape and views. Volcanic like the other islands, it is very arid, being stuck between two much larger islands which take the rain from any passing low clouds. We walked up to the summit across sparsely vegetated lava terrain to see the views down to the sandy curved beaches and beautiful bays. We paused on the way for a typical Galapagos moment when a young hawk flew down to hover over us and then sat just a few feet away posing for photos.