‘You will love the ocean. It makes you feel small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger’. –Lauren Myracle

The aim of the Galapagos trip was to spend as much time in the water as possible! Terra Sur arranged this day trip out to Seymour Island, right next to Santa Cruz. The day would be a bit of snorkeling and a bit of exploring the uninhabited island. This meeting point was less nervy than the first, it was in front a the main church across from the port. Then off we went. It was only about 45 minutes to Seymour, which is known for being a bird breeding ground. Most notably blue footed boobies and red frigate birds.

The small group left our boat to do a hike around the island. I was wearing my chacos, which would have been fine except for they had really tore up my feet the day before. So I had some bandaids on (which I took off before snorkeling). I also wore my REI Sahara sun hoodie and, while I was nervous I would get a bit hot, it was great as there was no shade and full sun. The temperature was not too bad, high 80s but just very humid. I also had a ball cap on and some gatorade/water mix. I will say, by the end of the 90 minute hike, I was ready to be done and in the water.

I am not really a bird person but still found the whole thing really cool. Especially getting to see blue footed boobies up close. They are the official bird of the islands and their blue feet are caused by their diets, the bluer the more they eat. It was cool seeing something so iconic, especially as I left New Zealand without seeing any kiwis, I thought the same thing would happen again. There were some boobies sitting on their eggs and I was able to get pretty close.

There were also a lot of frigate birds. I saw quite a few mating rituals of the red neck males. They puff their red neck thing up really big to attract females. I also a little bird trying to learn to fly but not as successful and decided to just take a nap-and I too love a good nap. As you navigate the trail across the island, in addition to birds, I saw more iguanas and some airplanes. Baltra, where you fly into, is right next door.

Then time for snorkeling! This is the point where my underwater photography kind of fell apart. So my GoPro completely stopped working shortly after I got into the water (GoPro customer service was amazing and they not only replaced my Hero11 but upgraded it to the Hero13). So I had to use my phone and I didn’t get great images to screen capture for the blog. But you I’ll have posts on my Instagram and TikTok. It was just really frustrating. I will say that this snorkel was not as ‘exciting’ as the one from Santa Fe but hard to top swimming with sea lions, ha. I did see a big shark! No clue what it was and not a hammerhead like I hoped but a shark is a shark! And not many people can say they have swam with sharks!

After the snorkel, we ate lunch (more tuna) and then headed to a small beach on Santa Cruz. You could do some snorkeling but I mostly did a bit of swimming and then walked the beach where I found some crabs. Just enjoyed the water and the moment.

I really enjoyed the more quiet nature of this day. Because the next day would be another ‘OMG this is my life’ kind of day.