North Seymour and Mosquera

Today we make a dry landing on North Seymour Island. The landing is onto rocks and we have been advised to wear sturdy shoes with toes. The bird life here is quite astonishing. Frigates soar in the sky and glide on the hot air currents. This is breeding season and the males have large red skin flaps beneath their beaks which they inflate like giant red balloons and make distinctive calls. Females sit on nests, some on eggs and some with demanding fledglings.

On the ground land iguanas abound…..

….as do blue-footed boobies. It is mating season for them too. They entertain us with their slow, alternate foot lifting and beak clicking. They are comical birds particularly when they look at you full-faced.

We slowly walk around the island on the designated paths. We need to create as little impact as possible. Both frigates and boobies have nests and we see eggs being incubated and fledglings still in the nest.

We then have a deep water snorkel along the same coastline. There are loads of white-tip reef sharks. I count fifteen during the 45 minute swim. There are also large shoals of fish but not as many as at other sites. I see a large puffer-fish, a large grouper and a pelican dives for fish a couple of yards from me. It surprised me somewhat.

The anchor is lifted and we moor by Baltra airport. A fuel ship docks beside us and we re-fuel. Unsurprisingly, it takes a while. I imagine a boat this size uses quite a bit with it’s three big engines. We are also introduced to a new crew member, Fernando. Yesterday’s issues are now explained. The cabin girl is no longer here, Kerli who served meals and ran the bar has been demoted to cabin girl and Fernando is running the bar and table service. He can make a cocktail, buzzes around with huge energy and makes the previous staff look pretty lazy. I am surmising, but I think the cabin girl quit and he is a manager acting in an emergency stand in role.

We then make the short passage to Mosquera Island. It is tiny and from the sea appears to just be a white sand spit. Not dissimilar to Sandy Spit in the BVIs, slightly larger perhaps and lacking the palm tree in the middle. As we approach the island we see a small hammerhead shark, which is pretty cool, and causes quite a bit of excitement.

I think this trip was undersold. We thought we were just having a walk on the beach and a brief swim. It was so much more. What we didn’t realise is that the sand is powder soft and so your feet sink into it.

The sea is crystal clear and aquamarine. Sea lions abound as do their cute and fluffy pups. They could not care less about people and you have to be really careful not to tread on them.

We have the entire afternoon free to walk, photograph or swim. I do all three and also spend time flat on my stomach trying to get eye to eye sea lion shots. It is a real luxury to be able to have some quality time to take photographs.

At the end of the afternoon there are splashes on the horizon. Modular rays are breaching. The pod must be huge as they seem to be jumping along most of the horizon. Eventually some leap closer to shore and I capture them on video. Nigh on impossible to take a still as you cannot predict where they will next launch themselves into the air. The shot below is taken from the video.