May 28, 2019
Our day started a little later than the last few days. We had breakfast at the hotel and the tour operator met us at 8:00 am to take us to the opposite side of the island to catch our boat. The ride takes about 45 minutes to get from Puerto Ayora to the boat terminal. From the boat dock, we and 14 other tourists from all over the world boarded a medium-sized yacht, the Espanola, that would take us to the other islands.
We set out at a slow pace for North Seymour and we settled on the front deck of the boat, which required walking a narrow ledge and gripping tightly to a small metal bar to maneuver. The total travel time was about an hour to get to the island. We disembarked the boat and landed on the island of North Seymour. The island is home to lava lizards, sea lions, frigate birds, blue footed boobies, and iguanas.
The frigate birds and the boobies both had white fluffy chicks in their nests. While walking we were able to get within feet of most of the animals along the walking trail. We walked the island for an hour and a half and we were fortunate enough to have overcast and cooler temperatures. We left the island and reboarded the yacht. A short trip on the yacht and we arrived at Mosquera island. Mosquera is a very small island that is made of lava rock and white sands. The only animals on this island were marine iguanas and sea lions. Another interesting feature of the island was a collection of whale bones and sea lion skulls.
We put on our snorkeling gear and got into the water. There were a lot of fish in the water but not many different species. The thing that made snorkeling here incredible was three very curious and playful sea lions. These sea lions wanted to be the center of attention and if you were trying to photograph anything but them they would bite and pull on your flippers. We played with the sea lions for well over an hour until they started getting a little too rambunctious and biting other things. Kevin was bitten on the leg, which left a scratch but no puncture. The sea lions were tricky to photograph since they moved very quickly in the water.
On the way back to port we had a great fish lunch served by the yacht’s crew. When we returned to our hotel that evening all the kids wanted to do was continue swimming in the pool. Overall it was a great excursion.