North Seymour

North Seymour Island was lifted from ocean floor by a seismic event, and its origins as a seabed give the island its low, flat profile. Swallow-tailed gulls sit perched in ledges of cliffs only a few meters high from the shoreline.

A tiny forest of silver-grey Palo Santo trees stand just above the landing, usually without leaves, waiting for the rain to bring them into bloom. This island is teaming with life! You might have to give way to passing sea lions or marine iguanas; blue-footed boobies nests are built beside where the mating pairs perform their cartoonish courtship dance.

Further along, the rocky shore gives way to white sand where large flocks of pelicans amass for a dive-bomb feeding frenzy. The trail turns inland to reveal the largest nesting site in the Galapagos of the "magnificent frigate bird".

These huge, dark acrobats have a 2 meter (6 foot) wingspan. The males, with puffed up scarlet throat sacks, sit precariously perched in low bushes to watch over their equally large chicks.