On our second day we took a boat trip to islands near Santa Cruz. We started at Isla Mosquera, a tiny island full of sea lions, many of them with pups. We spent an hour leisurely exploring and taking photos – everywhere you go there are more and more animals to see, it’s so incredible!

This island is also good for spotting marine iguanas and red crabs.

We then went snorkelling nearby – we saw lots of colourful fish, eels, but most importantly, sharks! This was definitely not on my list of things to do, but sharks here are not dangerous to humans, so this was a great experience.

Our boat (the Narel) then took us to nearby North Seymour. As soon as you get out of the boat you are greeted by massive birds, as Nazca and blue-footed boobies and frigate birds hover on the sky.

We went for a walk around this impressive island, where you can see tons of birds nesting everywhere (and sometimes getting into fights too). Frigate birds make unusual displays inflating the red membrane above their chest. Blue-footed boobies mostly just look cute and a bit comical.

This island is also home to many land iguanas – this is a large species with colourful males that like to hang out under cacti.

At the end of our walk we found another spot full of sea lions with tiny babies (so cute!) – this was a perfect ending to an amazing day full of adventures!

You can see day 1 of our Galapagos adventure here.