Our first stop on the North Seymour day trip was Mosquera Islet, one of the smallest islands in the archipelago. The tiny island is located in between Baltra and North Seymour. Standing in the center of the island, you can see the entire island from one place, as well as both Baltra to the south and North Seymour to the north. Yet somehow this tiny island had more sea lions and Sally Lightfoot crabs than I ever could have imagined in one place. Home to one of the largest sea lion colonies in the Galapagos, walking around on this tiny island was a dream come true.
Our guide walked around the island with us, teaching us about sea lions and some of the other wildlife on the island. But after a brief introduction, we were free to roam the island on our own. Most uninhabited Galapagos islands have marked trails that you have to follow and do not allow you to explore on your own. With the freedom to explore by ourselves, go our own pace, and follow what interested us the most, Mosquera provided a unique Galapagos experience.
Sea lions are known as “puppies of the sea” and watching them romp around the island, it was easy to see how they earned their nickname. They were most playful in the water, where they swam and played around close enough to shore that the boys could wade in near them to get a close up view of their antics.
Of course, all of that playing can make a sea lion tired!
In fact, there was definitely more lounging than playing on the island.
After sea lions, the other most common inhabitant of Mosquera appeared to be Sally Lightfoot crabs. I loved seeing these crabs throughout our trip in the Galapagos. I loved the way their bright colors popped against the black lava rock that they scurried across. Unlike most crabs, Sally Lightfoots can run in all 4 directions and climb up steep slopes. They are one of the few creatures in the Galapagos that runs away from humans and it was amazing to watch them run away and disappear into tiny cracks in the lava rock.
Before wrapping up our time on the islet, our guide took us to a collection of bones from a pilot whale. Apparently beached some time ago, the bleached bones of the pilot whale have been reconstructed by guides to give you a sense of the size of the creatures.
After about an hour wandering the islet, the rest of the group went out for a snorkel. For a variety of reasons, we decided to skip the snorkeling. Snorkeling is still a little challenging for my youngest and he was so incredibly happy watching the sea lions swimming at the shore that he didn’t want to leave. My husband and oldest had planned to go but ultimately decided that they didn’t feel like gearing up again. We had seen so much snorkeling at Los Tuneles that they didn’t feel like they would miss anything. But of course, no two snorkeling experiences are the same and we did end up being a little disappointed when we found out that we had missed a sea lion swimming with the group for a little while.
Still, we were happy with our decision to spend more time on the island, relaxing and watching the sea lions. We had the whole island to ourselves (except for the sea lions of course!) and we rode back on the zodiac when they came to pick up the bags. (The snorkelers followed the guide on a specific route and didn’t return to the beach but were picked up from the water.) Thankfully a sea lion was kind enough to guard everyone’s bags while they snorkeled!
We had an excellent lunch back on the boat before embarking on the second part of our trip… North Seymour!
