The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Males strutting their stuff and boobies everywhere.........and pictures to prove it!

The Adrianne, our boat for the day!

We found it very easy to keep ourselves entertained here on Santa Cruz. There are plenty of things to see and do within walking distance and taxi's are inexpensive for exploring other parts of the island. That being said, we did want to explore a bit further out. We booked a one day tour that took us by boat to a beach with a snorkeling area and then to the small uninhabited (by people) island of North Seymour.
There were around 16 on the tour, along with a really nice guide whose name was Venus (pronounced Ve-Noose). What we liked about Venus was her infectious smile, enthusiasm and the fact that she didn't overload us with information. Our boat was a catamaran that we boarded at the Santa Cruz side of the airport ferry landing.
It was about a 30 minute ride over slightly choppy waters to the beach. The water temperature and clarity was the same as Tortuga Bay, slightly chilly and clear. There were quite a few patches of rocks in the water which attracted a number of very colorful fish. The highlight of the snorkeling was when we were joined by a large sea turtle. We followed him for about 10 minutes as he fed on the rocks. He had a gathering of small orange, yellow and black fish swimming around his head picking up any debris that he left behind.

Cruising towards the beach

The beach where we snorkeled. There were lots of fish around the rocks in the water behind me.

After about an hour we boarded the boat again and headed for North Seymour. Along the way we could smell food cooking and knew that lunch would be served soon. The captain anchored the boat in relatively calm water and we enjoyed a delicious lunch that included fresh tuna steaks, rice (pretty much every meal), stir fry vegetables and fresh cantaloupe.
North Seymour looked like a small, desolate island at first. Once we were on shore we found it to be teeming with life. There were sea lions, land iguanas, lava lizards, night feeding gulls and more. The stars of the show were the frigate birds and blue footed boobies.
The frigates are very large birds with wingspans that looked to be around 6 feet. They are found along the coastal areas of the islands and their diet consists mainly of fish. One unique thing about them is that their wings are not waterproof so they cannot land on the water. To get their fish they mainly rely on stealing from other birds and scavenging.
As with most species, especially humans, the males like to show off in hopes of attracting a mate. In the case of the frigate the males have a red pouch under their neck that they can inflate to attract the ladies. We saw quite a few of them who were "looking for love" as we hiked around the island. We also saw one lucky fella sitting with his lady, as well as a number of nests with an egg (they lay a single egg) and several young. Clearly their method of attracting a mate is working!

Males were looking for love................

and looking.....................

and looking..................

SUCCESS!

North Seymour is also where the boobies can be found...............the Blue Footed Boobies that is! The t-shirt shops are making a small fortune off the boobies. There are t-shirts and hats everywhere proclaiming messages such as "I love boobies". There wasn't much temptation for us to buy one but we did love seeing the boobies.
Both the males and females have the blue webbed feet. It looks as if they had their feet dipped in cans of paint. The females were dipped into a slightly darker blue paint than the males. There were a number of nests on the island, many of which had baby birds in them. To make the nests the parents mark their territory with "poop". Usually it's in the shape of a circle. There are typically two eggs on the nest. WARNING...........an example of Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" is coming................
If all goes as plans both eggs hatch and the parents feed both of the young. The young stay on the nest for around eight months but at around four months they've grown to a size that the parents can only provide food for one offspring. The parents don't decide which of the young survives and which goes to boobie heaven. The stronger of the two (usually the first born) will push the other off the nest. Once this happens the parents don't recognize the one outside the circle of poop and we all know what happens when we don't eat. Mother Nature can be quite cruel at times but it insures the survival of the fittest and prevents overpopulation. When you quit crying about the baby boobie outside the nest enjoy the pictures of the boobies and some of the other wildlife we found on this amazing island.