North Seymour island: the wildlife-per-step island near Baltra

North Seymour is the small, flat island just north of Baltra, and pound for pound it delivers more wildlife per meter of trail than almost anywhere else in Galápagos. Blue-footed boobies nest beside the path, frigatebirds inflate their red pouches overhead, and land iguanas cross between the bushes. Because it sits minutes from the Baltra airport and about an hour by boat from Santa Cruz, it is the one big wildlife island you can visit without committing to a cruise. This page covers what you will see, when to come, and how the day trip actually works.

Key facts

• Area of 1.9 square kilometers (0.73 square miles), uninhabited, with a maximum altitude of 28 meters (92 feet).
• Not volcanic in origin: the island rose when lava pushed the seabed upward, and marine fossils and rocks are visible along the coast.
• Named after Lord Hugh Seymour, an 18th-century British naval officer. Few English names from that era survived without being hispanicized; this one did.
• The visitor trail runs roughly 1.2 miles (2 km) over flat, rocky terrain and takes about 90 minutes. It is one of the most popular wildlife walks in the archipelago.
• There are no rats on North Seymour, which is part of why the ground-nesting birds do so well. The risk is rats swimming across the channel from Baltra, so biosecurity rules here are not decoration.

The trail and what you will see

The loop crosses low scrub, palo santo trees and gray saltbush, and passes through the nesting areas of the island’s two headline species. Blue-footed boobies nest right up against the trail, so the courtship dance plays out at close range: the male presents a gift (usually a stone or stick), sky-points with his head up while whistling, then steps high to show off his feet. If the female approves she flaps her wings, and they finish in unison. Courtship runs June through August, and the best chick-viewing follows in July and September.

Frigatebirds nest here in one of the largest colonies in Galápagos, and both the magnificent and great species are present. The male’s throat pouch, a big red balloon he inflates to attract a mate, starts appearing in June. North Seymour is also where you are most likely to watch a frigatebird harass a booby mid-flight until it drops its catch, which the frigatebird steals before it hits the water. Piracy, live.

Add swallow-tailed gulls, pelicans, marine iguanas, Darwin’s finches, mockingbirds and Galápagos doves, plus sea lions hauled out around the landing, and the walk earns its reputation. One curiosity your guide may point out: North Seymour’s marine iguanas have been seen eating land plants, which is highly unusual for a species that feeds on algae.

Land iguanas: a secondhand population that saved the species

The land iguanas you see here are not native to this island. In the 1930s, naturalist Allan Hancock moved around 70 individuals from Baltra to North Seymour as a conservation measure, a decision that turned out to be prescient: the US soldiers stationed at the Baltra airbase during World War II shot the island’s remaining iguanas out of existence. North Seymour repopulated Baltra in the 1950s.

By the 2010s the island held around 5,000 iguanas, and the cactus they feed on was running short. In January 2019 more than 1,400 were relocated from North Seymour to Santiago, where Darwin had recorded the species abundant in 1835 and where none had been seen since. Today the population on North Seymour stands above 2,500, with more than 3,000 on Baltra. When you walk this trail, you are walking through one of conservation’s quieter comeback stories.

When to visit

Any month works for the headline species, but the calendar changes what you watch:

• June to August: booby courtship at its peak, first frigatebird pouches of the season.
• July to September: booby chicks in the nests.
• October: half-grown booby chicks sitting along the trail edges.
• Year-round: frigatebirds courting, sea lions on the rocks, land iguanas in the scrub.

How to get there

Two realistic options:

• Day tour from Santa Cruz: the standard trip runs about $220–280 per person (check current rates), leaving the Itabaca Channel early in the morning. From Puerto Ayora you first take a 40–45 minute bus ride to the channel, then 45 minutes to an hour by boat. The landing is dry. Daily departures exist, and honestly this is the best-value wildlife day tour in the archipelago.
• Cruise: many central and western itineraries stop here, but not all: check the itinerary before booking if Seymour is a priority.

The $200 park entry for foreign adults and the $20 transit card are paid at the airports on arrival; the details are in our entry fee guide. Day-trippers should also skim the national park rules before landing: stay on the trail and keep two meters from the animals, which here means watching your feet near booby nests.

Snorkeling and diving

The water around North Seymour is cool for the same reason it is rich: cold currents bring food, and the food brings animals. Snorkelers regularly see rays, colorful reef fish, reef sharks and parrotfish, with occasional hammerheads and even tiger sharks in the mix. Diving here happens from dive day boats out of Puerto Ayora or liveaboards; regular cruise vessels do not dive. Nearby Mosquera islet adds a sandy dive site and one of the largest sea lion colonies in the islands, and spotted eagle rays are common on the Seymour side of the channel. Our snorkeling guide and diving guide cover both in detail.

There is no accommodation or any infrastructure on the island: nobody stays overnight, and the park intends to keep it that way.

If North Seymour is your reason for coming and you only have a few days, the day tour makes it work; our how many days guide shows how it fits into a short trip. For how it pairs with Baltra, the airport and the channel crossing, see getting your bearings.

Last verified: September 2026