Our birding adventure in the Galapagos started when we landed on the island of Baltra. The airport was originally constructed by the U.S. military during World War II as a base to protect the Panama Canal from enemy attack. During this period most of the indigenous fauna of the island was exterminated. Land iguanas have only recently been successfully re-introduced and can be seen near the Baltra airport. Baltra is currently an Ecuadorian naval base and is not within the boundaries of Galapagos National Park. From here we boarded a bus to take us to the dock area. A Panga took us and our luggage out to our ship. Cruising away from Baltra, we took this photograph of North Seymour in the distance. After lunch we hiked on this island and were able to observe Blue Footed Boobies "sky pointing" and doing their mating dances. We also got close looks at Magnificant and Great Frigatebirds. Temperatures were in the upper 80's on this partly cloudy afternoon.