Today we returned to Espiritu Santo (the boat usually moves at night so at dawn you are in your new location for the day).  You may remember Day 3 when we awoke to witness the call of the sea lion at dawn. Today we experienced those sea lions close up.

Breakfast today was early as they wanted us to get our morning activities out of the way before other tour operators arrived at this frequently visited spot.  Following breakfast, Cheryl boarded a skiff for a close-up tour of the habitat. Randy donned his wetsuit and joined another crew for a snorkel among the sea lions.

Again, I’ll let Cheryl expound on her experience.

Randy had the time of his life.  The adult sea lions, having hunted all night, were resting on the rocks (except for the old cow who came to check us out, then returned to her perch) while the youngsters were in the water and curious about these strange creatures visiting their territory.  I got bumped a couple of times but didn’t get bitten.  Others in our party have bite marks to show for their effort. 

As was explained to us, Sea Lions experience their world thru their mouth.  So a way to evaluate this strange creature is to bite it – much like a puppy does.  None of the bite marks were serious – none broke thru the wet suit – but the recipients do have a badge of honor to take home.

As far as I was concerned the Sea Lions were playing around us, circling and performing under-water ballet moves while we floated gently with the current. 

In addition to the Sea Lions we saw an amazing variety of fish and corals.

Eventually the current picked up and while the coral and fish sighting improved we were swept farther away from our pick-up boat.  When it was time to turn and head back to the boat the real work began.  I was fighting the current trying to make any progress while a pair of Sea Lions frolicked around me demonstrating how easy is really is to swim against the current.  Stupid Sea Lions!  Anyway it was a wonderful adventure.

Returning to the boat we killed some time until brunch.  Once all the snorkelers and skiffers had completed their tours they repositioned the boat to the beach for the afternoon’s activity – a kayaking/snorkeling/stand up paddle boarding/beach party.

Following brunch we napped and read until the beach party began at 1:30.  We hopped a skiff to the beach and checked out a 2 person kayak for a paddling tour of the bay (only saw crabs and a few birds). 

Then we settled down with a cold drink and a book and whiled away the afternoon with our feet in the sand and the warm sun recharging our batteries.  It’s gonna be HARD to go home!

All good things must come to an end and eventually we hopped a skiff back to the boat for a quick shower to wash off the sand and salt and then into   the hot tub for a little relaxation.  They have two hot tubs on the 3 level-aft deck so we _had_ to use them at least once.

Then it was time to get dressed and head to the lounge for happy hour, conversation with friends over hors d’ouvers  and drinks, and announcements by the captain, hotel manager and expedition chief.

Then dinner – another culinary feast.  We have discovered that the chef’s boss is on the cruise.  They are doing photo shoots for an upcoming brochure.  I’m not sure if that has something to do with the quality, variety and presentation of the food but generally it has been far superior to what we would normally expect.  This evening we both had half portions of duck and half portions of yellowtail baked with a white mole.  The duck was good.  The fish was AMAZING!

Following dinner we attended a lecture where our resident biologist talked about the Vaquita porpoise – the most endangered of marine mammals – only about 20 left.

Then to the cabin to write, to read, and to sleep.

Tomorrow we return to La Paz where we will have our final two excursions and last night on the boat before leaving bright and early on Saturday for the airport.

Nite all.

This was my favorite of all the excursions – the skiff ride around the small rocky island where the blue footed boobies and sea lions live. It’s the juvenile sea lions that are playing around in the water and come curiously out to examine the skiff and, if you are a snorkeler, to nip you to see what kind of animal you are.

We were carefully instructed that if this happened we were to keep our hands to ourselves (no hitting sea lions) and hold still so that the young sea lion would lose interest and swim away. If you touch a sea lion the expedition is over and EVERYONE has to return to the boat. I really loved seeing the youngsters turn and swim so effortlessly all around our skiff. On the low rocky shore the mothers showed the babies how to sun bathe, scratch using a back fin, and catch fish – the young males learn how to fight. As an adult male (none here until the breeding season in July/August) they fight almost continuously (not even eating!) to claim the most territory – which is apparently very sexy to a female seal. Seal and sea lions (who have external ears and back flippers with hips so they can climb up rocks) are called “pinnipeds” (winged foot”) because of their habit of holding one flipper up out of the water to warm it (and it does look sort of like a wing). As the flippers are not covered in blubber, the blood in the veins on the flipper gets warmed up by the sun and then can circulate to warm up the rest of the body. They also spend a lot of time sunning – either laying out flat on warm rocks or sitting up with their chest thrown out to soak up the sun. The skiff had to remain about 50 feet off shore from the island, but in the breeding season even further away – several years ago a man pulled his boat up onto the breeding beach and the aggressive male sea lions killed him.

At the afternoon beach party it was warm enough to wear a swim suit (barely), but not hot as there was quite a wind blowing – which made the paddle board people really have to work to get back to shore.