We woke to the gentle rocking of the boat and went upstairs for our first breakfast on board the Guantanamera. The first stop of the day is South Plazas Island where we have a dry dock landing. The dock is somewhat slippery as it is used by the local sea lion community who line the shore line. A little way into the island we find a small cropping of tall cactus plants, under which sit ever expectant land iguanas. The islands are going through a dry spell so much of the food sources for these iguanas have dried up – what they now want is the flowers of these cactus. They sit there waiting patiently for these flowers to drop. The larger males guard their territory around these cacti resolutely, fending off any intruding males. The female iguanas, as one might expect, are welcome.We continue our walk around the island where see more iguanas and male sea lions (the males
are forced out of the main colonies by the dominant males). At the top of the island where the land drops away as cliffs we find some skeletons of a sea lion and an iguana. The children are fascinated by this somewhat grotesque scene. We are aware too of young sea lions who are clearly distressed and starving. Washington is unable to lie to Emily when she asks if they will be rescued....it's survival of the fittest here and no-one will intervene.We wind our way back down to the shoreline and spend some time watching the seals – in particular the pups. There is one new born who is only a matter of hours old – its mother trying to help it into the sea for the first time. It is then time to return to our boat and then on to our next stop Santa Fe Island.
When we arrive at Santa Fe we are met by the site of most wonderful natural bay. After a bit of lunch we are free to swim off the back of the Guantanamera. We put on our snorkelling gear and we in, there were a few fish around and as you neared the shoreline there were sea lions skimming along the shore line. After a short while we returned to the Guantanamera and climbed aboard the inflatable dinghy and went further out into the bay, to the opposite shore. Here we snorkelled again this time there were more fish and even more sea lions. Sea lions are equipped with unbounded levels of curiosity and they swam right up to where we were swimming ,often getting within inches of us. Washington, our resident naturalist, would dive down and do twists and somersaults under the water and the sea lions would copy the actions. One of the main dangers of swimming with sea lions is that there is potential for them to bite – especially the dominant male protecting their territory. Karen has one very close encounter with a male who threateningly sweeps past her- teeth bared. We climb back into the dinghy and move towards an area where you can usually find sea turtles – and we are not disappointed !
We climb back into the water and are able to get within a few feet of these huge creatures. They quite happily rest on the bottom but come up every 10 minutes for air, so we wait patiently and eventually the turtle rise to the surface and we get within inches of this magnificent beast.
All too soon it is time to go back to the Guantanamera, and get dried off. We still have one more outing for the day, a beach landing on Santa Fe Island. On the beach is a seal lion colony and this is a wonderful opportunity to get some close up shots of sea lions – Jack and Emily were thrilled. There are rules about how close you can approach the animals but they creep up behind you sometimes without you knowing. From the beach we go in land amongst the Easter trees and cacti – where we find another species of land iguana waiting for the cacti flowers to fall. More photos are taken and then it is time to go back to the boats. By the time we return there is time for a quick beer and then dinner. At 8pm we set sail for Espanola Island.
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