FRIDAY, 11 November 2016

Started the morning with rough seas after the boat got underway for our next port of call, Suarez Point on the island of Española. 

I was up for a beautiful sunrise.  After breakfast, a beautiful morning for a walk along rocks at Suarez Point to see sea lions and their babies, marine iguanas, masked (AKA nasca) boobies, albatrose, a blowhole, and other species of birds. We literally had to watch where we were walking because the iguanas lay on the path, on the rocks, basking in the sun to get their body temperatures up before going into the cooler waters to eat algae off the rocks, put there during the night as the tide rose.  It was very, very rocky; luckily Jenny and I carried walking sticks – they definitely helped us maintain our balance.

That excursion over, back to the boat for some ice cream, a little rest, then lunch.  While eating, the boat relocated to Gardner Bay, still Española Islands.

There was a deep water snorkeling excursion but it was cloudy and the air temperature was cold so we decided to skip that one.  Jenny slept in the cabin; I went to the upper deck and napped a little there.

After the deep water snorkeling “excursioners” got back, the next one was to the white sandy beaches, where we could either swim or walk along the beach – we chose the latter.  The sand is a beautiful white with sea lions, all huddled in one area.  It was easy to identify the alpha male because he, when we got there, was in the water but came out soon after to interact with all the females and babies.  An interesting display of hierarchy.

After an hour or so, back to the boat for a bar-b-que!