ON THE ISLANDS

Day 4

On the Islands Day 4

Today we visited Espanola. We started the day with a brief panga ride along the coast. Then we headed out into the open waters again, where we met up with a glass bottom boat, filled with people. We changed places with these people, which was rather tricky. We had a couple of close calls where some folks almost went for an unexpected swim, but we all made the exchange successfully. We were able to see some very colorful fish, some sharks, and numerous sea urchins on the seafloor, through the boat's glass bottom. We really enjoyed this experience. After about 30 minutes, it was time to meet up with the panga again, and once again to exchange places with other folks.

We had a wet landing onto a white sandy beach. This beach is not a restricted zone. We were free to wander it without being accompanied by a naturalist. What a sight it was here. The beach was literally covered with sealions, who didn't think our presence was something out of the ordinary. We walked among them. We swam with them. We sat on the beach with them.

A baby sealion came ashore looking for it's mother, and calling her. The mother happened to be at the opposite end of the beach from where the baby came ashore, so we walked the whole beach with it, until "mom" was finally found. It stopped and smelled every female until it found the right one. Then, it just snuggled up and began to nurse. It was just the cutest thing to watch. We spent our whole morning on the beach, playing with and photographing the sea lions, and swimming and snorkeling with them.

Hawks inhabit this island, but we did not see any this morning. We did see Hood Mockingbirds, however. They walked around on the beach with us, too. They do not fly away from humans.

crab It was time to go back to the Santa Cruz for lunch, and Sangria time at Santiago's Bar.

We elected to stay aboard the Santa Cruz for the afternoon. There are always many birds around the ship, and we had not really taken the time to observe them. This would be the time.

We were sitting up on the sundeck, enjoying a cool drink, when the Laughing Gulls decided to come to visit. Their sound is exactly like human laughter. Have you ever been with someone who begins to laugh hardily, and you have no idea what he's laughing at, but soon find yourself laughing right along with your friend because you find the laughter infectious? Well, within moments of the gulls landing on our ship, the entire population of the sundeck was laughing. I don't know who was laughing louder......the humans or the birds. It was a close contest. birds flying over the sun

We also enjoyed watching the frigate birds. They are known as the 'bandits of the sea'. The frigates diet consists of seafood, but oddly enough, they never touch the water. They wait for a sealion, or another species of bird to hunt for a fish, and then the frigate just swoops down and steals the food right from the hunter's mouth. They are very fast, and seldom miss their mark. When they fly, they barely flap their wings. They glide for what seems to be endless periods of time. They are very graceful, and a beautiful site in the sky. I will tell you more about them later.

We spent some time in the hot tub, then showered and prepared for the usual briefing and dinner. Due to the fact that we stayed on board the Santa Cruz this afternoon, we were showered a little earlier than usual, which gave us the opportunity to watch the sunset this evening. It was spectacular!

ON THE ISLANDS Day 4

ON THE ISLANDS

Day 4