Los Islotes and Espiritu Santo Island
As the ship was approaching slowly and silently to the active conglomerate of California sea lions, early this morning, we begun to hear the dog-like barking of the pups still trying to suckle the last milk of their mothers' nipples. Even the numerous sea birds, like the brown and blue-footed boobies, the frigate birds, the brown pelicans and the turkey vultures, seemed as if they were echoing the grave voices of these fascinating sea mammals or pinnipeds. Once we anchored, officers set up boats for observation cruises and, some time later, we snorkeled to have closer and unusual encounters with the acrobatic year old pups. During the cruises, however, we deviated our attention from the sea lions and sea birds to a pair of baleen whales, probably Bryde's whales. After three or four exhalations, during which everybody observed the long and curved dorsal fins, they just disappeared as suddenly as they showed themselves for the first time.
Once we were absolutely cloyed of been at Los Islotes, we pulled up anchor and sailed south along the western side of the Espiritu Santo Island until we got a beautiful harbor known as Ensenada Grande. There, for the second time in our voyage, we enjoyed hikes observing and smelling the great variety of desert plants and the beauty that resulted from the last rain in September. In fact, several species were dressed with colored flowers, like the nightshade, the jimson weed, the coulteria, the coral vine and the morning glories, among others. But certainly this was the day of the reptiles as we were fortunate enough to see spiny, small-scaled and side-blotched lizards, a whiptail and an unusual banded rock lizard, with its emerald-green coloration of the body, ornamented with several dorsal black bands, and a dragon-like general profile. This animal, of almost one foot in length, was sunbathing when it started to experience the deep glance of our eyes. A bit nervous, maybe because it was not used to be the center of attention, it ran away between two big boulders, leaving us the sensation of being at a long-lost age in the history of the Earth. We finished the day with a relaxing BBQ and bonfire on the beach, singing with nostalgia the Cielito Lindo and the De Colores Mexican songs.
As the ship was approaching slowly and silently to the active conglomerate of California sea lions, early this morning, we begun to hear the dog-like barking of the pups still trying to suckle the last milk of their mothers' nipples. Even the numerous sea birds, like the brown and blue-footed boobies, the frigate birds, the brown pelicans and the turkey vultures, seemed as if they were echoing the grave voices of these fascinating sea mammals or pinnipeds. Once we anchored, officers set up boats for observation cruises and, some time later, we snorkeled to have closer and unusual encounters with the acrobatic year old pups. During the cruises, however, we deviated our attention from the sea lions and sea birds to a pair of baleen whales, probably Bryde's whales. After three or four exhalations, during which everybody observed the long and curved dorsal fins, they just disappeared as suddenly as they showed themselves for the first time.
Once we were absolutely cloyed of been at Los Islotes, we pulled up anchor and sailed south along the western side of the Espiritu Santo Island until we got a beautiful harbor known as Ensenada Grande. There, for the second time in our voyage, we enjoyed hikes observing and smelling the great variety of desert plants and the beauty that resulted from the last rain in September. In fact, several species were dressed with colored flowers, like the nightshade, the jimson weed, the coulteria, the coral vine and the morning glories, among others. But certainly this was the day of the reptiles as we were fortunate enough to see spiny, small-scaled and side-blotched lizards, a whiptail and an unusual banded rock lizard, with its emerald-green coloration of the body, ornamented with several dorsal black bands, and a dragon-like general profile. This animal, of almost one foot in length, was sunbathing when it started to experience the deep glance of our eyes. A bit nervous, maybe because it was not used to be the center of attention, it ran away between two big boulders, leaving us the sensation of being at a long-lost age in the history of the Earth. We finished the day with a relaxing BBQ and bonfire on the beach, singing with nostalgia the Cielito Lindo and the De Colores Mexican songs.
