Thursday 8.8
We began our nighttime run to San Cristoble about midnight... The seas were quieter than 2 nights ago. It is wonderful to wake up in the morning and find a new island stretched out for us to explore. Breakfast at 7AM... Then into landing parties to go ashore... This must be was early sea farers called a desert island... At least during the low summer dry spell. Here we were greeted by dozens...by hundreds of sea iguanas.... They are the exact color of the fresh black basalt rock... They eat a diet of sea lettuce which grows freely on the intertidal rocks. They lie inactive much of the time but are capable of rapid motion both on land and sea. We walked an hour or so until we were at the far windward end of the island. Here we found many Albatross birds and nesting colonies with young fluffy white young waiting for their daily diet of regurgitated fish. Several of the couples were engaged in court ship dances... These can continue for an hour... Finally out at the tip end of land we encountered a blowhole that trapped incoming waves and forced the sea water upward with great force.. creating a great plume of sea water high into the air.
Lunch... Siesta... Then back to the landing skiffs. Wide white coral sand beaches... Outcropping masses of black basalt rock. But we were not alone today...our friends the sea lions were their usual garrulous noisy selves. Making rude sounds, bickering, and complaining... Threatening and affectionate ..all In turns. This serf zone is also a favorite for sea turtles! Standing in one location it was possible to observe several dozen of them cavorting out beyond the zone of breaking waves. The typical size of the turtles was over 18 inches. I am not certain but I think they also eat sea algae...
tonight was great fun with dishes sliding back and forth..Then we discovered a new table activity... The water in the glasses remained nearly lever while the boat rocked many degrees back and forth. For us the table tit looked like it was the water moving.
Europeans ...they came for water from a spring and to gather turtles and iguanas for fresh meat. We came pick up a massive turtle digging in the sand prior to laying eggs. The odds of a sea turtle egg surviving the frigate birds is about 1:1000.
Now we sail on to Santa Cruz Island.
... Siesta... Then back to the landing skiffs. Wide white coral sand beaches... Outcropping masses of black basalt rock. But we were not alone today...our friends the sea lions were their usual garrulous noisy selves. Making rude sounds, bickering, and complaining... Threatening and affectionate ..all In turns. This surf zone is also a favorite for sea turtles! Standing in one location it was possible to observe several dozen of them cavorting out beyond the zone of breaking waves. The typical size of the turtle.
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