Farewells, Greetings, and Sea Lion Surfing

11:43 AM
We had a dry landing on Lobos Island this morning. Lobos Island is a small island that is a resting place for sea lions and a few frigate birds. The island itself wasn't much to look at; the waves that were crashing into the rocky beach were.

These waves would be a surfer's paradise. This was clearly shown by the incumbent sea lion population that were surfing the waves!! Just like human body-surfers, these sea lions would catch the wave right in front of its break and ride it into shore. Very entertaining to watch.

After clamoring back onto the boat, we started to travel to San Critobal Island where eleven of the fifteen passengers were disembarking to continue their journey to other parts of the world. The way the trip was setup there were two embarkation points to start the cruise, San Cristobal and Santa Cruz. People that arrived on a Thursday would board at San Cristobal, while people arriving on Sunday boarded at Santa Cruz... Back to the trip.

Adam and I decided to head up to the sundeck for our ride over to San Cristobal. Just as Port Baquerizo was appearing off our bow, I noticed some animals breaching the water of our starboard side. These were the dolphins I was waiting to see!! I shouted out to Adam to come look, but it was at this time that I realized it was only a few sea lions. What a disappointment... I turned to sit back down on the sundeck when I saw another object break the surface of the water on our port side. It was a dolphin!! In fact, it was a whole pod of dolphins.

Adam rushed down off the sun deck to alert the rest of the boat of the sighting. We then clamored to the front of the boat just in time to see a pair of dolphins riding the bow of our boat. They stayed there for a few moments before breaking off from the boat to rejoin their pod that quickly disappeared from sight. Even though it was a short encounter, I was psyched!

The boat arrived at port no more than twenty minutes after the dolphin sighting. The eleven people that had started their journey last Thursday disembarked and headed to the airport while we now waited for our new shipmates.

6:27 PM
We had two couples join our boat this afternoon; one from Switzerland and one from Belgium. For the next three days, only eight passengers would be on board.

We spent most of the afternoon walking through the Interpretation Center. This center is a museum that depicts the history of the islands from their formation many, many years ago up to the recent influx of tourists and residents.

After the Interpretation Center we had a few hours to walk around the small town. Adam and I shopped around for souvenirs before settling down a a bar that overlooked the port. WE enjoyed a couple of cervezas before heading back to the boat.

Next day - Gardner Bay (Espanola) and Punta Suarez (Espanola)