Tuesday March 11, 2008 Espanola Island

Today's landing on Espanola was beautiful. We acutally pulled up to a little area that the guides had created from the stones that we could just step up to out of the zodiacs. Very quickly we saw and smelled the sea lions. They were laying all over the paths. I found this little guy and figured I would curl up with him. This island is known for its huge population of Boobies. These are the blue-footed species. The chick is about 2 months old and is huge, but he still has his cute downy feathers. I was so pumped to see these creatures that made these islands famous. They were everywhers...so this one posed beautifully for me. Espanola also has its unique type of lizard. They are black red and green from the different things that they eat . This guy claimed the rock to show off his Godzilla-esce-ness. Two things to see here... the gorgeous ocean in the back. But the awesome Masked Booby on the rock. Those birds are so cool!!We went to see the blow hole springs. When the tide is in and the waves are crashing, the water shoots up over 25 meters...WOW. The most beautiful scenic site on this trip was definitely the coast of Espanola. It looks almost like the northern cliffs of Ireland. The waves crashing and the wonderful sunlight made it impossble to pull ourselves from our positions on the rocks overlooking the water.

Here are a couple of group shots...the boys... And the girls
When we got back to the beach, all the sea lions were lining the area and begging to be photographed. They would lay on the sand until the tide came in and hit them while they were sleeping. Then they would move up about 5 feet on the beach and sleep again until the waves hit. This vicious cycle continued for a couple hours. Hilarious.
Here's one being washed in by the tide.
Beau and I went snorkeling, still repping in the gear that we got on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Awesome Day!!