Saturday, April 24, 2011:
Last night, I didn’t end up sleeping up on top of the boat because a group of 5 of us and our guide stayed up really late playing cards and talking. I passed out from exhaustion where I ended last night – outside, on the bench underneath the covered section of the boat. Everyone else ended up falling asleep out there as well, but they were woken up by the crew to go to bed. Since I had my blanket and pillow already out there though, they just left me be.
Today started even earlier than yesterday at 6:30am because we had a long drive today. First though, we took our Panda Boat over to the “Chinese Hat Island” where we found dozens of baby sea lions! They were so cute and even better than the shed because they don’t look sad for being trapped. We learned that they stayed in their little cove area sheltered by rocks to prevent them from being eaten by sharks and from the crashing waves just 30 yards away from them/us. On the wave side of the island, these things blew my mind. They were gargantuan and made HUGE splashes because the water was deep right up until the rock formation, so the wave was just getting to its break point when it pounded up against the rock face. There was a point as you can see in the picture that the water splashed up behind you while standing on one of the rocks. I wasn’t able to get this picture exactly, but you can imagine.
We were only there for about an hour then scooted back to the boat and went snorkeling another time. This was probably the clearest water we’ve snorkeled in (even though it has all been super clear). This trip, I was able to swim with 3 more sharks that were about a third of the size as the one yesterday. We also obviously saw sea lions, manta rays, penguins, and various species of fish. We also saw a special type of eel that sticks out of the sand. There is SO much marine diversity! There is no other place where you can get so close to these animals and see so much… not even the Shed.
Next was lunch, then we made our way to another island for a “dry landing” (jump right onto shore without having to get into the water from the dingy Panda Boat. On the island, we saw the marine iguanas which are all black and are called this because they get their food from the water, but do not stay in there very long. The land iguanas are yellowish brown – the more yellow they are, the more sexually “ready” they are. They are definitely bigger than the marine iguanas and more scary, but we got within 3 inches of them and they didn’t do anything – creepy but harmless. From this point on the island, I got another feeling of being in Never Never land. Similarly, when we came out to the beach, it seemed like out of the scene of Pirates of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow is stuck in that death beach land. I love when real life reminds me of movies; I think I’m going to be a pirate when I grow up.
When we got on the boat for the last time, we set off for a 4 hour ocean journey to Santa Cruz, our final destination for our trip. This drive consisted of talking with Will, Ally, Becky’s Dad about anything from politics, our life here, business, and things of that sort. Also, the last 1.5 hours of the cruise, I went up top, by myself and gazed into the ocean at all the islands, boats, and water while listening to the audio book 50 Prosperity Classics. It’s a great book for an overview of the most influential success books, but even more so, it gives me a great reading list of what I would be interested in reading more thoroughly.
When we landed in port, we ate dinner and got ready to go out on the island for the night. On the island, we bought prep drinks and Becky’s Dad bought me a Cuban cigar. Soon, we met some people from the Netherlands (Marica), Sweden (don’t remember), and Main (don’t remember) who teach English in a nearby island. They were actually Andres’s (our guide) friends. So the night was spent listening to live island music and going to a couple different night locations dancing and socializing. Good day/night!
Ciao,
Michael
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