Galapagos Day 2

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The day started with a tender to the beach of Rabida Island, mostly volcanic and there to greet us were sea lions of all shapes sizes and ages. The youngest was flapping his flippers as if in welcome but really wanted his Mum. She was some way away and even though another Mum came up she didn't recognise the infant and waddled on past him. They can rest on this island for about 18 hours a day. We walked to an inland lake that used to be inhabited by flamingo's however a tsunami changed the composition of the lake and they have gone. Continuing on we saw an egret, terns, oyster catchers that apparently don't catch oysters, amazing coloured crabs and yet more sea lions. Returning to the boat we then got kitted out for snorkelling and we motored on to another bay, we then took the tenders in close and snorkels in hand disembarked in to the sea. Beautiful angel fish, corals, a Galapagos shark, a turtle, starfish, and shoals of tiny blue fish were seen. We then started to return for lunch and saw baby sea lions playing and birds feeding their young. A splendid lunch on board and then we started to make our way to another beach called Bacas. As we travelled a school of Dolphins was seen and we detoured to follow them, well they certainly played with the boat and us, jumping out of the water much to our delight. So engrossed in getting a good photos I slipped and fell hard, luckily landing on my bum but it is oh so sore!
The dolphins were an amazing sight to see we have never seen any thing like it before. We then continued our journey to the beach and again what a beautiful place. Pristine white sand kept that way by the tiny orange crabs that digest any animal remains. Went to a lagoon and saw a couple of flamingos feeding and iguanas swimming across to the far shore, not the greatest of swimmers.Walking back to the beach we enjoyed the pelicans diving into the sea and catching fish and cormorants flying close to the surface of the sea. Time for a quick swim in the bay, a cool 20 degrees but it helped with the sunburn. A beer on the tender on the way back to the boat and watched the sun go down, tough life.

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