Hola everybody:
Hope you're all well and not feeling too down about those shitty Canadian winters. I want to take advantage of the fact that I'm still connected in my room to send what will probably be my second to last email of our trip.
We will be leaving for parts unknown, as planned, on Tuesday.
Today we had the most beautiful day. We were finally able to complete our trip to Espiritu Santo Island. The weather was perfect, sunny and clear with only a hint of wind. We left around 9:00 am in a very nice boat. There was only another person going along so we were really lucky to go at all. Usually they don't go unless there is a minimum of 5 or 6. The price was pretty good too better than their competitors.
The island itself is unbelievable. The rock formations are incredibly diverse. You can see pitted, volcanic type rocks or beautiful, smooth pastel cliffs. The water is marvellously clear and turquoise in colour which contrasts very nicely against the white sand. After about an hour and a half we circled Espiritu and actually came to another island, circled around that one as well and headed for and outcropping full of guano droppings which is home to a colony of about 400 sea lions. There are about 50 machos, those are the enormous males and believe me, they are huge.
We dropped anchor in a little bay which housed dozens of sea lions, many of them babies. We put on our wetsuits (I hate those but the water is cold) and jumped overboard. The marine life is extraordinary. Beautiful, colourful blue, yellow, green fishes of all sizes but the incredible thing was swimming with the baby sea lions. At first we were a little hesitant, they are not that small but the guy on the boat, a kid really, dove in and asked us if we wanted to touch them. Of course we said yes and is that possible? He assured us it was. He had borrowed the underwater camera from the other person on the trip. He didn't swim for as long because he didn't have a wetsuit. Anyways we followed Paco and soon there were dozens of curious sea lions around us. You put out your wrist and they come and gently nip on it. It doesn't hurt, they just squeeze a little with their jaw. It's a way of getting to know you. They would come right up to your mask at look at you. You could
touch their flippers and their bellies, but they don't like to be touched on the head. It was like being in a whirlpool of sea lions. What a great experience. It's so rare to be able to swim with creatures like that in the wild. We stayed in the water for quite some time. Paco took a lot of underwater pictures and we will be getting them emailed to me. After that experience we left for this beautiful beach, again white sand, turquoise water, bizarre rock formations, the possibility for pictures was truly endless. We had lunch there and relaxed.
It was perfect. We headed back just as the wind was picking up so the ride back in was quite bumpy.
Garth had invited us to La Ventana where they were having a burning bush party but we were too tired to make it. It can be tough driving that road at night and Stan is still nursing a cold.
This was definitely a big highlight. We look forward to seeing lots of whales when we hit the road next. Hasta luego yet again,

Josiane