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Daily Journal

Meadowridge School

Day 4

Our morning adventure takes us on Dead Goats Trail.

Here the sedimentary rock is mostly fossiliferous.

Stasia and Eva find a chunk of fossil and try to break it open.

Don't even ask!!!!!!

Possibly a Hummingbirds nest.

Looking for crystal quartz veins in the Gypsum deposit.

A flowering Cardon cactus.

After breakfast a local goat herder on his way to sell
his goats stops by for a friendly conversation with the crew.

Our next adventure takes us in search of fossils.

We comb the beach riddled with chunks of fossil rocks.

Jason finds a sand dollar he plans on picking out of the rock.

The group cools off with a jump into the water from the upper deck.

The rest of the afternoon is spent kayaking, snorkeling and hiking.

Everyone is having a leisure afternoon of activities.

Jim drops by to check out the snorkelers.

A school of Dusky Sergeant Major fish.

A tan seastar hidden amongst the Gorgonian coral.

A mix of Mexican Goatfish, Panamic
Sergeant Major fish and Yellowtail Surgeonfish.

A few of us decided to explore the area.

The landscape had changed
considerably since the last time visited.

In the middle of the dry river bed
we found a flourishing Elephant Trunk tree.

A lizard looks on.

As we headed to our evening destination
we encountered a humpback whale feeding.

It did not mind us being there and even came close to the boat.

We watched it for a half hour.
It was so cool to watch it close up.

The Humpback fluked and we headed off once
again on our journey to the evening anchorage.

Day 4

We woke up around 7:45 am in the morning. Right from the start we were greeted by beautiful sunshine, a light breeze, and a beautiful view of Palma Solo at Isla San Jose. Some people went on a morning adventure where they hiked up an arroyo in search of adventure. They arrived back to the boat just in time for breakfast.

After having an awesome breakfast we went ashore to explore the beach and check out the fossils embedded in the massive limestone cliffs. We did some beach combing where we collected an assortment of shells and fossils. We returned to the boat and had an excellent Mexican style lunch. During the afternoon which is the hottest part of the day we relaxed and lounged around the boat enjoying a long siesta away from the heat. We worked on our workbooks and read some of the books from Panterra's library on marine life.

Lela then took us to a beautiful place called Los Arcos. The area is covered in natural forming stone arches, which dot the shoreline. We then were given a choice of exploring the arroyo (dry river bed), kayaking to the seaside grottos, or snorkeling in the crystal clear waters full of awe inspiring marine life. Finally after our time in the water and playing around the arches, we had to lift our anchor and sail south again to our evening destination, Stasia’s Bay.

Along the way we encountered a humpback whale. We were able to watch it for quite some time. It even made a very close approach, about 20 yards off of our bow. We left the humpback and continued on our way to our destination. Once the anchor was set, we spent the rest of the night watching the sunset bathe the landscape and sky in beautiful arrays of oranges, reds, and pinks.

After lights out some of us stayed out to watch the bioluminescent algae light up the water when anything swam by. We could see the outlines of barracudas, stingrays, and schools of fish. We even saw a massive seventeen-foot long shark come up against the Narval and swim away after some fish. Everything was glowing blue and it made an absolutely mind blowing effect. Eventually we headed for bed expecting to see some more awesome stuff the next day.

Samuel G and Nic Cho

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