.

Day 4

In the morning we took the boat to Los Isolotes to view the California Sea Lions. Even though it was quite windy, we were able to board the pangas (little mini boats) and get a closer view on this sea lion habitat. We didn’t just see Sea Lions; there were also Sally Lightfoot Crabs, Blue-Footed Boobies, Brown Boobies, and the oh-so-stupid Seagulls. The only downfall from this adventure was that we could not snorkel with the Sea Lions. It wasn’t only because the sea was quite rough, but also because the majority of our group were lacking in skill with swimming and snorkelling. Yes, it is difficult to look at stuff, swim, and keep your snorkel tube thingie above the water all at the same time (don’t try back stroke).

After taking pictures and observing the Sea Lion’s habitat we had to make the crossing from Los Isolotes to Isla San Francisco as we had stayed on one side of our location due to a cold front causing gusty winds. 

Once across to went on shore and explored a low tide, it was pretty cool. We also visited the salt pans and Cactus Alley. It was nice to be on land after the crossing.

Once we had settled in for the evening, it was fairly low-key. We either played cards or just sat and partied on the bow. This was entertainment enough until Lela and Stasia set up the night-light to shine in the water to demonstrate the marine food chain. The light represented the moon, which attracted the Krill, which attracted the Sardines, which attracted other bigger scary fish thingies, which ate the Sardines, which ate the Krill.

Later that night Stasia took us out to the front of the boat and went through some astronomy lessons. We learned some amazing stuff; such as how the middle star in the belt of Orion (the constellation) was actually a star cluster, and that it’s easier to see stars when you look at them using your peripheral vision. We also learned that there is one other Galaxy which is visible to our naked eye, known as Andromeda. Although all of this stuff was quite amazing, the best part of this lesson was Stasia’s awesome laser pointer. The line on it is visible for over 2 kilometres!

After this people either played cards or went to bed. This is the end of day 4, goodnight!

Lindsay Loset & Geoffrey Stanich