Panterra :: MySchool Journal

Daily Journal

ESSMY

Day 6

Our morning started with kayaking and snorkeling with the sea lions.

All geared up for a swim with the sea lions.

The habitat was alive with a variety of beautiful fish.

Giant Damsel fish.

A sea lion pup lays on the bottom.

A few of the sea lions swam past.

They were amazing to watch.

Alex dives for a closer look.

We were in awe at the graceful abilities of these animals.

Obviously enjoying the experience.

It was a fantastic snorkel.

After lunch we headed to the cliffs to go jumping.

A short walk later and we were in the spot. YIPES!!!!

Alyssa, Leanne and Taylor.

Ereinne, Yolande and Danielle.

A 5 second hesitation and Yolande jumps.

Guillaume, Cindy and Robyn.

Gerald, David and Kari.

Alex.

Stephanie...

... and last but not least Stasia (yes the one with the "borrowed" Barbie pencil).

After cliff jumping we headed off to our evening destination.
Once anchored we were on our way to explore and hike a
new spot when we encountered a Marlin fishing for his dinner.

It had the stealth of a shark.

We continued on our way to our hiking destination when we saw two
blows from to different species of whales. We tried to reach them by
panga but they wouldn't let us get too close so we called the ship to
come and pick us up with the intentions of checking the whales.

Once onboard we caught up to the first whale as the second
one had left. It was a shy Finback whale. It seemed to come closer.

We got to see a close up of a large Finback whale.

We arrived back at our evening destination just before sunset
and headed into the mangroves to explore. It was high tide.

Because of the high tide we didn't find any birds. Being in the
mangroves at this time brought on an amazing feeling of peace
and tranquility, thus, a perfect ending to a spectacular day!

Today was amazing!! Definitively the best day so far! We woke up same as usual and had a nice breakfast. Then we just chilled on the boat as the captain sailed us to the sea lion habitat. Lela wasn’t sure that we were going to be able to swim with them, as the wind had been kind of icky lately. However, the water there was just fine! Everybody was so excited! We piled into the pangas with our snorkel gear and hopped in the water. A few of us even kayaked! The sea lions were extremely playful. They were swimming up right next to us and seemed to embrace us as their own. We hung out with our new buddies for quite a while but we had to continue our adventure.

We got back on the Narval and sailed to another island. We stopped at the next island to find many cliffs. Lela and Stasia told us to get our swimsuits on because we were going jumping! Everyone was so pumped! Some of us were unsure at first, but everyone was so supportive, when we climbed to the top of the cliff and looked down at the water, we kind of started freaking out. But then, THREE, TWO, ONE!!! SPLASH!!! It was such an adrenaline rush and the water was amazing! We got to go three times! It was so much fun.

A little later in the afternoon, we prepared for a hike. However on our way to the hike, a Finback whale interrupted our activity. Instead of continuing on to our destination, we followed the whale, but he was playing shy. So we called the ship out to us and zoomed followed the whale!

When we had anchored for the night, we once again, got in the pangas and explored the shallow waters of the mangrove lagoon, which is only accessible at high tide. It was like an escape to a paradise within a paradise. So, so, so pretty!

After we had an amazing dinner and the sun had gone down, we all gathered on the bow of the boat and looked at the stars. Our astronomy lesson was mucho cool! There aren’t many lights out here so there seemed to be a thousand stars in the sky. We even saw a falling star! Constellations were easy to pick out thanks to the handy dandy super amazing lazer pointer!!

Panterra has been awesome so far! We can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

(top of page)