Today we took a cruise on a boat we rented to one of the neighboring islands called Plaza South . The boat was bigger than I expected (but given the seas we came home in, the right size). It had a crew of two, with a cook. They were nice people who made my getting on and off the boat possible. As it turns out, we could never have seen so much on the island we visited if we had gone with a tour group because of how slow I am on rocky, hilly, loose soil terrain.

The island is a breeding ground for sea lions. There were bulls, females, and pups all over the place. Fun and cute. The calves are kept in a sort of nursery with females in attendance while the bulls swim around as guards.

It was also the home of both marine and land iguanas. The iguanas are really primitive looking. I remember in early science fiction movies these creatures were used as representatives of prehistoric monsters. The males hang out around cactus trees (their principle source of food and water) and entice the females to their feeding grounds with bits of the juicy cactus pads.

The island was also a rookery for several species of sea birds. The e-mail will not take all the bird pictures I took but the Blue-footed Boobie (the picture on the left shows a blue footed Boobie with an Arctic Boobie on the right) and the tropical bird with its long tail stood out.

After the hike around the island, we ate a meal cooked on board. It was amazingly good considering the chef had a galley about the size of a small coat closet. After lunch it was a two hour boat trip over choppy seas and then back to the hotel. At the dock we saw the supplies for the Island being offloaded, boats being repaired, kids swimming - a lively place. On the way home, the guide had the driver stop for Carol and me to get a picture of a land tortoise. He pulled over on the wrong side of the road and let me out to get a picture. A car in the oncoming lane stopped and put on his flashers to warn people in the lane that there was a problem ahead (us- -parked on the wrong side) and he stayed there until our driver pulled back to the proper side of the road. That's just what locals do for each other. Try that in California or Washington or anywhere else in America.