blue footed boobys and pink flamingos

before we are off to our next island let me add a few photos of things we saw while anchored off a beautiful red sand beach for some of the group to kayak-

they bring the kayaks around and tow them to near the shore where the kayakers do a wet landing and then get into their kayaks and paddle back to the ship-

the winners in the kayak race return and are helped into the ship-

meanwhile those of us (half the group) who stay on board see some birds and water life- pelican, sea turtle, shark, frigate bird and booby-

a view of the magnificent color of the beach-

so our next stop after a long night traveling on the water (try getting up in the middle of the night in the dark and finding the bathroom while the ship pitches you from one side to the other....LOL) was one of two inhabited places on the islands.  

I think I can say fairly "inhabited" is a term they use loosely- a few sandy streets and pretty down and out hostel type places make up the bulk of "civilization" here- photos follow-

but first- we make a stop in the raft near an island where the boobys roost! - oddly enough, though we were told we wouldn't see any more penguins after our expedition across from Sombrero Chino- there are some roosting here with the boobys (hiding out?)

then we head to port (town) where sea lions have become a part of the landscape- LOL- and we actually get to make a dry landing onto an actual DOCK!

looks like these guys can sleep anywhere!

the local bus service- took us through the town and out to an abandoned quarry where we saw pink flamingos....

then we took our "bus" to the nearby turtle breeding center to see the turtles and learn about efforts to keep these guys populated throughout the islands-

 an embryo from an egg showing the size of the turtle inside the eggs- then a hatchling - at two months old-

from the turtle preserve we went into town where we were given waaaaaayyy too much time to hang out- the four streets offered little beyond bar/cafes and a couple of stores with nothing really to buy and so we had drinks in  place that offered Wi-Fi so Phil could check his email on his phone-

back to the ship in the rain which had come while we on land for a couple of hours- and we head out after dinner is served to the next island (overnight sailing again)