We woke up this morning anchored off Isla Carmen.

This morning after breakfast we went our separate ways.  Cheryl had a massage at 8:45 and I joined a dozen other passengers at 9:00 for a guided snorkeling expedition. Our guide was Jenny from Boise (and biology major from College of Idaho).

We donned our wetsuits and grabbed flippers and masks and loaded on to a skiff that took us towards a nearby island where we plopped over the edge and spent the next hour+ looking down.  First of all the water was cold.  Getting in was bracing, even with a wetsuit.

Second, there was an amazing amount of plankton floating in the water, making things seem a little foggy. Third, we saw AMAZING fish!  There were too many varieties to remember. 

The most impressive for me were the Angel fish – as big as a dinner plate.

We also saw various types of stars, coral, and lobsters. 

I really hated to get out when our guide called time.  Returning to the boat I pealed off my wetsuit, dunked it in the sanitizing bucket and hung it to drip. Then I joined several other snorkelers in the nearby hot tub.  HEAVEN!  Shortly thereafter Jenny happened by on her way to the lounge and asked if anyone wanted a drink.  I have to admit that a nice local oatmeal stout goes down real easy when you’re warming your bones in a hot tub.

Following her massage Cheryl joined her Skiff tour.  I’ll let her fill you in on what they saw.

Lunch today was Poke bowls with marinated tuna. 

It was excellent. For dessert they handed out house-made strawberry-pomegranate popsicles. They were really good.  You’ll have to take my word for it because Cheryl/popsicle.  As we were enjoying our treat the expedition director conducted sign-up for tomorrow and Friday (Friday because they need to book with a vendor and tomorrow because he was already interrupting our time so might as well do both at once instead of waiting for the normal happy hour time).

The afternoon activity was chasing the elusive whale.  Ultimately the whale eluded us which made for a comfortable afternoon stretched out with a good book.  Later in the afternoon we were attacked by a school of bottlenose dolphins.  They played around the boat and surfed in the bow wave for the better part of an hour.  They played, we gawked, a good time was had by all.

Shortly thereafter it was time for Happy Hour.  We spent a pleasant time chatting with  friends – a couple from Toronto and a mother from Denver and her daughter from Laramie.

Dinner this evening was another scrumptious treat followed by another lecture on Marine Mammals of Cortes. Then it was back to the cabin to upload photos, catch up on notes and sleep.

Also…shortly before dinner the boat left for our next mooring.  So as I’m writing this we are gently rocking side to side.  Should be an interesting night.

Till tomorrow.

Someone thought they saw a whale but the boat went looking for several hours and never spotted him again. HOWEVER we DID have 2 different pods of Bottle Nose Dolphins (much bigger than the Long-Nose Dolphins we had seen earlier in the week) come leaping over to our join our boat ride. The boat has an underwater bow camera so you can see the tail ends of several dolphins enjoying riding the bow wave.

When I went up on the bow of the ship and looked down I saw 17 of them packed together twirling upside-down and swerving over each other – just enjoying being pushed along by the pressure of the bow wave.

At dinner, one of the choices was “Golden Chicken” – and a thin layer of actual GOLD had been painted onto the chicken skin! Now that seems over the top blatant consumerism to me – I’ve enjoyed the gourmet meals but that was excessive.