MS National Geographic Sea Bird
Isla Partida and Los Islotes, Archipíelago de Espíritu Santo
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

    The waters of the gulf continued to challenge the well-being of many on board throughout the night. Relief came early this morning as the captain slipped the ship into the protection of a pretty cove of Isla Partida. The ship anchored here so that we could have a calm breakfast and enjoy a view of the island and its sandy beaches.

    We didn’t stay long, however, because our real destination for the morning was just around the other side of the island, Los Isoltes, a small rocky islet populated by sea lions, boobies, pelicans, seagulls, and others. It was also the location where some of us went snorkeling among the sea lions, which was great fun.

    Underwater, the adult males could be seen to travel from point A to point B by a direct route with focused intensity. But, the juveniles, like most youngsters were excited to play; swimming up and around us and tumbling with each other with joyous abandon. The ship had shorty wetsuits for use, but I had brought a full 3 mm wetsuit with me. The water temperature was running about 70°F, so I was glad to have the full suit. I noticed that a lot of the others had goosebumps on their arms and legs by the end of the hour in the water; I felt just right. In addition to the sea lions, there were a number of different colorful fish in the water.

    After getting changed back into the usual gear of short pants and safari shirt, we cruised around the islet in Zodiacs to get a closer look at some of the inhabitants and to view the crashing surf on the other side of the rocks.

    The ship recovered her anchor and we cruised back to the protected cove of Isla Partida. This time we landed via Zodiac in order to explore the island some. We had a little time to search for photo opportunities, but just as it was getting close to the magic hour of photo light (about one hour before sunset), we were called back to the Zodiacs for transportation to an adjacent beach for a evening barbecue. Well, actually, a group of us hardcore photographers hijacked a Zodiac and driver to cruise around the shoreline of the cove a while so as not to loose that special light. We got to dinner about 45 minutes later than the scheduled time, but they still had plenty of food and beer waiting for us. Everyone had a great time watching the sun set in the west, listening to stories of Aztec mythology around the campfire, and watching the stars come out. The time to return by Zodiac to the ship came too early, but everyone was still ready to call it a day.

    There was dash for medication to fight off seasickness, as it was announced that we would be rocking and rolling our way overnight up to Isle Santa Catalina.