Yeah, They May Just Want To Play, But When A Sea Lion Is Chasing You. . .Run!

After all that activity, we weren’t done with the first full day yet.  There was a 5 pm wet landing hike scheduled for the beaches of Santa Fe Island.  Yup, we’d be landing on the same beaches the sea lions were hanging out on.

By the way, around the equator, the sun basically rises at 6 am every day, and sets around 6 pm every day.  So we had a little over an hour to hike.  There’s no long summer days or short winter days when you live near the equator.  There’s no pointless debate over which is better, Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time. 

(Rant warning: Of course Daylight Savings Time is better.  I’m not for it being in effect year round, but I love my June days where the sun is up till nearly 9 pm.  Life is better when the sun is up past 6:30 pm, perfect nights for grilling and chilling.  People who whine about losing an hour of sleep because it’s not worth an hour later sunset from March-November are nuts.  Nuts I tell you!  Quit crying about it and deal with it!  It’s a lot better this way. . .okay, rant over).

(Editor’s Note: Buddy, you okay?  Blogger, somewhat sheepishly: I guess so.  Won’t bring it up again).

Anyhow, it was a wet landing.  As we went up on the beach, we had to stay six feet away from the sea lions, both as social distancing so no one got COVID and, more importantly, to avoid angering them.  (Rest assured dear reader, no sea lions have tested positive for COVID in the days since our landing.) 

Going ashore, then plopping down on the beach to put sneakers on for hiking the semi-rough, lava rock terrain, amongst the sea lions was a pretty cool experience in and of itself.  Our guide, Ixora, gave us ample time in the late afternoon light to take pictures of the cute little sea lions and the massive adults.  There were some signs of sparring, but usually it ended quickly as the upstart sea lion would run away when the bigger, more established bull would bark and snap back.

Walking up on the beach.  There

were also sea lions behind me.

A bad wound.  Hope this sea lion recovers.

Just out of the water, using

the sun to dry off.

These flare-ups didn't last long.

This sea lion is a dead

ringer for Don Rickles.

Separated at birth?

Heading to the path, we were met with two sea lions blocking the path.  And, on the Galapagos, you must stay on the path, we can’t just trample through the underbrush.  Our guide waved her arms, alternatively taking a few quick steps at the sea lions and hooting at them in an effort to get them out of the way.

Guess which sea lion lost his cool? 

Yup, the one with the mustache.

She, on the other hand, could not

have been nicer to us.  She

even apologized for blocking

our way.  (Well, no, but it seemed

like she was sorry.)

The female sea lion politely moved, but the male didn’t like Ixora’s show.  He charged her (and by definition us) and we all scattered, showing the good judgment to choose flight instead of fight, primarily because we would have gotten our butts kicked.  Ixora’s plan worked however, as we now had a clear path to the, er, path.

(Editor’s Note: Would it have killed you to use “trail” instead of the second “path”?  Blogger: Yes. . .moving on).

We hiked upwards to a small forest of beautiful prickly pear cactus trees, many of which towered over us.  We came upon some of the pale iguanas, which are quite rare, except, apparently, on Santa Fe island.

Trying to get a better photo of one pale iguana, I nearly put my hand on the trunk of a prickly pear cactus tree, but something in my unfocused brain caused me to realize there are needles on the trunk as well.  Crisis averted, and I got the shot.

Pale Iguana, so-named because, well,

it's pale!  (Editor's Note: You will have

a second career as a naturalist yet --

heck, you might even say you're a natural!)

Iguana head close-ups are cool.

Iguana feet close-ups are cool.

This iguana is pretty good looking too.

We stopped by a large prickly pear cactus tree along the trail for some couples photos with the beach, the bay, sea lions in the background.  As Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris would sing, This is us:

After doing a circuit hike of a small part of the island, we came back to the second part of the beach.  Taking more photos of the sea lions.

Three times, one young sea lion charged at me.  All three times I was facing the other direction. All three times Carol had to yell out a warning.  All three times I propelled myself with my feet faster than I have in a long, long time.  Most of the time, most 59 year old men are probably faster than me, but not at those specific moments in time. 

Pre-charge, the dude looked sane.

Being cute to lure me in.  It almost worked.

After the fact, one of the naturalists noted that when the younger ones charge, it just means they want to play.  Yeah, well, since I’m not sure of what their definition of “play” entails, I wasn’t going to hang around to find out.  And, let's say I did hang around to "play," how would the sea lion react when I started kicking its ass?  Not well I assume.

(Editor's Note: Uh, Glen, there is no way you would have been kicking any sea lion's ass.  Blogger: Oh, we don't know that for certain, now do we?  Editor: Oh, yes we most certainly do!)

Very cool ending to a fabulous first full day.