Vern: On our first day with the new group we visited Santa Fé island and were greeted by a beach full of sea lions. The newbies were very enthusiastic and we stayed on the beach for a long time while they took lots of photos. I entertained myself following a hermit crab who was scuttling around and retreated into his shell every time my shadow spooked him, then crept out again and hurried away when he felt safe again. Finches hovered around us as if we were Disn...

Vern: When we awoke, the boat was docked off the coast of Española island, and after breakfast we boarded the dinghy to go ashore to Gardner Bay. The beach appeared to be very rocky but as we neared the coast the rocks started wriggling and barking and it became evident that we were joining a colony of around 50 sea lions. The books in our beach bags went unread, as we spent the morning swimming, snorkelling and sunning with the sea lions. While snorkellin...