After our early morning bird walk we had a really good breakfast at the Lime Kiln Cafe. Unfortunately, this cafe isn’t open for dinner.
We got aboard the Glacier Spirit and were off by 9:30 a.m.
It wasn’t long before we sighted our second life bird of the trip.
Yellow-billed Loon
Gavia adamsii
Our destination for the day was Sucia Island State Park where we had 2 hours to roam around on our own. We were handed sack lunches as we left the boat.
Sucia Island State Park is a 564-acre marine park with 77,700 feet of shoreline. It is considered the crown jewel of the state’s marine park system and is consistently ranked as one of the top boating destinations in the world.
While eating our lunch we saw this cute River Otter coming down the beach.
Eating lunch.
After lunch we headed down the beach for a little exploring. No rock collecting on this beach so I took pictures of a few of the more interesting rocks.
The shoreline is famous for its highly eroded sandstone formations including mushroom rock.
There aren’t a lot of birds to be seen, as it’s still a little early in the season. After a couple of hours we headed back to the boat.
We headed for an island where Stellar Sea Lions are usually seen sunning on the rocks. As we passed by we were disappointed to not see any. Captain Christopher knows this area well and lets us know that, with the high tide, the Sea Lions are out feeding. He knew just the place too! It wasn’t long before we started seeing the Sea Lions in the water all around our boat. They were feeding in the deeper waters.
One had a salmon that it was bringing to the surface and shaking savagely to break it into bite-sized pieces. The gulls loved it!
One had a salmon that it was bringing to the surface and shaking savagely to break it into bite-sized pieces. The gulls loved it!
Stellar Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus)
An average adult male weights about 1,250 lbs. They can weigh up to 2,500 lbs. Females weigh up to 770 lbs.
They came so close to the boat that even my little camera got good pictures.
Everyone decides to dive at the same time!
We got back to the hotel in time for dinner but decided to go over to the little store first. They had stocked up on croissant sandwiches so we got a couple, chips, diet coke, maybe a little dessert, and headed back to our very comfortable room for the evening.
Next time: Day 3 - Coming Home
Fun trip! I remember visiting the San Juan's several times but not the same way you are.
ReplyDeleteBeing full time RVers I totally get going and getting a few sandwiches, chips and drinks. We just don't always need a big, expensive sit down meal everyday like we used to do.
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