Woke up with the sun this morning, it was absolutely amazing. I ate my breakfast out near the fire pit and watched the ocean while the Osprey nesting pair taunted me - they kept flying by JUST out of range for my camera to get a decent photo of them, but I'll get one before we leave. We had lecture at about 9:45 today and went over some basic inter-tidal stuff; breakdown of the regions, species of animals present, various stressors from living in the tide pool area, etc. Afterwards we went down the road to Cet Mar Acuario, which is a little one room aquarium. It was really exciting because I got to pet a Sea Lion (a full grown male at that!), and sea turtles.

Photo by: Elizabeth

Photo by: Elizabeth

 As I work at an aquarium myself, it was a little depressing to walk in and see such small tanks and poor lighting conditions. Four or five large sea turtles were in a small, chest deep, pool of water (species included olive ridley and green sea turtle); the resident male sea lion, Arturo, had a pool about the size of my bedroom, and the water barely covered him. One green sea turtle was alone, though that was understandable as she appeared to have fibropapillomatosis (aka turtle herpes), but she was completely in the dark. Lights were out throughout the small site, and the walls looked as though they had seen better days. What they do is great, they're sort of a turtle rehabilitation center, I just wish there was more funding available to help better care for the animals.

Photo by: Jessica McAdams

After our little jaunt to Cet Mar, we headed back to get ready for dinner down near the Old Port. We had dinner at El Delfin Amigable, and walked along the streets for an hour or so. A few of us picked up some souveniers at the shops that were still open, and a good time was had by all. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous contrasting with the rocky shore, and became even more picturesque when a flock of pelicans flew by. I was very upset I couldn't take any photos of our evening out - or the gorgeous sunset - because I'd left my camera back in the dorms.

I think I'll sleep on the deck tonight. Tomorrow morning we get up SUPER early to go kayaking down at the estuary.

Also, Erinn tried to eat a sun star today.