Quiet day on the island

Here I am to save the day! Mighty Heron

Had a quiet morning.  Due to rain and knowing we'll have more opportunities for snorkeling later, we decided to walk around town.  We stopped in some shops and walked along the waterfront.  I got my first look at the blue-footed booby.  I expect I'll get better pictures later in the week; and hopefully video of their mating dance!

I finally got to see the black crabs.  Found out there really just the younger version of the Sadly Lighthouse crabs that are bright yellow.  Their black when their born so the blend in with the lava rock,  providing camouflage from predators.  As they grow up turn red and/or yellow.  I guess if you bother them they squirt water at you.  Although I know better then to do that,  I hope I get to are some predator get in their way so I can see it.

Walked around town for a couple of hours.  There was a fresh fish stand we went by - the birds were out en masse hoping for food,  and one sea lion was begging for any scrap he could get.  I was impressed that no one was getting annoyed - they just kept on working.  It provided us a great opportunity to see more birds.

After lunch we met some of the others for our first official tour.  I didn't know that 7 more had shown up yesterday.  So the 10 of us headed our to a farm that's next to the state park and so is filled with giant tortoises.  There we saw the other 20 on the tour from a distance - we were kept i three smaller groups for a better experience.  The rest of the tour will be two groups,  each going to a different one of the three island each day.  I love this about Paul's tours - if it gets too large,  he just splits the group up rather than having us feel like herded cattle.

Our guide told us a bit about the tortoises, some of which was a repeat of the day before.  Then we went tortoise searching for a couple of hours.  There was a pond filled with a pink plant (thus the name,  Pink Lake).  A tortoise was at the edge of it,  and several ducks throughout - the ducks provided a nice break from the tortoise search - I especially liked their dinner dance.  After the walk,  a couple odd the people tried on am old tortoise shell.  I thought it was a fake because of the odd color,  but found our that this is the natural color of the skeletal shell.  What we so on the tortoise is the outer she'll,  which is the same material add or fingernails (think horses hooves).

After the tortoises,  we went to a lava tube.  It had collapsed so you could go in the 60 feet or so that was left,  bit honestly,  was not really worth it.   I'm spoiled from the lava tubes I saw in Australia that were much more extensive and interesting.

I meet my roommate.  I can already tell were going to get along great.

Tomorrow I'm off to Seymour Island to see blue-footed Boobies, frigates, and hopefully more.

New animals saw today:  blue-footed booby