Prius C vs. sea turtle

The islands offer an interesting contradiction... teeming with life, both on the land and under the sea... still utterly inhospitable for sustained human life.
It appears God said... "I am going to let you have almost every last square inch of this beautiful blue marble, but ease off on here... this one is for my friends the turtles, boobies, sea lions and their crew."

Anchored in Targus cove off the west coast of Isabel Island, we spent the morning hiking up to the top of a ridge line and took in the views...

Coming into the trip, I was a little worried about my mom's ability to keep up... while she wasn't terribly excited about the idea of humping it up the damn hill, she did beat most... yeah MOM!!!

And rewarded with some lovely views including the Darwin volcano in the distance.

Heather smiling at the thought, that if the zombie apocalypse started this very instance, is there a better place on the planet to be?

A quick snorkel before lunch and departure... Heather has a close encounter with a wet missile.
These guys can move and LOVE to play... like a Lulu with fins.

A short sail across the straits to Fernandina island, and Espinoza point, we found a massive colony of marine iguanas.

No worries mom... they don't bite... err I think, right, yeah no, well maybe... oh just go ahead and stick your finger out at them... worse case, you have 9 more.

I love succulents... in the most rugged and inhospitable places... you can always count on a little cacti love.

Same family of species, totally different outlook on life.... marine iguanas (as you can see) love the colony and togetherness, land iguanas, not so much, love their alone time.

So they had no issue with a couple of random Californians kickin back and chillin with their crew.

Ended the day back in the water with a flightless cormorant.
Due to the abundance of seafood, this "bird" evolved, losing the ability to fly, but became the Michael Phelps of the natural world...

I was one of the last ones in the water, as it was getting late and cold, so the photo lacks perspective, but this sea turtle was GINORMOUS... easily the size of my Prius C (yes I own I Prius C and I love my little electric car so piss off).