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On Wednesday, Robyn and I rented a 15HP boat and took a self-guided tour north along the coast from Avalon.

At this point, cruise ships had been anchored off Avalon for a couple days, so it was interesting seeing them dominate the landscape. We got a few shots up close on our way back to port. For some reason, it’s a little unnerving putting around in a dinky little boat next to something so massive on the water. I first got this feeling while navigating around container ships down in Singer Island, and there it was again.

We made our way north, dipping into coves and interesting places, trying to find the edges of kelp gardens where the most sea creatures hang out. As we explored north, we saw random yachts anchored out in the middle of nowhere, and some gorgeous sailboats with people climbing high up the masts and diving into the water.

Again, we bought a disposable waterproof camera and developed the shots to CD. Photoshop made them decent looking, and we got a few really amazing ones. We were extremely lucky to spot a bat ray trying to hide itself in the sand, and we followed it around for a bit. Though it swam away when we got close, it never got scared enough to completely take off. Boy, could it camouflage itself well in the sand though. All you could see were its eyes!

As we started for home after a great morning of snorkeling, probably the most memorable event of our vacation happened. We were just cruising along, when a sea lion popped its head out of the water and swam in the opposite direction. We couldn’t believe it, but I quickly whipped the boat around and started following. It was tough to anticipate where it would pop its head up next, but sometimes we could see its shiny body sliding beneath the surface. We tailed it for probably 10 minutes trying to get movies and pictures, and we came out with a few decent ones.