We arrived on Tuesday, got ourselves situated and headed to a neighbors boat for happy hour. We met the owner, Scott, as we pulled into the anchorage. There is little sand and lots of rocks along the bottom making things tricky. Scott found us a sandy patch and guided us to drop the anchor, then he watched to make sure it set. If only every anchoring experience could go down like that! 😉 There were 4 boats in the small anchorage and we all piled onto Muskoka to chit chat. We didn’t stay too long and made our way back to our boat for dinner and an early bedtime.
The next morning we woke up early with a mission to get to shore before it got hot outside. We couldn’t wait to check out the island and all it had to offer. We pulled the dinghy on shore by 9am and started exploring. As you look up into the sky there are hundreds of birds circling in the air.
As you look down the beach is covered in little coral pieces.
As you look forward there are fishing shacks and nets along the shore. We made our way to a trail that lead to an abandoned research facility. It was huge and unfinished, which is a bummer! We saw plenty of iguanas along the path, lizards, and of course birds!
This part of the Island is saturated with frigate birds and their nests. In the trees you’ll find females laying on their nests, juveniles hanging out in the branches and males with their throats puffed out for all to see that they are ready for love. I was so surprised to see that the frigates are not territorial and did not seem to mind humans coming so close. 
We back tracked and headed to the fishing huts to find the start of the next trail. This one would lead us to Lago Crater. As we made our way up the path we found plenty of holes in the ground which belonged to crabs. I felt creeped out, Brad was fascinated! One was a little irked as it came out to say hello. It reminded me of the crabs you see in cartoons. He came out with arms spread wide and ready to pinch!
The paths along the island are well maintained and marked which makes it easy to navigate. As you walk the path your ears are inundated with bird noises- it was pretty cool to stop and just listen. We went up a steep hill and came down the other side to the crater. It’s full of stagnant, rain water and from what we could tell, no wildlife present in the lake.
We followed the path further and were halted to a stop when we both heard a whistling noise. Was a researcher trying to get our attention? Nope, it was a blue footed boobie talking. We kept going down the path that ended at the ocean cliff. There were boobies everywhere! They were so cute with their bright blue feet as they waddled around. We saw a couple of the mamas laying on their nests while most of them were in the thick of courting season. A pair will do a little dance and I suppose the rest is history if the partner likes the dance moves. I spent way too much time geeking out with the camera and Brad caught some great footage with the iPhone. 
Perspective on anchor…
The gorgeous cliff views…
We peeled ourselves away and walked back to the fishing huts and decided to do another path that leads to a lighthouse on top of the hill. The hike was very steep, but not too far so it was manageable. We enjoyed the burn going up because we had been restless on the passage coming down. We needed the exercise! As we climbed higher and higher the views got better and better. 
At the top there were more boobies. We walked around while taking in the amazing views below us and made our way back down. 
Brad found one last area to explore, this was my least favorite. It was low tide and a portion of rocks were exposed. As we climbed up the rocks and peered down, we saw tons of crabs scurrying away! They reminded me of spiders! The crabs were a shiny black and a few were red. I’ve never seen black crabs before. Also located on this stretch of rocks are brown footed boobies. It was interesting that each bird was segregated to their own sections of the island.
This was by far my favorite place of the trip making any uneasy parts of the passage completely worth it. It’s times like this that need to be savored because there will be other tough times coming up.
Words from the crew…Sydney’s Perspective.
You know what I’m tired of? This island! Did you know my humans told me I am not allowed on shore? Something about a nature preserve or some garbage like that. I’ve been pouting every chance I get. I especially get angry when my parents come back to the boat smelling like sand. They locked me on deck for hours while they explored the island. The boat was rocking like crazy in the anchorage and I feel abused. They told me I can go to land at the next place, they better not be lying! Puerto Vallarta or bust!
I love Reading your blog and following along on your adventure. I wish you both safe and joyous holidays.