As we continued our tour of Isla Chorros we wrapped around the entire island. This allowed us to see lots of different types of coastline, especially comparing the sheltered verses the seaward sides of the island.
Everybody was having a great time as we went to the ocean side of the island. Here the swells were much bigger, especially for the small fishing boat we were on.
Our next task was to be on the lookout for pods of bottlenosed dolphins, Turciops truncatus. The Spanish name for this dolphin is the "Delfin nariz de botella", or literally the dolfin with a bottle nose.
After about 10 minutes of searching we finally found what we were looking for. "Delfines" off of the starboard bow! Everybody quick, grab your cameras!!!
The pod we found had about 15 to 20 dolphins in it. They just cruised along with us for about a half an hour. We were able to take some really fun videos and lots and lots of pictures. The problem, though, is that by the time you see them come up they are ready to head back down before you take their picture.
Some of the dolphins were more playful than others. Dave caught this one in the act of flipping himself around in the water.
Somtimes the dolphins would come up one at a time. Other times they would come up in groups of three to five and take breaths at the same time. There was also a baby dolphin amongh the group. We saw him every now and then. He was a lighter, greener color. However we couldn't seem to get a good picture of him. The adults around him were pretty protective.
Dolphins, however, weren't the only fun sea animals to find. Back on the protected side of the island we found a rare species of sea otter, Lontra felina. In Spanish it is called a Gato de mar (Sea cat), Nutria, or Chungungo.
This rare Chilean species of sea otter is smaller than the ones we recognize from California. However, they were definitely just as cute. Similar to the sea otters in California this species was once thought to be extinct due to overhunting by fur traders. Though not common, this species is slowly making a comeback.
This particular otter was very curious and made his way over to our boat to see what was going on. Jill got to spend some good quality time getting to know him before he want back to his own business.
We also got to see the common Southern sea lion, Otaria flavescens. In Spanish they are called lobo marinero, or sea wolf. The kids though it was funny that they were called sea wolves in Spanish despite the fact that they don't look anything like wolves. We reminded the kids that they don't exactly look like lions either.
Above is a female sea lion. They are much smaller than the males. The species in chile has a large sexual dimorphism wherein the male is very large with a big forehead where as the females are much smaller and more streamlined. We laughed really hard watching the sea lion below try to get out of the water. When the waves came up he rode the swell up onto the rock and grabbed on. However, once the swell went back down he got stuck just hanging there. Eventually he had to give up, fall back into the ocean, and find another way up onto the rocks.
It was common to see groups of sea lions hanging out on the rocks. Usually it was one large male with about 3 to 4 females to keep him company.
Once we completed our tour of Isla Chorros we headed back to the open ocean towards the second of three islands that make up the Islas Damas. Behind us you can see Isla Chorros where we saw all of the sea life in this post and the previous one. Ahead of us lies Isla Dama. Isla Dama is also part of the Reserve but doesn't have penguins on it. Here we are heading over to Isla Dama to see what we can find.
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