Since we had booked an early morning excursion, “Sea Wolves Island,” we awoke to our alarm at 6:00 AM. After breakfast, we went to the Insignia Lounge and waited for our tour group to be called to board the tenders. Once ashore, our tour guide, Marcelo, led us along the pier to our sightseeing vessel, ironically named “Oceania.” We cruised six miles into Atlantic waters out past the wide mouth of the Rio de la Plata to a tiny island reserve inhabited by the world’s largest colony of non-migrating sea lions.
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| Relaxing on the Return Trip |
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| Approaching the Pier |
As we cruised towards the island, we watched as the size
of the low-slung green rock anchored by a white lighthouse appeared to grow in
size, while Marcelo gave us a brief history of the island. As we got closer, the island revealed itself
to be alive with thousands of South American sea lions – frolicking in the
water, feeding on fish, air-drying on rocky outcrops, and noisily interacting
with each other. They live for about 20
years in the wild and the males are easily told apart from the females thanks
to being triple their size. Once
overhunted and in decline, these rotund creatures are now well protected, and
their colony is thriving. Towering above
the shoals here, their lighthouse is Uruguay’s tallest – a replacement for the
original lighthouse that early hunters had razed to make seal catching easier. We spent about 45 minutes circling the island,
watching the blubbery goings-on. On the
return trip to the pier, a few of the passengers spotted a whale, but we didn’t
see it.
After reaching the pier, we boarded a tender back to the
ship and were back in our stateroom by noon.
After lunch, we both took a long nap.
(We’re still tired from Iguazu Falls!)
We danced for 45 minutes and went to the Terrace Café for dinner.
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