Day 19

Just Hatched

Baby Brown Pelicans

Most of our “Caravaners” met up at 8:45am to convoy to a boat landing nearby and loaded ourselves into two Yamaha boats and boated along several canals bordered by Mangrove tree.  About 45 minutes later at we arrived at “Pajoras Island” a federally protected island that is a part of the California Gulf Islands.  It is home to numerous birds such as Night Heron, Little Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Frigate Bird, Black Crowned Night Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, White Ibis, Double-crested Cormorant and others.

This was a very interesting stop as there were thousands of birds on the island and many had active nests.  We were able to see baby pelicans in various stages of life from nests with unhatched eggs, to just emerged from the eggs, to several days and weeks of age and having undeveloped feathers.  It was really a thrill to be able to look into these nests and witness first-hand the development of these pelican’s chicks.  After spending an hour or so watching the birds we moved on over to “Shell Island which was nearby. 

Peter Looking For Birds?

We disembarked onto the beach which had the remains of an old lighthouse.  Those interested in collecting shells had an opportunity to walk along the beach and collect from many different species of shell.

They're Everywhere

Our tour guide, the owner of “Mr. Moro’s Hotel and RV Resort”, provided a picnic lunch which hit the spot after a busy morning of bird watching and shell collecting.  We boated back to our vehicles around 2:30pm.  That evening we were treated to margaritas and other drinks that were followed up by a wonderful dinner of soup, shrimp, broiled fish, and some wonderful pie for dessert.  Needless to say we were a tired bunch after this day of “fun in the sun”.

Sandra & Ken