Islas Ballestas day trip

Early morning, again. Picked up by mini-bus and heading towards the ocean. For the first time in many weeks were going to see the ocean. Small boat trip to Islas Ballestas. They can be reached by boat in less than 20 minutes from the mainland. Lots of birds to look at and hopefully also some seals and penguins. Nice weather, the sun being out this morning. We arrived at the pier and went through the usual pay 2 soles for this permit and 15 for another entrance fee. And then we were on the the boat. Our guide doing a lot of speak in Spanish and occasionally mumbling a bit in English. We stayed just off the coast of the islands for more than 30 minutes giving us plenty of options to look at birds, seals and penguins. The boat getting fairly close to the shore and the rocks but not feeling dangerous at any point. We just had to stay clear of the bird droppings that rained down from the sky.

The boat headed back to the pier, we got off, found a place to hang out since our bus didn't leave until 2 hours later. We picked up our luggage from the minibus and decided not to go back to the cafe but instead found one that was a little more laid back and had pancakes for lunch. The bus terminal was just 10 minutes up the road so for once we acted like real back packers walking to the terminal with all our stuff.

It turned out to be a bit tricky to find the terminal since there was no sign. A nice guy pointed us in the right direction but it was Malene who figured out that the terminal was in fact the construction site we already had passed once. The bus arrived on time, there was only a handful of people on board including us and apart from being a quite scenic route along the coast there was nothing else to add. Getting closer to Lima the traffic got more and more dense and chaotic until there were more rows of cars than there was lanes on the actual road. We took a taxi from the bus terminal and arrived at the hostel just after darkness, rang the bell and after a while locks were unlocked and the friendly hostel owner said "welcome" to us. We had our room - a bit dodgy - and headed out into the neighbourhood of Miraflores to look for dinner. A bit hungry after a long day. Good food at CafeCafe and then back to the dodgy room for some sleep. City walk tomorrow in Lima.

Ready to go

Early breakfast

At bit cloudy this morning

One more ticket

Inca message?

Seals on the beach

Lots of birds

Giant colony of birds

Favourite bird for the moment

Lazy seals

Improvised bus terminal

Lima rush hour traffic

From Cusco to Lima

Great food at CafeCafe

And of course - Ceviche

Come on whales !

Our last day with the kayaks. We really wanted to see some wildlife up close. Not that we hadn't seen a lot already - but it was from a distance, so it would just be nice to get "close". And then again, not too close. Even in a double kayak, you don't have to be very far from shore to feel vulnerable.

Even on this fourth day in a row we enjoyed nice weather from the morning, and more important, calm seas so we could focus our energy on going forward and when we did have a break from paddling - focus on what's going on around us.

It wasn't long until we saw a few seals poking their head up the water, and then we could also see them being lazy on the rocks. Soaking in the sun and then paying a bit of attention to us. So we stayed a bit away from then and enjoyed them getting close to us. Lying in the kelp helped us to be steady in the water so we didn't have to worry about tide or currents. Just enjoy the seals.

We continued after a while an suddenly a seal lion jumped right in from of our kayak. Small surprise but we didn't flip the kayak. As with most of the days we headed for a place where our guide used to see whales in a particular time of the day which meant going through some really narrow and shallow waters. When we cleared one of these narrow inlets we surprised a group of sea lions who suddenly headed straight for us. Once again you feel a little small in a kayak when they head for you. But as soon as they got close they dived and disappeared.

We had lunch on a small island and kept looking for whales. Nothing to see. As we headed out on our last leg towards Telegraph Cove - and the end of the trip we passed through a small lagoon - and their they were. One, two, three fins breaking the surface and disappearing - and then re-appearing. We stayed there in the choppy water - the tide forcing lots of water into the lagoon, the whales going back and forth in front of the kayak, once in a while even making really big splashes with their impressive tail.

Heading back to Telegraph cove we enjoyed the last of the sunshine. Then we beached the kayaks, emptied our stuff, said good bye to Cole and Dick. A shower and then we were on our way South. First stop - a mini golf course we saw in Miracle Beach. We made it just in time before they closed and had a big ice cream before going out for a round of "dead-or-alive". It's not just about participating.

Mikkel won.

We headed further south and looked for a place to stay for the night. The first time in so many, many weeks without a place pre-booked. Eventually we found a motel at Qualicum beach, a place that served food after 9 PM (Not easy in Canada), headed to bed. Happy to have had such a great kayak trip.

Where's my contact lens?

Kayak group

After kayaking comes mini-golf