GLOBAL ODYSSEY 2010 BLOG #16: SWIMMING WITH SEA LIONS (WELL, WATCHING OTHERS SWIM)

Callao looks like a bit of a dump when you arrive. Not that they don’t have a first-rate port – it’s expanding and we saw huge cranes being offloaded from a Chinese vessel. But beyond the port gates, this entryway to Lima is not impressive.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason our first tour in Peru blew us away. We are here two days and have an archeological tour scheduled for tomorrow. We had one for today too, only we had to cancel it or our morning choice when we were told that departure times had been changed and that the two would now overlap. Ironically, Mary was the one that wanted to do the “Archeological Day in Lima,” while Sam was keen on taking “’Wild-Life Lovers’ Paradise,” the morning tour which visited San Lorenzo and the Palomino Islands. Because that still left open the possibility of doing something ourselves in the afternoon (with no worry of the Ship departing if we were late), that’s what we did.

About two boatloads of visitors chose this option, which involved a short bus ride to a marina, where we embarked in launches. We then motored out, past a former US WW II submarine, which had seen subsequent service in the Peruvian Navy, and the Antarctic research ship Humboldt, and an overturned vessel on which intermittent salvage was still taking place.

Straight ahead lay the bulk of San Lorenzo Island, formerly the haunt of pirates (Dutch buccaneer, Jacob, the Hermit, is buried here), but today the location of a Peruvian Naval Facility and a house occasionally used by the President. As we rounded the edge of this island – the largest in Peru, there was an increased chop to the wave. Apparently, handouts to the bird life used to be available, but too many passengers got seasick (the advice for those feeling queasy is to “look out towards the horizon,” though no one onboard seemed to have any trouble). This is where the real richness of the trip began to be apparent – the seabirds (including Humboldt penguins!) found on the rocky Calvinas, which the boats came amazingly close to. It was one thing for our vessels to cut the distance this fine, but our hats to the Peruvian fishermen who operated these turbulent waters in even smaller craft. The area is also a major exporter of guano – the sea bird fertilizer immortalized in Ian Fleming’s DR. NO. Palomino Island is the home of some 10,000 sea lions – and we saw most of them – sunning themselves, swimming gracefully, and snaking their heads above the water to eye us curiously. Have you ever been in a theater with a thousand growling stomachs? Well, it sounds something like that – there has to be a special region in Dante’s Inferno populated by these creatures!

Our guide gave us the opportunity to “swim with the sea lions,” which a few hearty souls took advantage of. Basically you have to be ready in advance, as there’s no place to change on the boat. This would have a great experience, but having seen the reaction of cameras to salt of the Dead Sea, we thought it more important to keep ours in working order. Maybe next time?

Our trip then finished by passing Elfronton (Island of the Dead). Appropriately named, as it operated as a prison, having held everyone from a former president (he allegedly escaped by swimming to a waiting boat) to revolutionaries from the Tupac Amaru and Shining Path small movements, whose prison riot was bloodily suppressed. Today, there are only empty ruins – and plenty of seabirds!

A cautionary note – none of our three Peruvian guidebooks mentioned this tour and two of them don’t even cover the islands. When you go on a trip like this, prepare to be surprised!