On a Friday morning we visited one of the most pristine beaches in all the Galapagos: Bahia Gardner.

As our panga arrived, we were greeted by a seal lion in the surf who was between us and our chosen landing site. Here sealions rule the beach!

We walked up the beach and were greeted by the other ambassadors of Bahia Gardener: the Espanola mockingbird.

These mockingbirds aren’t hard to find because they find you. They readily approach beach visitors, inspecting your shoes or sandals. If you set your pack down it will be surrounded by mockingbirds, pecking at pockets and straps.

There were a fair number of Galapagos sea lions hauled out on the beach. Plenty of relatively stable subjects in repose to sketch.

I walked the beach adding sea lions to my spread (featured sketch).