On Day 2 in the Galapagos, we went to Santa Fe Island. As we landed, we were immediately introduced to a small colony of sea lions. These were my favorite animals of the trip - they reminded me of giant puppy dogs.

So here’s some things to note about sea lions. First, to tell a sea lion from a seal is their ears. Seals’ ears are flush with their heads and sea lions have these cute little floppy ears. They kind of look like Shrek’s ears

They were very curious animals. This one checked out Thomas’ camera bag, and I had a baby (about the size of a large dog) crawl into my lap. While snorkeling, the sea lions swam along and had no problem coming right up to the group.

They’re also very lazy. I think we saw them sunning themselves on the beaches and cliffs at each island we went to. This photo also shows how many there were, and how close we were able to get. I liked watching them stretch - they would tilt their heads back so their chins faced the sky. We saw a few napping on boats in Finch Bay - the boat owners get annoyed because they stink up the boats.

They also seemed very playful, especially the young ones. They would romp around in the water and wrestle and climb on each other. They really looked like they were having a good time. I was amazed at how well they get around. We saw a bachelor area, where the bachelor sea lions will climb - it was about a 40 foot cliff, though most of it had been worn smooth from the oil on their coats.

And finally, I thought this photo really showed the size. The babies were about the size of a large dog. We saw a few that were still nursing on their moms. The mothers were much bigger, and the daddies were the largest. They would bark to let us know that it was their colony, and we made sure to stay away from them.

On this island, we also saw our first land iguanas, some beautiful pelicans, and a beautiful Galapagos Hawk. I’ve added these photos to our Flickr Group.

• Honeymoon - Galapagos