In case you thought I’d posted enough photos of sea lions, I’m about to prove you wrong.

Gardner Bay on Espanola Island is home to a host of these brazen creatures.

We arrive here after spending the morning at Punta Suarez and are greeted with this view.

We climb into our panga, which is best described as a raft/speedboat combo. We ride the pangas every time we go to shore.

As we approach Gardner Bay I am already impressed by the white sand and turquoise water. And I spy some lounging sea lions…

These sea lions actually greet us as we pull up to the beach. We’re not supposed to get that close but they leave us little choice.

We are warned that this will be a “wet landing,” meaning we step out of the panga into thigh-deep water.

The silhouette of the sea lion below reminds me of a polar bear. A tropical polar bear.

The men below are standing way too close to these sea lions (our group is told to stay several feet away). But these particular creatures don’t seem to mind.

This dude looks like he’s posing for a post card. I happily oblige and take his photo.

As I venture down the other end of Gardner Bay, I decide this is the prettiest beach I’ve ever been to. (It retains that standing until my trips to Thailand and Hawaii several years later. And even then I’d rank the nicest beaches in those places equal to this one.)

I spy some iguana tracks… their tails leave a distinctive mark.

I follow the tracks to their source.

We climb back into the pangas to go snorkeling near a big rock that is just off-shore.

Then we get a little more time to rest on the beach and hang out with our new friends.

And finally we make the return trip to our G Adventures yacht.

A handful of pelicans hang out around the boat, perhaps looking for scraps of food.

We catch the sunset and reflect on another perfect day in paradise. In hindsight, I think this was my favorite day of the whole trip.

What is YOUR idea of paradise? A mountaintop in Colorado? An island in the Caribbean? A remote fishing village in Italy? Do tell!