“水是眼波橫，山是眉峰聚”。在途經聖克里斯托瓦爾島西北時，我們直接從甲板上觀賞造型別致的睡獅岩。實際上，睡獅岩是一個從太平洋海底直上直下凸出水面的凝灰石，海拔約500英尺／152米。 

      In the northeast of San Cristobal Island, we lined up on the deck for a chance to see Kicker Rock in an odd form. As a matter of fact, it was remnant of a vertical tuff formation, abruptly rising almost 500 ft/152 meters from the Pacific Ocean.

      Kicker Rock looked sharp, huge, and nearly bare piece of rocks protruded out of the ocean. Only the birds seemed to be able to scale the sides. Even though there was little chance from slim to none, erosion had split the rock and presented it in the emblematic shape like a shoe as its original name of Kicker Rock or a sleeping sea lion. The rock was divided in two parts forming a channel beyond my imagination. Our cruise from one side this tuff cone formation gave us the opportunity to have a close-up view of sea birds along the cliffs.

      睡獅岩又尖又大，光禿禿地佇立汪洋大海之中，恐怕只有飛禽動物才可以“爬”上岩頂。儘管概率極小，睡獅岩最終還是被風化成兩半，形如一隻鞋，或像一隻睡獅，其本名“鞋石”和別名“睡獅岩”集中反映了這些特徵。兩部分岩石中間形成水道，實在超出我的想象。遊輪沿凝灰岩錐一側航行，雙岸青山從眼前相對而出，讓我們有機會與飛檐走壁的海鳥近距離接觸。

      Late afternoon, I decided to spend my time swimming on the Coast of San Cristobal Island. Before I could jump into the water, Mom commanded, well, told me, but sounded like a command to explore a long and wide white coral sand beach of Witch Hill where it was one of the first sites visited by Charles Darwin in 1835. Due to hot weather, we didn't see much fauna except for sea lion, a brown pelican, ghost crabs and marine iguana or Imp of Darkness sun-bathing on the rocks. After I was bitten painfully by the horseflies, I finally splashed among the people of our cruise ship in the warm water.

      傍晚前，我決定去聖克里斯托瓦爾島海濱游泳。未等下水，“煙波不動影沉沉，碧色全無翠色深”自然風光。1835年，此地曾為查爾斯•達爾文最早出遊科隆群島景點之一。因為高溫天氣，我們並沒有看到很多動物，唯有海獅、棕鵜鶘、鬼蟹、海鬣蜥(黑暗惡魔)躺在礁石上曬着太陽，盡情享受“澄泓湛凝綠，物影巧相況”之美景。痛苦地經歷了馬蠅血咬之後，我終於可以跟同船來的夥伴們一起泡在暖和和的海邊共度快樂時光。

      After a delightful swim, I heard a little whimpering. I turned around and saw a baby sea lion barking on the cove. The pup sounded hungry. His or her mother probably went foraging. At the moment, the pup started to look for three other females for milk on sandy shore. Unfortunately, the pup didn't get anything but a lot of yells. The sea lion mother seemed only to nurture her own offspring by instinct in the Galapagos. The pup was wandering around the beach and waiting for the mother to come back anxiously.

      好好洗過海澡之後，我聽到輕輕的嗚咽聲，循聲望去，只見一隻海獅幼子正在水灣吠叫，它好像餓了。小傢伙的媽媽可能出海覓食，撇下它嗷嗷待哺。正在此時，小傢伙開始從身邊尋找乳媽義工，試過三隻母海獅，都被毫不留情地罵了回來，看來科隆群島母海獅本能上僅養育自己親生子女。沒轍兒，小傢伙只好浪跡天涯，焦急地等待媽媽早點歸來。

      We gazed upon the natural beauty of Witch Hill beach where animal life was vivid and Kicker Rock situated in the backdrop.

      與睡獅岩遙遙相對，“上下天光，一碧萬頃”的女巫嶺海灘因為生機盎然而彰顯自然之美。

(二O一三年四月五日)