“水是眼波横，山是眉峰聚”。在途经圣克里斯托瓦尔岛西北时，我们直接从甲板上观赏造型别致的睡狮岩。实际上，睡狮岩是一个从太平洋海底直上直下凸出水面的凝灰石，海拔约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.

      睡狮岩又尖又大，光秃秃地伫立汪洋大海之中，恐怕只有飞禽动物才可以“爬”上岩顶。尽管概率极小，睡狮岩最终还是被风化成两半，形如一只鞋，或像一只睡狮，其本名“鞋石”和别名“睡狮岩”集中反映了这些特征。两部分岩石中间形成水道，实在超出我的想象。游轮沿凝灰岩锥一侧航行，双岸青山从眼前相对而出，让我们有机会与飞檐走壁的海鸟近距离接触。

      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，我决定去圣克里斯托瓦尔岛海滨游泳。未等下水，“烟波不动影沉沉，碧色全无翠色深”自然风光。1835年，此地曾为查尔斯•达尔文最早出游科隆群岛景点之一。因为高温天气，我们并没有看到很多动物，唯有海狮、棕鹈鹕、鬼蟹、海鬣蜥(黑暗恶魔)躺在礁石上晒着太阳，尽情享受“澄泓湛凝绿，物影巧相况”之美景。痛苦地经历了马蝇血咬之后，我终于可以跟同船来的伙伴们一起泡在暖和和的海边共度快乐时光。

      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.

      好好洗过海澡之后，我听到轻轻的呜咽声，循声望去，只见一只海狮幼子正在水湾吠叫，它好像饿了。小家伙的妈妈可能出海觅食，撇下它嗷嗷待哺。正在此时，小家伙开始从身边寻找乳妈义工，试过三只母海狮，都被毫不留情地骂了回来，看来科隆群岛母海狮本能上仅养育自己亲生子女。没辙儿，小家伙只好浪迹天涯，焦急地等待妈妈早点归来。

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

      与睡狮岩遥遥相对，“上下天光，一碧万顷”的女巫岭海滩因为生机盎然而彰显自然之美。

(二O一三年四月五日)