Seahorse first

On Thursday, we had, for us, a first: a live seahorse had washed up on the beach at La Ropa. It was fairly large, as seahorses go....probably 6 in/15 cm. I took it out beyond the breaking waves, but have no idea if it survived.

A few years ago, I did the same with a tiny turtle hatchling. A few seconds after releasing it, a frigate bird swooped down and scooped it up. Life is hard.....

You did the right thing. Local seahorses lost part of their habitat due to the ecocide by the former mayor when he built his expensive road to nowhere at the end of La Ropa Beach and dumped boulders 20 meters seaward from the shore on top of fragile marine habitat.

.....and I see that the big, black volcanic rock that had probably been sitting on the beach just past La Gaviota for centuries has disappeared. How, why and where they moved that huge boulder is a mystery. In earlier years, when Steve McCormack and I walked the beach from end-to-end, we couldn't count an official "lap" unless we touched the big rock.