West Ironbound Island

As part of the Kingsburg Conservancy's "Land as Legacy" event, free trips to West Ironbound Island were offered this weekend.  Because my chum Kelly is a member of the group she signed us up.

The trip involved a 35 minute boat trip and then upon arriving at the island we transferred to a smaller boat to take us to the beach.

We were then given two and a half hours to explore the island using a map which showed clearly marked trails.

Sometimes it was hard to tell if we were on a hiking path or following one of the many Sheep trails criss-crossing the island.   Below Kelly stalks a couple of semi-wild Sheep.  Once they spooked and took off, we were surprised to see another eight Sheep appear from out of sight down the slope ahead to the right.  There was no grass down there to eat so we suspect that they had been licking salt off the rocks.

Clumps of wool decorate many of the trees on the island.

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Never having been to the island before we randomly headed up toward the ocean-end.

 It was a good decision.

In the distance we could see three people staring at something in the water.  When we reached them, they still were.

We learned they weren't just mesmerized by the rising waves in the changing tide.

There was something else ... SEALS frolicking in the foam !

We sat for a while listening to the roaring waves (you clicked the link and heard the waves right ?), spotting Seals and marvelling at the view.

Then upon checking the time we realized we needed to hustle to make it back in time to catch the boat. 

Can you spot the trail in this picture ?  Neither could we.  So it was amazing that we successfully found our way back; with ten minutes to spare.

We can't wait to go back ... to check out the other half of the island.