During our short visit to Los Roques we had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring around El Gran Roque in the mornings and evenings.

We walked streets lined with colourful houses.

We saw little kids being walked to school and heard a group of them singing in the small church when we walked by one morning. We saw people going about their daily routines, like this grandma fishing by the shore (we saw her sitting outside her home with her granddaughters later that evening),

this young man busy texting at the end of a quiet street,

and these fishermen getting their boat ready for their daily expedition.

We also saw many, many birds -around 92 birds species can be found in Los Roques, most of them migratory. The morning walks were most entertaining as these guys like to put on a show.

These brown pelicans were pretty efficient at dive bombing, getting fish in their mouths almost every time.

It was funny to see the laughing gulls attacking the pelicans every time they did one of their dive bombs to try to get them to drop the fish. Needless to say they didn’t seem to have any luck with that plan.

We saw lots of laughing gulls in the different cays as well, bobbing around on the water or begging for food with their characteristic raucous call.

We also got a glimpse of a few brown booby birds with their clear blue eyes and their bright yellow feet.

This elegant great egret greeted us one morning in all its bright, white splendor.

I can’t think of a better way to start the day than wandering around El Gran Roque…