1/4/18
Today, we were going snorkeling. Breakfast was at 7:30. We had eggs and toast with fresh fruit and yogurt. There was a bit of time before leaving to snorkel, so we went back down to the beach to see more iguanas. We hung out with them for a while, and then gathered back at the hotel to get the bus back to the dock. We met our pair of snorkeling experts who would be guiding the tour. The boat made the short trip to Tintoreras, where the snorkeling expedition would begin. We got our gear and left some bags on the boat. There were other groups snorkeling nearby, and I couldn't help but notice they were all wearing wet suits. The water was COLD. But a once in a lifetime opportunity pays no mind to cold water, so we got in anyways.
I followed behind Greg. The tide was very low, but our guide said this was the best time to see a lot of things in the cove. Unfortunately, when I got in the water, I could tell something was wrong. Greg was looking at his hand, which was bleeding, and said he got stuck by a sea urchin. He was going to continue snorkeling, but I urged him to get out of the water and show Tait the injury. They decided he needed to go to the hospital to have the spines removed. While Greg went back on the boat, we all snorkeled for a while. I never felt like I could breathe all the way, so I mostly floated a lot, observing what was happening below me. I also couldn't quite shake the fear of navigating my way back to shore without getting poked by a sea urchin. But, we all made it back to the shoreline and continued on with the day.
Everyone got back onto our boat and headed across the inlet to a different island where we would find an iguana nesting area and sea lions, maybe some Galapagos penguins if we were lucky. Here, we learned about the different kinda of lava rocks, pahoehoe and aa. It's easy to remember which one is which because the aa is named for the sound you'd make if you walked across that lava. It has very sharp, jagged edges. Pahoehoe is smoother in comparison.
Here, it was very important that we stayed on the path because iguanas nested in the rocks. Next, our guide took us to a special beach where we saw a family of sea lions. The babies were obviously my favorite. Those 10 minutes spent on that beach were magical. The babies just ate up our attention while the mom stayed off to the side, watching them from afar. After this, we got back on our boat to make our way back to the hotel. It was lunch time!
Greg and Tait were waiting for us at Hotel Cally. He'd had about 40 sea urchin spines removed from his hand and a variety of pills to take throughout the week. I was his carer while his hand was out of commission. We all got changed and headed to the restaurant down the street for lunch.
After lunch was a hike up Sierra Negra. It is a large shield volcano on Isabela. Unfortunately, as we drove and elevation increased, we ran into some fog and then rain. The plan was to hike Sierra Negra, but the fog prevented us from seeing anything. So we all decided to do an alternate activity, which began with visiting some lava tubes at a lower elevation. Next, we visited a tortoise breeding center. The tortoises were separated by age, and eventually would be reintroduced to places where their population was low. We learned that on Isabela, goats were introduced and ruined the tortoise's habitats, causing their populations to plummet. The goal of the breeding center is to restore their numbers to what they once were before the goat incident.
The final stop was a lookout called El Mango, named for a mango tree nearby. From here, you could see all around where we had been throughout the day. It was bittersweet here because this was our last stop with Paula. She was so kind to us and she treated us like her own family. Everyone took pictures from this spot with Paula.
As the sun went down, we drove back to town in time for dinner. After we ate, we took one final walk around town because we were going back to Santa Cruz early tomorrow morning. We returned to the hotel to get our things in order for the long day ahead of us.
I followed behind Greg. The tide was very low, but our guide said this was the best time to see a lot of things in the cove. Unfortunately, when I got in the water, I could tell something was wrong. Greg was looking at his hand, which was bleeding, and said he got stuck by a sea urchin. He was going to continue snorkeling, but I urged him to get out of the water and show Tait the injury. They decided he needed to go to the hospital to have the spines removed. While Greg went back on the boat, we all snorkeled for a while. I never felt like I could breathe all the way, so I mostly floated a lot, observing what was happening below me. I also couldn't quite shake the fear of navigating my way back to shore without getting poked by a sea urchin. But, we all made it back to the shoreline and continued on with the day.
Everyone got back onto our boat and headed across the inlet to a different island where we would find an iguana nesting area and sea lions, maybe some Galapagos penguins if we were lucky. Here, we learned about the different kinda of lava rocks, pahoehoe and aa. It's easy to remember which one is which because the aa is named for the sound you'd make if you walked across that lava. It has very sharp, jagged edges. Pahoehoe is smoother in comparison.
Here, it was very important that we stayed on the path because iguanas nested in the rocks. Next, our guide took us to a special beach where we saw a family of sea lions. The babies were obviously my favorite. Those 10 minutes spent on that beach were magical. The babies just ate up our attention while the mom stayed off to the side, watching them from afar. After this, we got back on our boat to make our way back to the hotel. It was lunch time!
Greg and Tait were waiting for us at Hotel Cally. He'd had about 40 sea urchin spines removed from his hand and a variety of pills to take throughout the week. I was his carer while his hand was out of commission. We all got changed and headed to the restaurant down the street for lunch.
After lunch was a hike up Sierra Negra. It is a large shield volcano on Isabela. Unfortunately, as we drove and elevation increased, we ran into some fog and then rain. The plan was to hike Sierra Negra, but the fog prevented us from seeing anything. So we all decided to do an alternate activity, which began with visiting some lava tubes at a lower elevation. Next, we visited a tortoise breeding center. The tortoises were separated by age, and eventually would be reintroduced to places where their population was low. We learned that on Isabela, goats were introduced and ruined the tortoise's habitats, causing their populations to plummet. The goal of the breeding center is to restore their numbers to what they once were before the goat incident.
The final stop was a lookout called El Mango, named for a mango tree nearby. From here, you could see all around where we had been throughout the day. It was bittersweet here because this was our last stop with Paula. She was so kind to us and she treated us like her own family. Everyone took pictures from this spot with Paula.
As the sun went down, we drove back to town in time for dinner. After we ate, we took one final walk around town because we were going back to Santa Cruz early tomorrow morning. We returned to the hotel to get our things in order for the long day ahead of us.
Photo used under Creative Commons from petrr