Today we up at very early in order to get Isabela at a reasonable time. We walked down to the dock. There were people inspecting luggage to make sure that people would not transfer any invasives. We then got onto the water taxi that took us to our private speedboat. Jonathan asked who wanted to sit on the top of the boat and Haley, Julie, Victoria, and I went up. It was colder up top but it was worth it because the view was so beautiful. We got to Isabela around 9:30 in the morning. We we got to the dock we observed a bunch of sea lions sun bathing on another dock. We then went through another checkpoint for our luggage. Then we got on the bus and went to check in to our hotel.
After checking into our hotel we headed to go snorkeling. We ended up at a small beach next to the dock. We kayaked out to the spot where we would be snorkeling. Along the way we saw a bunch of marine iguanas and sea turtles. We finally got to the snorkeling spot and we all applied sunscreen and started our journey. It did not take us very long see wildlife. We saw fishes, a ray, sharks, and sea turtles. When we got back into our kayaks we started heading back to shore when we saw some Galapagos penguins hanging out on some rocks. We were all amazed by the wildlife we saw and it was just the beginning of our trip!
We returned to our hotel for lunch. Then we all walked over to the bike shop to get bikes. Once we got our bikes we started our 20 minute bike ride to flamingo island. When we got there Jonathan told us that flamingos mate for life and that females will only have 3 babies throughout her life. Tait told us that the island gets it water from the desalination plant. This plant was right next to the flamingo island. We then biked less than 5 minutes down the road to the tortoise breeding center. Jonathan told us that the tortoises here are only there for reproduction purposes. Once they are micro chipped and are old enough they then are released back to their original islands. He said that between 300-400 tortoises get released each year. He then talked about the poison apple tree which is harmful to humans but not tortoises! When tortoises eat leaves from these trees they kill any intestinal parasites inside their stomachs. Jonathan told us that tortoises pee and poop on their nests which make them vulnerable to rats. We then biked back to the bike shop. Then a few of us walked with Jonathan to a church. Then we walked back to our hotel.
We had a little time before dinner so we decided to go explore the island a little. A few of us went to the beach near our hotel and saw a beautiful sunset. We then went back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner Julie and I presented on the Galapagos Islands and Climate Change. Julie provided some background about Galapagos islands and provided background about what climate change is. We talked about the impacts of climate change on the Galapagos and the world. We ended our presentation with jeopardy which was a lot of fun!
We then all went back to our rooms to go to bed. |
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