Paradise Islands

     So when I last wrote, I had my free day! Like I said we went to Tortuga Bay which was a little ways from our hotel and spent most of the day here. We were able to see some marine iguanas and I broke the rules by chasing after them. Whoops! In order to preserve the nature here there is many rules in regards to the animals. After we came back from our time at Tortuga Bay and had lunch our group walked down to the Darwin Research Station. Here is where breeding of the giant tortoises takes place. This has been becoming popular on the islands as giants, rabbits and other various animals have been eating the baby or smaller tortoises making it hard to survive onsome of the islands. This is also where the famous Lonesome George was housed until he passed away in the last year.

     The Research Station was very interesting but when returning to our hotel we talked with the other group about their excursion on the boat. They traveled to a smaller island off the eastern coast of Santa Cruz called Plazas. They had a very amazing  experience because they got to see colonies of sea lions. As well they got to watch a mom give birth to a baby sea lion! They were fascinated by it!! After a lot of discussion about this we had class to share and discuss what we've been seeing. 

      This day was a good day to relax as the next day we headed to our final destination, the island of Isabela. This is the largest island in the Galapagos but there is only one city and road among the island as there is 5 volcanos. We took a speed boat from Santa Cruz to Isabela which took about 2 1/2 hours. It was a little bumpy but with the help of Dramamine I was able to be free from sea sickness. On our boat ride though we got to see dolphins!!! We didn't see them the other day so it was awesome to see them! Upon arriving to our port we were greeted with more sea life as the docking station was full of sea lions!  They were everywhere

      The island of Isabela is something so picturesque it's unbelieveable. We are very fortuante with a hotel right along the ocean view and perfect for viewing the sunsets. To call this place home for 5 days is great! Yesterday, our first full day on the island was a very active one. We got to hike an active volcano thats last eruption was in 2005. We reached the caldera about an hour in our hike and it was nothing like what I had thought. I always pictured a small like hole at the top of the volcano with lava bubbling underneath. That is not so at all! This was the second largest volcano in the world in circumference according to our guide, with 9 km long and 6 km wide. It was huge!

       After this we were allowed a choice of continuing to a longer hike or returning to the beach. I opted for the longer hike because how frequently am I going to be able to see some of those sights! It was a good decsion! We hiked to a lava field which was a result of an eruption (I'm not quite sure if it was the 2005 eruption). Along our way we had many amazing views as we could see the ocean on both sides of the upper pennisula of Isabella. As well, we could see all 5 volcanos on the island. Upon reaching the lava field it was so cool to see the path the lava formed and all of the different colors showing the chemical make-up of the rocks. One thing that we've seen common is the lava tunnels. This is what is formed when an errpution occurs but lava continues to flow underneath. Sometimes you're even able to walk in them which we've done too. It was all very cool and the views were breathtaking!

      Now it brings me to today! The day began as a little downer as I woke up feeling a little sick and the fact that it was raining wasn't great either! However, the day steadly improved for both myself and the weather! With the weather bringing on a little delay we soon ventured to go see some flamingos. As our group stopped there on the way back from the hike it was still a sight as during the day they are active in searching for food. None were standing in the resting postion on one leg. We continued on though to another breeding center of turtles. Almost all of the inhabitated islands have breeding centers as there can be various species of the tortoises on each island. Paricularly a different species around each volcano. This place was especially interesting as we got to see the biggest ones but then even one that was only 10 days old! It was so tiny and cute!!! They really do grow a lot in their 150 year lifespan. 

      In the afternoon another snorkeling adventure persisted itself. A group of 10 of us went down to a mangrove and saw around a lagoon. When we first jumped in we were accompaniedby sea lions as well as many fish. It's so interesting to just view life underwater. I sat at one point and watched a group of 20 fish compete over a small thing of coral. I continued to swim around until one of our group members saw a sea turtle!!! It was so big and all 10 of us swam along with it! It was well worth it and tomorrow we get to do it again! With only 4 days left our jouney is coming to an end. The memories are great as always and will never fail to amaze me in what I'm experiencing!