Day 4: Snorkeling, Extreme Adventures & Hospital Vists
This day, we woke up really early since we had a lot of physically demanding activities planned. By 7:30 am we were all in the lobbying enjoying the free and delicious breakfast provided by the hotel. I ate a bowl of fruit along with juice, coffee and eggs. Shortly after Paula was on the bus waving us to come join her. Before we knew it we were on a boat that was taking us to a larger boat. Once every piece of luggage and every person was on the boat, we were ready to go.
Professors Tait’s main concern was of someone- mainly Abby- getting sea sick on the boat ride. And he had a right to be, for the boat ride, unlike the one we had taken to get to Isabela, was two and half hours long. Let me tell you, there’s not much that happens on a two and half hour boat ride, but somehow I found a way to stay entertained. First off, I was trying to fall asleep, because I needed it and also trying to not get sick. I was near the back of the boat, and let me just tell you those waves were not kind to us back there. Abby if you’re wondering did end up getting sick, twice on the way to las tintoreras. Which stinks, it really does, but on the bright side… Tait did get some really cool action shots of it. Luckily no one else really go sick during the ride. Our first event of the day was to go to las tintorerias and learn about the island and observe the wildlife there.
Professors Tait’s main concern was of someone- mainly Abby- getting sea sick on the boat ride. And he had a right to be, for the boat ride, unlike the one we had taken to get to Isabela, was two and half hours long. Let me tell you, there’s not much that happens on a two and half hour boat ride, but somehow I found a way to stay entertained. First off, I was trying to fall asleep, because I needed it and also trying to not get sick. I was near the back of the boat, and let me just tell you those waves were not kind to us back there. Abby if you’re wondering did end up getting sick, twice on the way to las tintoreras. Which stinks, it really does, but on the bright side… Tait did get some really cool action shots of it. Luckily no one else really go sick during the ride. Our first event of the day was to go to las tintorerias and learn about the island and observe the wildlife there.
Fun Facts About Las Tintoreras:
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Perhaps one of my favorite things that happened on this island was that our tour guide let us have about twenty minutes on the beach to take pictures of the sea lions. Normally this is frowned upon, but our tour guide was super chill about it. We even got tons of pictures of this cute baby sea lion, sleeping under a mangrove tree. Ugh he was sooo sweet!!!
Afterwards, we headed another islet to go scuba diving. I have never been scuba diving before this, so I was a bit nervous. Luckily we were given flippers, and life jackets to help with the swimming. Perhaps even more difficult than snorkeling, was getting in and out of the water. The rocks were slippery and also very sharp. Also where we were getting in was very shallow and there were sea urchins EVERYWHERE.I almost had a panic attack just getting into the water.
Luckily I, like mostly everyone made it into the water safely;however, Greg did not. Apparently when he got into the water, he slipped and his hand landed right on a sea urchin!! I believe he had about six spines sticking out of his hand; however, he wanted to keep going. Tait refused and took him back on the boat to go straight to the hospital. Not to jump ahead but Greg, after having his hand numbed had to have each spine pulled out, resulting in it being swollen and red. Ouch!!!!!
The rest of us went on and snorkled for an hour. Our tour guide was great at making sure we were all together and saw all the beautiful things in the water. I cannot describe how beautiful the atmosphere was here. Like imagine while swimming, looking down into the water and seeing a scene straight out of National Geographic. That’s what it was like for me! There were tons of fishes of every color swimming past us through lots of colorful coral. At the same time there were numerous sharks and a few giant sea turtles swimming right under us as well. It was by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever been a part of !! After an hour of snorkeling we were all exhausted and ready to go.
Once we all met up again, we were back on the boat for the two and half hour ride back to Isabela Island. We all were exhausted so most of us slept the entirety of the ride. Soon after, we were back at our hotel. We were allowed to have an hour to shower/relax before going to lunch and the rest of our plans for the day. We ate a delicious free lunch at the same restaurant that we had eaten at the night before. Then we all then took the bus to hike Sierra Niagara; however, once we were up there it was raining and misty so we left. Instead we headed to Parque Nacional Galapagos.
The Galapagos National Park is absolutely beautiful. While there we got to see the different types of vegetation as well as the caves of the park. After spending about an hour of learning, hiking and taking pictures here we headed back to the bus to go to our next stop the: Giant Tortoise Breeding Center.
Afterwards, we headed another islet to go scuba diving. I have never been scuba diving before this, so I was a bit nervous. Luckily we were given flippers, and life jackets to help with the swimming. Perhaps even more difficult than snorkeling, was getting in and out of the water. The rocks were slippery and also very sharp. Also where we were getting in was very shallow and there were sea urchins EVERYWHERE.I almost had a panic attack just getting into the water.
Luckily I, like mostly everyone made it into the water safely;however, Greg did not. Apparently when he got into the water, he slipped and his hand landed right on a sea urchin!! I believe he had about six spines sticking out of his hand; however, he wanted to keep going. Tait refused and took him back on the boat to go straight to the hospital. Not to jump ahead but Greg, after having his hand numbed had to have each spine pulled out, resulting in it being swollen and red. Ouch!!!!!
The rest of us went on and snorkled for an hour. Our tour guide was great at making sure we were all together and saw all the beautiful things in the water. I cannot describe how beautiful the atmosphere was here. Like imagine while swimming, looking down into the water and seeing a scene straight out of National Geographic. That’s what it was like for me! There were tons of fishes of every color swimming past us through lots of colorful coral. At the same time there were numerous sharks and a few giant sea turtles swimming right under us as well. It was by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever been a part of !! After an hour of snorkeling we were all exhausted and ready to go.
Once we all met up again, we were back on the boat for the two and half hour ride back to Isabela Island. We all were exhausted so most of us slept the entirety of the ride. Soon after, we were back at our hotel. We were allowed to have an hour to shower/relax before going to lunch and the rest of our plans for the day. We ate a delicious free lunch at the same restaurant that we had eaten at the night before. Then we all then took the bus to hike Sierra Niagara; however, once we were up there it was raining and misty so we left. Instead we headed to Parque Nacional Galapagos.
The Galapagos National Park is absolutely beautiful. While there we got to see the different types of vegetation as well as the caves of the park. After spending about an hour of learning, hiking and taking pictures here we headed back to the bus to go to our next stop the: Giant Tortoise Breeding Center.
Parque Nacional Galapagos:
References:
Galapagos Travel Center. (2018). Galapagos Islands Tours: Las Tintoreras. Retrieved from https://www.galapagosislands.com/blog/las-tintoreras/
Images:
View of Las Tintoreras: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/aerial-view-of-the-beautiful-las-tintoreras-isla-royalty-free-image/675820170
Map of Las Tintoreras: https://where2findus.blog/2017/10/31/the-galapagos-ecuador/
Map of Las Tintoreras: https://where2findus.blog/2017/10/31/the-galapagos-ecuador/