We got up early this morning for a hike in the highlands of Floreana. We walked through some old trails and saw pirate caves, and some trails carved into the lava with holes for poles, that were used to hold livestock in. It all reminded us a bit of Indiana Jones.
There was also this carved face up there which no one knows the origin of.
After the hike, we got ready to head out for Isabella island, and while we were waiting, we saw a sea turtle swimming just off the dock, and a huge marine iguana hanging out in a lighthouse.
Also, there were tons of bright red crabs on the side of the dock.
We then took a boat ride of about 3 hours to get to Isabella Island. On the way, we saw some more dolphins, and Yoel lost his hat while getting up to see them. We also stopped at Isla Tortuga when our boat had engine problems, where we saw some penguins, blue footed boobies, and Nasca boobies.
We finally arrived at Isabella, and took a drive. On the way to our destination, we stopped at a small salt marsh, where we saw some flamingos.
After that, we continued on our way to see the Wall of Tears. In the early 20th century, Isabella was used as a prison colony, and the prisoners were forced to build this wall that had no purpose, to demoralize them.
We climbed up to an overlook nearby, and saw a great view of the island (including a rainbow)
After that, we went to the Isabella giant tortoise breeding center. While there, we saw some saddleback tortoises....
Baby tortoises....
And infant tortoises.
There was also one tortoise that we watched for a while, because he was too stubborn to move out of the way, even though everyone else wanted to walk down the path he was lying in.
We then went to the "Love Beach", which was one of the main nesting grounds for marine iguanas. They dig their nests into the sand and deposit their eggs. And they are fiercely territorial about their nests, we saw a few fights between iguanas when one got too close to another's nest.
No comments:
Post a Comment