Day 11 - Isla de la Plata (Island of Silver)

Today was another fun day, but let me start by saying, "No whales." :(  We sort of saw them - Dr. Campbell saw a big splash as one crashed back to the ocean, and we saw 2 blow hole fumes. But no whale. Maybe in the Galapagos Islands.

We started our tour at about 8:00, driving to Puerto Lopez and boarded a boat to take us to the island. We could only fit 16 passengers in the boat, so Dr. Campbell and our driver Dinelo had to ride in a separate boat with other visitors, and we were separated the entire day. The ride took about 1 hour 20 min (about 45 km) to reach the island and we had a wet landing to get off the boat.  We hiked up the "blue" trail, after climbing about 170 steps to where the trails split off.

 Students giving the "Goya" stare...

This was the first time students saw blue footed boobies and frigate birds. Quite beautiful, especially when you can see them up close. A blue-footed booby turning his head to watch us..

 Frigate birds: female on the left, male on the right, puffing out his red chest. The female chooses the one she thinks has the best red chest.

We walked around for over an hour, up and down the slopes of the cliffs, then back down to the boat docking site. We climbed back on the boat and saw some green sea turtles hanging around the boat - awesome!

We then had a small lunch of sandwiches, watermelon and Coke, and drove to the other side of the island to snorkel. Most people jumped, and everyone who did got stung by jelly fish. Only 3 students were left out snorkeling - Taylor, Evan and Logan. The rest of us stayed on the boat, away from the jellyfish, and got to climb to the top to watch for whales (and again, we did not see any).

Once we were all back on the boat, we rode back to town, did a little shopping as we waited for the second boat to return to shore, then came back to the hotel. Some went swimming in the pool, hanging out in the lodge, etc. Dinner was at 7:00, and we had hamburgers and french fries!!! Yum!!! Before dinner, I asked each of the students to write a quote. Can you guess which is your student?
"Fear overpowers the deet!"
"The WeeFee isn't working"
"Can I order guinea pig on my pizza?
"Sarcasm is alive and well on this trip."
"The ocelot takes the cake in November."
"Is that a toucan?"
"First stop in Ecuador, the Ecuador."
"Can we play Bio would you rather?"
"The fact that moths fly to lights because they think it's the moon makes me so overwhelmingly sad."
 "Dr. Campbell, have you ever been arrested?" (The answer was NO)
"Last night, the cat crawled through our window and pounced on my head through the mosquito net! It was terrifying!"
"I wonder if these guinea pigs know they are delicious?!"
"Stop the bus! Like right now, I need to take a picture of that bird!"
"Hey, can I focus that for you? ;)"

Answers to come in a few days! :)