Volcanos, Tortoises, and Finches
February 22, 2024 Thursday
Today was our day to tour the island. After stopping for a quick breakfast, we rode the bus to our first stop, El Junco, an old volcano. It was a bit of a climb up a nice trail to get to the rim, but the view was worth all the huffing and puffing! From here we could look down into the caldera, the collapsed crater of the volcano. At the bottom was a small lake in the shape of a perfect circle, containing about 6 feet of water above 6 feet of sediment. We could also see another small volcano just off the island’s north shore…beautiful!
The view from El Junco
Our next stop was the much-anticipated tortoise preserve! The tortoises here are bred in captivity and released into the wild when they’re 5-7 years old. We were greeted by #19 (written on his shell), a 90-year-old male who was looking for lunch. What a fascinating creature! He moved so slowly and quietly that I might not have noticed him if someone had not pointed him out. He was so big, and prehistoric-looking. We walked on to observe the nursery where several baby turtles were kept. Then we saw the areas where the 5-7 year-olds lived until their release. The contrast between the little ones about the size of my hand and the giant adults was truly amazing!
One of my favorite stops so far!
Our last stop was a very popular beach. It was about a half-mile walk down a nice path to get to the beach. The path wondered through a desert -landscape with colorful wildflowers and impressive "cactus trees".
After climbing over black lava rocks to get to the beach, we enjoyed sitting in the warm white sand and watching the waves gently caress the shoreline. The wildlife here have no fear of us, so it was a lot of fun to have a small finch join us to enjoy the view!
