SANTA CRUZ ISLAND!

In the past few days, spending time at the Santa Cruz Island was an amazing experience. I got to learn in an educational and spiritual way which truly touched me deeply. An effort must be made to identify ourselves, and the effort in all of us was expressed. Expressed to inspire one another.

To travel to the Santa Cruz Island, we took a fiery. During the ride, we ran into a substantial amount of dolphins. There were baby dolphins which was great to witness. It was satisfying to see dolphins endeavor in there natural habitat. The water near the islands, are much more pure than near the mainland. It just proves to show if we take care of our environment other species can strive.

On the first day of arrival, we hiked our way up to the research center which was beautiful. It was about a 2 hour hike, but during that hike I learned about some of the native plants of the Island. We discussed about the silver lotus plant. I found out that the silver lotus plant only grows on the Santa Cruz Island and is listed as one of the endangered species. All the native plants of the island are, for the most part endangered. Water is scarce on the island and what really got to me was the fact that the eucalyptus tress suck up about five hundred gallons of water a day. That’s is just outrageous; that water can be used for something more useful such as spreading more water to the endemic native plants so that more and more can grow.

The second day rolled on by and everyone was having a blast. The food was great, there were activities to do at the research center such as playing a game of billiards, tossing the frisbee, bumping the volleyball, and even exploring the terrain. Not only did we par take in those activities but we received the privilege to go kayaking and snorkeling! Snorkeling was an adrenaline. I was with my friends and we were following this bat ray; then another one popped up. So we were following them and all of a sudden it led us to the big old sting ray! I was happily terrified, screaming with enjoyment and fear. During the kayaking trip, I was awaken to many beautiful sea urchins. Before the trip we learned all about them. Discussing how they eat, what they eat, and there structures.

The last day sadly arrived at the island. Everyone was enjoying the experience. We got to open up to each other. We started to pack and load our items on the dock. After that we got to go snorkel and kayak again! I chose to snorkel because, like I said before, the adrenaline was so enjoyable. This time I went out further and saw triple the amount of rays then the previous day. Finally, the boat arrived and we left the island :(. We were then greeted by another pod of dolphins to lead us back to the mainland. We returned to Wishtoyo and I was very happy to see all the elders.

The trip to the Santa Cruz island was my first time and was a memory that will last a lifetime…