Paradise? Yes, please.

A little more than 4 hours later, I had a wonderful night’s sleep. However, I awoke, much to my forgetting mind’s dismay to a jumble of still-wet socks and underwear. Ironing technique improved their condition bu certainly did not solve the problem. Hastily getting ready, I shoved the soggy clothes into my backpack and headed out to meet the coach, ready for another excursion. This time we were headed to LEI and each of us was restricted to 10 kg (22 lbs) on board the flight. The airport itself was a joke, the check-in counter was right next to the terminal and that was it. It was similar to the Galapagos airport but brighter. 

One very tiny plane. And this was the larger of the two.

The two hours of waiting were simply excruciating… I couldn’t wait ANY MORE to get to a beach! Finally the two teeny planes arrived, and we hopped on board. The plane that I was in was two seats abreast, nice and cozy. Zach, Beth, Chase and I were in our plane, and Chase managed to get the front seat. I suppose the excitement was a little much for him considering he fell asleep on the whopping 35 minute long ride. The pilot was attempting to evade his sleeping spell since the unconscious Chase insisted on laying his head on the pilot’s shoulder. Quite amusing.

Chase coming on to the captain... unconscious

  On our way into land, you could see all the reefs hugging the island. I scoured the ocean for turtles and manta rays, but I had no such luck. However there was a stunning rainbow and some clouds still dumping water onto the ocean from afar. Landing was terrifying. There’s really no other way to word it. The little prop plane teetered left and right just before slamming into the tiny grass strip.

Gorgeous waters

Local flora

Bob and Jayne welcomed us while we received a quick orientation to the island. We wasted very little time in getting started, I was just able to plop my stuff in the room with Jayna and then got my stylish crocs from the Eco Resort. From there the entire second flight group headed out for a reef walk. Ouch. I got to see SO many nifty critters but my legs are just shredded! Note to self, restock band-aids BEFORE LEI.

The walk itself was like tramping through a minefield of sea cucumbers. There were varying types, the less innocuous being the black varieties and the dangerous ones being the leopard sea cucumbers. Lucky us, we saw both!

Tramping further out, we found a BRIGHT blue starfish as well as an orange spotted one. Mid-way through the trek we were interrupted by a sea turtle making his way in towards the shore before high tide.

Me in the COLD with the starfish- blob created by seawater

Heading back after an adventurous wading session, I was chased by a damsel fish which, given the right type, will bite intruders. Nasty little bugger (in Simon’s terms). The more innocuous sort are quite small and BRIGHT blue, just beautiful fish.

Spectacular clams.. and these suckers are big!

After the walk we were invited to embark on our own snorkel adventure, but due to fridgid temperatures and lack of companionship opted for a walk around the island, tea in hand. I ran into Melanie, Kattie, Rebecca, and Charlie who were making a “mosaic” with the gorgeous shells they had found. Contributing a few purples and pinks, I hike onwards through the coral beach towards the other side. On my way I saw a little crab whom had his own personal pool, and seemed quite content with himself.

Mr. Crabby McCrustacean

Random assortment of coral that Kate, Rebecca, Melanie and Charlie gathered- just gorgeous!!

Walking back with the best intentions to shower pre-lecture, I hike through the center of the island, passing what seemed like millions of very friendly birds in the process. Realizing that I really didn’t have time to shower, I headed towards the cabin to retrieve my laptop for lecture. Along the way, I ran into Neil, Akshat, Jess, Adam and Katherine while they were playing volleyball and decided to join them! I was a fail. I definitely could have predicted that!

Lectures went by as per usual, except Jayna makes hers fun with pictures and video clips. She also tends to add random facts, like the angler fish fact: the males actually FUSE into the females. How sick is that?

Once the lecture was over, I headed straight to the west end of the island hoping to get a spectacular sunset. The colors certainly were gorgeous, but the giant rain blob directly in front of the sun put a bit of a damper on the whole ordeal. I’m so punny.

Clouds or no clouds- it's beautiful

Having had snack bars for lunch, the prospect of dinner was just too exciting. The buffet they provided to us was just fantastic- pumpkin, chicken, cauliflower, cheese trays, salad bar, cakes, brownies, fruit, coffee, tons of tea… heaven.