The Turtle Island

Last Sunday I and Christina used the opportunity (and tickets) given to us by 

Tina - the farm's manager and our 'host mum' : we took a cruise around the Turtle Island. 

Our trip began in the local seaport in Waiao, where we stepped onto the board of one out of dozens

cruise ships prepared to serve tourists.

During the whole cruise a Chinese speaking tour guide equipped with a microphone

was describing details connected with the island - I know that only thanks to a young girl from Malaysia, who was so kind to become my Chinese-English translator.

Taiwanese tourism industry is mostly prepared to serve Chinese speaking tourists from Singapore, China, Malaysia and of course Taiwan.

I recommend everyone planning to visit this lovely country (or any other): learn the national language before or explore it with a translating friend.

The Turtle Island (usuallly called Guishan Island) is located about 9km east from the Gengfang harbour in Waiao. It's no longer inhabited and mostly rocky island which was used for military purposes between 1977-2000. Now the Turtle Island remains a tourist destination, although everyone has to apply for permission to enter the island to  control amount of visitors and preserve its environment.

We could have had a really close look at the island, even feel the smell produced

by a still active volcano located in the heart of the Turtle Island!

 Looking at fresh, green grass growing all over the island I thought that it was

a really great place to build a golf course!

Another goal of the cruise, apart from having a close look at the island, 

was watching dolphins in their natural habitat. We were lucky enough to accomplish that!

This is the only photo showing dolphins swimming so close to our ship, although we were able to

observethem for a few minutes. They made such a strong impression on us that we didn't want to waste any precious moment on taking photos.

I was truly stunned by the view of those beatiful animals having such enormous amount of space to live, not being limited by anything or anyone, spending their lives on enjoying their freedom and pureness of the Pacific Ocean. 

If you're going to visit Taiwan - add another point to your 'To-Do' list:
 a cruise to the Turtle Island.

Kasia