Green Island

On Monday, Ben, Paul, Enshi and I took a boat from Taitung to Green Island.

We stayed at Par Far hotel and resort and the hardworking staff gave us the best rooms with views of the ocean on 2 sides from the 3rd and 4th floor. We also had motor scooters, snorkel equipment, coupons for breakfast and a Taiwanese style BBQ.

Monday, it was raining, but we still managed to have a relaxing soak in the hot spring- one of only 3 in the world that is sea water. Although the soaking pools weren't too hot, there were eggs available for cooking one of the hottest wells.

Snorkeling was really fun on Tuesday- fantastic weather, clear, clean water and lots of fish. We borrowed the gear from a reluctant dive pro. Most of the visitors went with an instructor and stayed attached to each other with ring buoys connected by rope. We chose to get suited up- wetsuits, mask and snorkel, gloves and shoes and went to 3 sites around the island. There was an amazing array of fish and the bottom of the ocean dropped into deep underwater canyons with colorful and oddly shaped fish appearing, disappearing and reappearing.

On Wednesday, we continued to explore the island. In another post, I'll share some more photos. We went to the Human Rights Memorial, a prison for political prisoners that only closed its doors in 1987 and has been reopened with displays and info about this horrific place. Some of the crimes were such as "discontent with status quo" and "escaped from Communist China" and "interested in independent Taiwan". The philosophy of the prison was hard labor and isolation.

Other places on the island including an abandoned aboriginal village, a lighthouse, rock and cave formations, beautiful beaches, and wildlife such as deer, water buffalo, egrets, lizards and birds as well as tropical flowers. We went around the 20 km circumference of the island several times, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. The 80+ degrees and 90% humidity was stifling, but lots of water and the breeze of the scooter really helped.