Hello everyone, I am back around again as Vela’s skipper/blog writer. Today was an exciting one from the start, where we had an early morning and got ready to go to shore. Our first stop on the list was visiting the mud baths. These mud baths were less muddy than the hot springs, but they were still very relaxing and tons of fun. We had very enthusiastic park rangers who were eager to show us how to use the mud correctly. After the baths, we took a short ride up to the top of the park to see the caldera. We saw the sulfur springs bubbling with mud and smelled them from far away. It was a nice, short walk, but we quickly loaded back into the van to head to our last stop of the day, the botanical gardens. The gardens were lush and smelled a lot better than the springs did. We had some time to wander through the gardens, grab some ice cream, and then load back into the van. Once we made it back to the boat, the students had some time to work on their oceanography projects, swim, and attend the very prestigious dinghy school offered here on Vela (taught half by yours truly). It was a great day that started busy and slowly wound down until nightfall.
