My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

One of the things that we all wanted to do before we our year in Taiwan ended was to visit Turtle Island. The island gets its name from its shape, which from the right angle looks like the profile of a turtle:

The island is located 10 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan. It is visible from just about anywhere in Yilan County.

People lived on Turtle Island until the 1970s, when they moved to Taiwan and the island became a military outpost. In 2000, the island was re-opened to civilians, as an environmentally protected zone. In order to visit, we had to apply for permission and get a visitor’s permit.

On Saturday, we took a boat from a port in Yilan to the island. They actually let me steer for the entire trip (not).

This is the “port” on the island, and that’s our boat on the right.

The boys were looking forward to climbing the mountain that is the back of the turtle shell. There were stairs leading up to the top, but there were over 1,700 stairs. If you figure 17 steps per story of a building, that means it’s the equivalent to climbing the stairs to the top of Taipei 101. That’s a lot of stairs.

The island is home to some wonderful wildlife, like lizards and (poisonous) snakes. Saw a lot of the former, only two of the latter.

Incredibly, my mother-in-law made it to the 1,000th step.

We had great weather that day. When we made it to the top of the mountain, we were treated to a spectacular view:

Were we tired after the climb? Naw,…

There’s more to the island than just the mountain. We got a tour of the former civilian housing areas, and the military structures.

Then we got back on the boat and made a tour around the island. The sun came out, giving us a spectacular view of the island.

It was a long day, and we were all pooped after we got back to Taiwan. But it was a great trip.