Adventures in Cabrera

Our first day trip outside of the city of Palma was to the gorgeous archipelago of Cabrera! The Cabrera Archipelago is a maritime-terrestrial national park that has an interesting history of pirates, prisoners, and military occupations, but has been protected as a natural reserve since 1991. To get there, we took an exciting boat ride from the town of Colonia St. Jordi, which is about an hour outside of Palma.

The spectacular main island boasts rugged cliffs, a 14th century castle, aquatic caves, sparkling blue water, and interesting animals and plants. Approaching on the boat felt like stepping into a fairy tale! Bea, one of our Marine Biology professors, guided us on our exploration of the island. We first hiked to the top of the hill to the castle, where we climbed a medieval spiral staircase which emerges to a balcony with panoramic views of the island. Then, we made some new buddies with the Lilford’s wall lizards outside the castle… these small but amazing creatures appear to change colors in the sun and are very friendly. If you stand perfectly still and quiet, they will come out to greet you! Bea deemed a few lucky students the “Mother of Dragons” if a lizard crawled on their shoe.

We then hiked across the island to a small cove, where the students observed marine species of flora and fauna both on the shore and underwater with snorkeling masks. We also had some time to relax and eat our lunch while enjoying the breathtaking scenery.

On the boat ride back to Colonia St. Jordi, we had one more surprise - a quick dip in the aptly named “Blue Cave” - a cueva aquatica known for its electric blue waters.

Our group returned to Palma that afternoon with amazing pictures and memories of an unforgettable day!