Diving in the Galapagos

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So I did what every other diver would do in my situation - blew a huge load of moolah for a once in a lifetime opportunity to dive in the Galapagos Islands.

I decided it was high time to do my Advanced Open Water Course so after looking around I found somewhere I could do it. My instructor was called Macarron (this is the Spanish word for Macaroni apparently the nickname arose from a slight inclination for all foods Italian!) and he was really nice but also a litle crazy - always a good combination when you have to trust someone with your life 30 metres underwater!

So all in all I did 7 dives - each one different - I got to do loads of stuff I hadn´t done before - including go into some caves which was ace - all the fish in there were swimming upside down because of the current a very strange sight.

I saw all sorts of cool stuff - got to play with 10 or so sea lions which was ace - they bite your fins and everything - very playful. I also got to play with an octopus - it was crawling all over Macarron´s arm and I have to say it was quite cute in an underwater way! He also tried to stick my finger into a clam and also the mouth of a moray eel - if he had suceeded both times I would be missing a few fingers now! Saw a turtle sleeping and many turtles swimming too as well as an eagle ray swimming and I also got to hold a bizarre blue thing about and inch long - kind of like an underwater caerpillar. Also, there were 2 gigantic marbled rays sleeping in a really thin rock crevice - how they got in there I don´t know. Also, there were 3 baby white tipped sharks sleeping under a rocky ledge and a starfish eating this other kind of anenome thing.

At 30 metres, the first time I had been this deep - I also got to experience the first signs of nitrogen narcosis and what a bizarre feeling - kind of like being drunk and a bit slow all at the same time. My brain wanted to think quickly in the games I had to do but it just couldn´t - very very strange feeling.

Passed my course so am a happy camper. Unfortunately no pics as did not have a camera to go underwater - boo hoo.

All in all awesome and I am definitely coming back here in the future to dive. And to anyone reading this who is off to Santa Cruz to dive - go with Macarron he´s ace - as both a guide and instructor.

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