Swimming With Sharks

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Lauren, Rebeka from Sweden, who Lauren met in Mankara, and I decided to go on a snorkeling trip off of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. We hired a boat for an afternoon, who would provide a guide and show us the best places to explore. The boat zipped us out of the harbor where all the cruise ships anchor. The day was a bit stormy with large full clouds marbling the sky and wind that pushed up mounding white caps.

The boat stopped in front of a golden sandy beach where sea lions and marine iguanas rested on the rocks. We slipped into the slightly cold water and started paddling against the currant, which was threatening to pull us out of the bay. When I put my head under the water I was met by the gaze of a sea lion. It was a smallish female and seeing me sent her corkscrewing under my belly. Three more followed her lead, and for a moment I was surrounded by sleek bullet shaped marine mammal bodies. We swam with them for a while until we saw a large male, which are dangerous to swim with, and so we retreated a few yards.

The next stop on our tour was Shark Chanel. It is a magnificent spot in terms of landscape, not to mention the mysterious creatures who lay under the water. The chanal is probably only 20 feet from one wall to the other and the 30 foot sides stand erectly out of the water with little shelf ledges, good resting places for blue footed boobies, lava gulls and brown noodies. The deep salt water is a thick ultramarine color and laps only slightly at the walls.

As we dove into the water Rebeka and Lauren shrieked at the thought of swimming with the animals who have been named ´the perfect killers.´ Quickly we had formed a chain, all holding hands. I was in the middle and so swimming was a bit of a challenge. We made our way up the channel trying not to make splashes with our fins and disturb the sharks. We spotted seven White Tipped Sharks as we swam, all between two and three and a half meters, and even though we stayed at a fair distance when my eyes landed on one, my heart raced and I couldn´t help but clench the guide and Lauren´s hand.

We hovered in the water above the sharks as they rested or swam lazily along the bottom. There are numerous areas similar to this one, where during the day sharks enter the calm protected water to rest. On Isabella Island there is a shark channel where I saw over 20 sharks and there can be up to 60. There swimming in that channel is prohibited as to prevent total disturbance of the creatures.

Upon approaching the end of the channel, where the rock walls meet and mangroves cluster together, we all breathed a sigh of relief with a grin from ear to ear slapped across our faces. "We made it." I said, then the guide, although I am not sure because he understood my comment or because he could see the evident relief in our body language, said in Spanish,
"They´re vegetarians, well they eat squid and small fish, but they have only very small teeth."
"What! Really?" we all cried in unison, comforted but also deflated at the fact that our bravery had been undermined. But still I thought to myself, swimming with sharks is pretty bad-ass, even if they are incapable of taking a bite.

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Comments

[TravelingNinja]

Vegetarian sharks
Very funny story about the sharks. I did like your idea about adding a few days alone after the tour to get to know the islands on the more personal level. I'll ask my cruise company, Quasar Expeditions, for their recommendations. I'm going next year and your experience swimming with sea lions is one I hope to experience!