Underwater Wonderland

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Although when most people think of the Galapagos they think of the islands and the unique wildlife that live on them, but there is another side to them that is just as interesting below the waves. Because of the unique location of the Galapagos at the corner of 4 tectonic plates whose volcanic activity created the islands it also has a huge impact on the variety of the marine life. The Galapagos are located right on the equator but far enough from the South American main land that they are isolated from it. Also the Humboldt Current runs right past it which is a cold body of water and this allows you to have cold water species of marine life like sea lions, fur seals and penguins that live in a colder climate which is pretty unique.

The Galapagos marine park has just about every type of marine life you can think of and it is found in huge numbers and it makes it an underwater paradise. Because we toured the islands by boat you are constantly surrounded by water and some of our better sightings were actually as we were relaxing on deck and you would spot giant manta rays leaping out the water to rid themselves of parasites, we also spotted whales and dolphins in the open water as we made our way between islands. Whilst in the dingy making our way to the shore you would spot different types or rays and turtles as well as reef sharks. At night the lights from the back of the boat would attract schools of fish and you could stare into the water whilst sipping a cold beer and watches sharks slide pass hunting for prey. On our first day and on the way to the catameran we saw a 2 meter Galapagos shark swimming round the boat which was a great start to the trip.

The land animals of the Galapagos have no fear of man but this goes double for the marine life, and you were encouraged to spend as much time in the water as you liked. Seal lions would slip of the rocks into the water as you approached and would race towards you with bullet like speed and whirl and twist their way around you in a playful game, the larger males would have no fear and would come right up to your mask and stare at you inspecting what to them is a strange creature in there underwater world and they would take great delight in diving down with you and swimming along the bottom.

The penguins would also hunt with you and stay close like you were somehow protecting them, instead of swimming of when they saw you it was more like they were drawn towards you as they would literally fly under water looking for fish which was a unique experience being part of a penguin hunting pack. All marine life seemed at ease with our presence, on scuba dives we have done through the world when you see reef shark and turtles they usually flee in the other direction but they seemed at ease with your presence.

The turtles are especially abundant and remarkable friendly, we spent 2 hours in the water at turtle rocks which is an area which the turtles congregate to feed on the algae that grows on the rocks, there were so many that we lost count of them and they were happy for you to swim and play with them and dive down with them in their search for food and watch them graze like cows on the sea algae.

It is impossible to capture all the marine life on camera as per their nature the sightings can some times be brief and by the time you have run into the boat to grab your gear they have gone, but for a sheer variety of marine life and close sightings we both agree that the Galapagos is in a class of its own. (They even have whale sharks but it was the wrong season when we were there)

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