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Today we got up at a leisurely pace and headed down to Galapagos Fishing Adventures by 8:20 to let them know we were ready for our snorkel/dive trip. We did not need to be there for another 25 minutes so we went across the street and upstairs to a restaurant for breakfast. Another continental breakfast with a banana milk shake (gross in Sarah´s opinion). About 5 minutes before 9 the tour guide rushed us out of the restaurant, resulting in Sarah having to chug hot coffee. And of course, two minutes later we sat at the dock waiting for 20 minutes for everybody else to show.
At the dock we met a really cool older couple from Australia. They had rented out their house and were traveling for a year solely on the rental income. Nice!
Finally we all boarded the boat. There were about 20 of us, four divers and the rest snorkelers, including the guides. Our first stop was Isla Lobos, about a 30 minute cruise. Upon approaching the island we could see tons of the frigerate birds and we even saw some males in the trees with their big red sacks inflated. I am assuming they
do that to attract the white chested females that were flying above.
Isla Lobos is a very small island maybe 200 meters off the coast of San Cristobal. It creates a nice little calm channel that is great for snorkeling and an ideal calm spot to test the scuba divers to make sure they know what they are doing before getting in to more difficult conditions. On the north end are a series or rock outcroppings that stunt any waves that may try to move through the channel so it is calm. Where we anchored, and where I passed my test with flying colors, was maybe 12 feet deep. While I tested Sarah and the big group of snorklers headed south in the channel, hugging the islands coast.
There were tons of colorful fish to see close to the rocky shoreline. The curious sea lions were darting everywhere. Somebody in Sarah's group was shouting and splashing around. Sarah turned to look and immediately she was face to face with a curious sea lion. I enjoyed watching a large marine iguana feeding off algae growing on the underwater rocks and than swimming alongside another iguana as he was in
search of food. All the while a curious little pup, sea lion, circling me playfully.
After a good 45 minute snorkel they loaded us all back on the boat and headed towards our true destination, Leon Dormido or Kicker Rock. It took about 30 minutes to get to the gigantic rock sitting oddly in the middle of the ocean with its 148 meter high cliffs overlooking the water.
The first snorkel/dive location is through a 50 or so foot wide channel that was carved in the rock. The divers jumped in first and descended to about 60 feet. Visibility was not great, I think they said 5-6 meters. Still, we were able to see tons. The biggest thing on our minds though was finding sharks and it sure did not take long for that dream to come true. It is hard to know how many sharks there were. Lots I guess. 20...40...more...I don't know. We got the best view of some of the smaller ones that were about 4 feet in length. The larger ones were just shadows in the murky water. If I had to guess I would say the bigger ones could have been as big
as 8 feet in length. But, like I said, we did not get a great look at them. The dive master said they were Black Tip Reef Sharks. The other really experienced diver thought they were Galapagos Sharks. Maybe both? Either way, really impressive. It felt a little like I was in the Baltimore Aquarium shark exhibit as schools of sharks swim by just out of reach.
The dive master tried to get me to pay attention to some cool starfish and some sea turtles, but my eyes were constantly staring in to the deep, hoping to get a better view of the sharks.
We swam through the channel, bouncing back and forth between the walls that stretched high above. This time of year the waters in the Galapagos are changing. The Panama current that brings warm water from the north is on its way out and the colder southern current is on its way in. This mixing of waters is what makes Kicker Rock an attractive place for sharks and one of the best places to dive in the Galapagos. Unfortunately this mixing is also the reason for poor visibility. That and May 5th was a super
moon, the largest full moon of the year, so the tides were strong as well.
After a 45 minute dive, we surfaced. The snorkelers had followed our same route, just 60+ feet above us. They saw a shark of their own, but perhaps even more impressive was the school of Eagle Rays they saw and followed.
The boat hung out by the rock as we all ate lunch. There were many sea turtle spottings and perhaps even a manta ray. An hour and a half later we were back in the water, this time on the back side of the rock where hammerhead shark tend to hang out.
As we descended along the coral and rock wall to 65 feet we saw the shadow of a big big shark. While we did not see it clearly, the concensus from the two more experienced divers was that it was a hammerhead and a good sized one at that. It was bigger than the other sharks we saw, so maybe 8+ feet in length. The water on this dive was much more murky and the clouds hid the sun making it even more difficult to see.
The hammerhead
was the only shark we saw. We also saw a bunch of tuna and I think a big school of mackeral. We spent time only a few feet from a feeding sea turtle. And a gigantic sea lion startled us all as he came straight for us out of the darkness.
The snorkelers were all back on the boat and quite cold when we surfaced. Without a wetsuit the water is pretty chilly. I was so excited that my sea sick patch had done its job. For the first time ever, when diving in the ocean, I managed not to get sea sick!
We motored back towards town, stopping for an hour to relax at a remote beach. Once back at town we concluded the day with a celebratory burger and fries and some aloe for Sarah's sun burned back.
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Aunt Mary Ellen
non-member comment
Thanks
how cool!