Last Day in the Galapagos
- Comments: 1
We got to swim with sharks – several times! It was fantastic. We went for a deep water snorkel around Devils Crown, which is a sunken atoll off one of the larger islands here. The current was really strong, so when we jumped in the water out of the boat everyone took a second to adjust to the pull of the water. I was looking for sharks immediately, and I was not disappointed. As soon as we got in, I looked down and about 25 meters below me was either a black tip or a Galapagos shark gliding away from us along the bottom. I didn’t get a good enough look at it to positively identify it.
Regardless, we snorkeled all the way around the atoll, looking for more sharks and all kinds of great tropical fish – huge butterfly and king angel fish, trumpet fish, groupers, jacks, blennies… there were fish of all sizes and all colors everywhere you looked.
When we had circumnavigated the atoll, we swam into the middle of it where the local sea lions decided to come play with us, and we got a closer look at the coral, sea urchins, star fish and sea cucumbers that littered the volcanic rock. There was an underwater channel from the inside of the atoll to the outside, forming a bit of an underwater cave, and that is where we found the group of white tip sharks. One was under a rock ledge, and when we had followed it for a while and taken some pictures of it, we realized there were 5 or 6 more in the tunnel. Next thing we knew, there were four sharks swimming around us. It was great.
Aside from the fun with potentially dangerous marine life, we have really enjoyed the land animals as well. The bright yellow land iguanas look like something out of Jurassic Park; the marine iguanas are dead ringers for Godzilla (and they are fun to watch swim); the waved albatrosses are endlessly engaging in a beautiful, intricate mating dance (did you know that they mate for life, can live up to 80 and often die of loneliness when their partner dies?); the magnificent and great frigate birds have a wing span of up to 2 meters and the males have an enormous red pouch under their beaks that they blow up to the size of a soccer ball to attract females (it takes a whole day for them to deflate it). Excuse the horrifying sentence structure here – we are tired, as we are now back in Quito, and we are off to Lima tomorrow.
We have had such a great time in the Galapagos, and our guide Peter Freire (killerwhale2000pf@yahoo.com) was so informative that we are sure we will have to come back some day. Next time we will definitely go diving with the hammerhead sharks. There actually have been no recorded shark attacks in the Galapagos Islands, but at least 30 tourists are bitten by sea lions every year. Believe me, when you see a 500 lb bull sea lion swimming at you, you beat a hasty retreat! A big guy swam right under me in 6 feet of water and scared the crap out of me – I know they could hear me scream through my snorkel on shore (not very dignified, but this is a UNESCO world heritage site. You are not supposed to touch the animals, so it is a little disconcerting when they try to touch you).
The next part of our trip involves hiking the Inca trail up to Manchu Picchu. We will let you know how things are going before we set off from Cuzco. Thanks for all the feedback – we love hearing from everyone at home.
Noel & George
July 19, 2004
12:08:44
Richard and Suzanne
Hi folks,so glad you finally got to swim with the sharks. We are very jealous. Cant wait to see all the photos you have taken since we left.
We are now in Cuzco and about to depart for the rainforest tomorrow so we will probably pass at the airport. We went to Machupicchu yesterday and it is an amazing site with stunning views and history. Its definitely worth you climbing the mountain adjacent to the site where you can get some stunning views of the site and the surrounding mountains. We were very lucky with the weather as they hadnt had a dry day for a long time and the weather was great for us.
When you are in Cuzco it is definitely worth going to the El Truco restaurant. It is a bit more expensive than some of the local restaurants but well worth it as the food was great and the entertainment even better.
We look forward to reading more of your journal in the next few days. Please say hello to the others if you are still with any of them.
Rich and Suz
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