"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”– Lao Tzu
Swimming with Sea Lions, Dodging Sharks, and the Sting of the Jellyfish!
20 Apr 2012 | No Comments | posted by Intrepid Explorer | in Full Travel Blog, South America
Galapagos Butterfly
Day 95 – San Cristobal and Santa Fe, The Galapagos Islands Day 3
Today we took a day trip from Santa Cruz to two other of the Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal and Santa Fe. Unfortunately, I dont have any pictures of the actual day, as within minutes of each other, both our waterproof camera, and our waterproof video camera died. Somehow they both got water in them, and poof, gone! Not great timing but we’ll get another one when we get back to the mainland. So bear with me, as today’s pictures are a hybrid of other days in the Galapagos.
Other than that, though, we did have a fantastic day! As we sailed towards San Cristobal, we got a brilliant surprise – a group of dolphins started racing the boat! We were sitting on the bow, and literally, the dolphins were speeding under out feet, jumping out of the water, nearly within touching distance, and then crossing back and forth in front of the boat. It was great to watch – they seemed to be having so much fun, and we were all awestruck by getting to play with them.
Seal Swimming in the Galapagos
When we arrived at San Cristobal, our first snorkelling spot was La loberia, a sea lion refuge. There were alot on the rocks, but none in the water, so we just had a quick swim, and then went to our next destination, Kicker Rock.
Apparently, Kicker Rock has the best snorkelling in the Galapagos, and we did see tons! As soon as we jumped in, we were surrounded by massive sea turtles, who dove and inspected us, before swimming away. A Manta Ray glided by, and an absolute load of fish. But the one that got everyone excited (and caused the Argentian girls to sream their fool heads off) were the Galapagos Sharks. Big, gray and menacing, we saw seven of them gliding beaneath our feet as they hunted for fish. They arent known for hurting humans, but it’s hard to keep that in mind when they are headed in your direction!
Sea Turtle
The only other slight mar to the day (besides the camera) was that even with a wetsuit, I was stung by a jellyfish! I can tell you, having not ever felt it before, it really is painful! Red welts all the way around my arm! Luckily, the crew were prepared – they had a bottle of vinegar to put on it. The acid nutralises the sting, so they told me.
But the day was good again in the afternoon, as we had another pod of dolphins race the boat on the way to Santa Fe island! There were at least five of them and they played with us for about 20 minutes. Beautiful!
Our last stop was snorkelling off Santa Fe. My number one hope for the Galapagos was to swim with sea lions, and here I got my wish. There were three sea lions in the water, and they just kept swimming back and forth to us – checking us out, before darting back, making playful dives and popping out from rocks. It was really magical, just watching them in the water, and definitely one of my favourite moments of this whole trip! Completely fantastic!!
This article was written by: Intrepid Explorer