Monday, April 23, 2012

Snorkelling at Galápagos

We have spent the last few days doing boat jobs as we waited for Jordan's son & girlfriend (Aaron & Deanna) to arrive at Galápagos from Victoria BC. (We chose not to tour any areas until then as we could be seeing things twice.)

Once they arrived on April 21st, we checked out some tour agencies and booked a snorkelling tour for the next day at 3 sites. First site was at Isla San Cristóbel (San Cristóbel has been inhabited since 1910 as it has fresh water on the island and many of the other islands do not.)

After about a 2-hour boat ride we arrived at Isla San Cristóbel, then after a short hike, we had our 1st snorkelling for the day at La Lobería. This was a tranquil sandy beach with oodles of sea life! We immediately saw several cute sea lions lolling on the beach.

Once in the water, we were amazed at the abundance of colourful fish, rays, sea lions...and turtles were everywhere! We swam through schools of fish and alongside rays and turtles. Humans were inconsequential to the sea life and we were basically ignored, definitely not feared.

Swimming above a sea turtle (courtesy of Aaron & Dee)

The tour boat next took us to León Dormido ("lion rocks") also known as Kicker Rocks...

Photo snapped as we leave Kicker Rocks (courtesy of Aaron & Dee)

We all jumped from the boat into the water with the large rocks jutting from the ocean ahead of us. The rocks were very dramatic as we snorkelled between them, but it was difficult to see the sea life as the water was a little murky on that day. But we did spot this majestic spotted eagle ray!

Beautiful Spotted Eagle Ray

We then progressed to another island, Isla Santa Fé (southeast of Santa Cruz) which has volcanic rocks dating back 4 million years! We saw schools of colourful fish and lots of seals. The inquisitive seals entertained us by swimming all around us - even with their pups.

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