“Sea Man” Boat – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

For the past eight days, I’ve been living on the “Sea Man” boat (pictured above) with fifteen other guests and eight crew members. Each day we’d pile into two small “panga” boats (pictured below) and visit an island or two of the Galapagos Archipelago. We’d venture about with our guide, Galo, on sightseeing/“nature” walks. In between visiting the islands, I’d scuba dive. In total, I got to dive six times. I originally intended to exclusively scuba dive when booking the Galapagos excursion, but I’m glad I decided on the blend of nature walks and scuba diving. I thoroughly enjoyed the mix and have a much greater appreciation for Darwin’s theory of natural selection and evolution. Much of our guide’s mini-lectures were focused on this aspect of the islands. And I was able to compliment his mini-lectures by reading “Galapagos: A Natural History” by Michael H. Jackson.

 

Iguana – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

The iguanas were my favorite land animal, especially, the way they walked. And like all the other animals, they were totally indifferent to our presence. They’d just lie there, basking in the sun as we photographed and walked over them.

More Iguanas – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

 

Giant Tortoise – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

More Giant Tortoises – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

 

He's comparing winkles, possibly a little jealous.

Sea Lions – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

The babies were so adorable. They reminded me lot of puppies. You just wanted to reach out and pet them, and, at times, pick them up, but none of this was allowed.

More Sea Lions – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

 

 

Frigatebirds – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

More Birds - Galapagos, Ecuador

 

Mother frigatebird feeding her baby

 

Penguins

 

Baby Frigatebird

Animals and People – Galapagos, Ecuador

 

The most amazing aspect of the Galapagos Islands is the animals. There is immense symbiotic existence amongst the animals. They have all evolved in a manner where they can co-exist. And since many of them don’t have natural predators, they are not afraid of each other or humans.

 

The sea lions hang-out on the beach, yawn and sleep. The iguanas meander around posing for pictures. I do not have a telephoto lens on my camera; all the pics I’ve posted are from close range with a regular lens.

 

Highlighting the Galapagos birds symbiotic relationship, this is how Dr. Harris, a Galapagos researcher, describes the ways in which different birds can take the same prey: “Red-footed boobies caught flying in the air, great frigatebirds picked from them from the surface, swallow-tailed gulls caught them just below the surface, masked boobies caught them some distance below, and waved albatrosses took them while swimming on the surface. Similarly, brown noddies hovered to take the smallest fish, storm petrels made a quick pounce, and Audubon's shearwater pursued them underwater.”

Scuba Diving - Galapagos, Ecuador

My first three dives in the Galapagos were basically cold and not overly exciting. The highlights were the eagle rays, sharks and sea turtles. The visibility was good, but not great. I’m guessing my initial dives in the Galapagos where clouded by memories of diving at the Great Barrier Reef, where I dived last.

 

If I were to list the dive sites where I’ve dived, in order, it would go: 1) Great Barrier Reef, Australia; 2) Red Sea, Egypt; 3) Galapagos, Ecuador; and 4) Gulf of Thailand. The expansiveness of the GBR is what makes it so amazing. The bright vibrate colors, makes the Red Sea a close second. Thailand might have ranked higher, if I dived during the dive season and on the ocean side, instead of the gulf side. Since I dived off season, it was recommended to dive on the gulf side, which from what I’ve heard isn’t a nice as the ocean side.

 

Dive four, however, changed my opinion of diving in the Galapagos. It was by far our best dive. It started at 6 am, near the Island of Bartolome, searching for seahorses. Our dive master, after a little probing in the seaweed, found a very shy one. It almost looked plastic. Minutes later, a sea lion whizzed by. Diving with sea lions was a new and fun experience for me. They are very curious and fast. A small sea turtle sauntered by next. Personally, I’ve always been impressed by the grace and elegance of the sea turtle. Following the turtle, we were greeted by a school of Semela fish. When we swam in the middle of the school everything turned dark. The school was incredibly dense. It was a little uncanny and exciting at the same time. Outside the school of Semela was school of Yellow-tailed Tuna fish being chased by a couple of Galapagos Sharks. The dive master told us later that the sharks were feeding on the Tuna fish and the Tuna fish on the Semela fish. But most intense was swimming within the group of Semela fish. They were extremely dense and swimming very fast, yet none of them crashed into each other or us. The best way to describe them would be like in a cartoon when a swarm of bees would surround a cartoon character, creating a dark cloud and changing shapes. After this dive I gained a greater appreciation for diving in the Galapagos. On our fifth and sixth dive, we saw a few hammerhead sharks, another very playful sea lion, more sea turtles, and a very ugly moray eel. I’ve come to realize that each dive site has it own experience to offer and that people dive at different dive sites to gain these different experiences.

The Dive Master took a few underwater pics:

 

Moray Eel

 

Sea Lion (the bubbles to the left of the picture are mine)

 

Three Sting Rays

Landscapes - Galapagos, Ecuador

 

 

 

 

 

 

Itinerary - Galapagos, Ecuador

Day 1 - Baltra & South Plaza Island
Day 2 - Espanola
Day 3 - Floreana
Day 4 - Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Highlands
Day 5 - Genovesa
Day 6 - Bartolome, North Seymore
Day 7 - Santa Fe, San Cristobal
Day 8 - Return to Baltra