November 22nd, 2014
The day starts early and my eyes flash open in my cabin, thrilled to be awake at 5:45. Wow, I never thought I’d write that sentence. We’re up early because our wonderful guide Johan has agreed to add an extra snorkel to our program, in no small part thanks to my childlike glee every time we’re about to get in the water. There’s no bell to wake us, as this trip to the underwater paradise that surrounds the islands is optional. But I’m wide awake and buzzing, very much ready to get in the water, which will be our last chance to try to see.Hammerheads on the cruise.
A bleary eyed but smiling Johan leads a little 9 or 10 of us into the dingy and closer to the shores of Buccaneer cove. We hop into amazingly clear water and start our snorkelling adventure, swimming through the chills and into a few openings in the rock walls. The fish are plentiful all around us, and the early morning light filters through the waters in the most entrancing way. We duck in and out of the shadows of the cliffs around Santiago Island, water shifting from midnight blue, to an translucent emerald green.
We see countless small rays dotting the bottom and as I swim out of the darkness and into the light I look down to the illuminated depths and sea the smallest sea turtle yet. It’s also the quickest I’ve seen as it speeds away from me with impressive acceleration.
We stumble upon some marble rays lurking on the bottom a short distance from the shore and watch them. Feeling a need to distance myself from the group (always a good idea) I take off following one of the rays as he it swims along the bottom. It turns out to be a good choice as I find another ray quickly and spend some time hanging out with the impressive and new marble rays as the group continues long our route. The rays, or perhaps my own floundering form, attracts a special guest.
As I briefly look up out of the water I see the group and the dinghy a good distance ahead of me and start to close the gap. It’s in this section of swimming that I experience perhaps the best snorkelling yet. A playful sea lion joins me out of nowhere and frolics for a while before going on her merry way as seen here.
Next I encounter perhaps the strangest sight so far, a family or group of rays swimming up near the surface in an almost Flying V like formation. Now as far as I could tell they weren’t playing hockey, but who can be sure. After watching my video Johan told me they were Golden Cow rays, a whole new species. Speaking of my video.. here it is.
I am being called by the dingy driver to catch up to the group so I leave the strange family of rays behind and hurry onwards. That’s when I see one of the two species I was most hoping to catch a glimpse of, a massive Manta Ray swimming in the open ocean ahead of me. I apologize for the video quality but I was forced to leave it behind before I could get too close as our drivers were getting quite annoyed with me.
I return to the group and tell them of the manta, only to found that it had been seen by many, though they are all pleased to learn I got a brief video of it. Shortly thereafter we’re called back to the dinghy. It’s breakfast time. (As I sit here now reflecting on these wondrous two weeks this is one thing that strikes me, In the Galapagos I often experienced more that I would in a good entire day before 8 or 9 am, my usual wake up time.)
During breakfast we set sail for our next destination, Espumilla beach, on Santiago Island. Breakfast is delicious as always, but today there’s something different about it, today it’s interrupted.
Johan gives a call and we all spill out of the dining room in a rush. Just ahead of us there’s a school of 30-50 dolphins darting around in the water near another cruise ship. Their feeding so unfortunately they don’t jumping. We watch them from all around the deck of our ship as we approach until Johan gives another call. This is where being on the cool boat pays off. Johan has mobilized the dingy captains and we all pile in doing our best not to fall.
The passengers of Yolita 2 (a more expensive ship) watch enviously as we enter the feeding frenzy. The Friendly and curious dolphins surround our boats as we speed roughly through the waters. Several of them take up positions just in front of us, swimming near the surface as if racing the boat, or leading it somewhere. They stay with us for a few long adventurous minutes and we laugh as we see Christian still on the deck of Guantanamera. Capturing footage of the dolphins is difficult as we race through the waters to stay with them, especially since I don’t have my go pro, but at least I have my camera.
After the excitement of the dolphins we return to the boat and continue digging into a delicious breakfast. The ship drops anchor and before too long we’re back on the dingy’s, bound for the beach. We land on Santiago and I’m given a choice, go for a walk or go do more snorkelling. guess which I chose?
Can’t guess? Allow these photos to tell the story.
I give my traditional camera to Johan so that I don’t miss out on the walk either, and he snaps some lovely photos for me as seen here.
But now back to the snorkelling.
Most of the others went for the walk but two others join me in the water.. Snorkelling off the beach is rarely as good as it is from the dinghy, but here proves excellent, especially for turtles. Before I find the subject of the crucial video from this session though I see several rays and a single white tip shark. Then the turtle festival begins, and much like Woodstock, or Osheaga, or Leeds Reading Festival, some of the festival goers start feeling a little too free, sexually. Yes folks, I’m talking about turtle banging. (The whole video is interesting, but if you want to skip to the money shot it’s a little after the halfway mark.
A Manta Ray was spotted from shore when we first arrived but can’t be found by me and my two friends though the turtles more than make up for it. That said I do see some sea lions in the shallows near land. Here I learn a mighty lesson as I try to frolic with a few females a male sneaks up on me, swimming dangerously close and baring his teeth at me. The video does not capture just how scary this was, a sea lion bite is serious business and the males are very territorial not just on land, but apparently in the shallows too.
Shaken, I return to where I found the turtles and in the same area, I encounter the turtle in the above photos and get to follow him around for a good long while. The barnacles growing on his back make me smile.
I get back to the beach and snap some photos of a fairly fresh turtle trail, the mother having no doubt worked her way up the beach to lay some eggs and leave them to hatch, she nowhere to be seen and must have just made it back to the sea by the time we arrived.
From the beach we all meet up again and head back to Guantanamera and another sailing to Rabida Island, a small satellite just off the coast of Santiago. We drop anchor just off a stunning red sand beach.
Of course there’s sea lions to be found there too. We go for a brief walk through the island and then enjoy our last snorkel of the cruise. I think it’s pretty incredible that by now an hour long snorkelling session where I see countless fascinating fish, a few rays, and a white tip shark, is almost disappointing.
We return to the boat and are allowed to jump off the boat one last time. My wounds looking pretty infected I decide it’s not worth the pain and instead capture the moment.
The jumping finished we are called have dinner, surprised by a cake at the end by our lovely chef. After that we have a short screening of some of my favourite videos that you’ve all watched over the past few entries. Then it’s time to pack up. As i retreat to my cabin a sudden sadness fills me, knowing our magical journey is all but over. We’ve got one more stop the next morning, but then we’re dropped at the airport. A sad thought, and I seem to pack more slowly than normal, hoping it might extend my time here with all the wonderful crew and passengers.
Despite my aching knees I decide I have to sleep up on deck, under the beautiful stars one last time. But don’t worry readers, the cruise may be almost over, but there’s still a few more entries from the Galapagos coming soon.
