¡Hola familia y amigos!
This is our second full day on the Galapagos, and it was awesome!
As a last minute decision yesterday, we booked a snorkeling trip to two separate islands, Pinzon and Daphne. So this morning at 8 am, we met up with our group to go to the first stop.
Naturally, after we arrived at the meet point this morning with only 10 minutes to spare, Brandt decides that he needs coffee. Yikes!! My type-A kicked into full swing, and I practically paced in circles waiting for him to get back, and counting the seconds before departure time. Brandt made it back with two minutes to spare, with a hot cup of coffee, pastries, snacks, and a smile. Brandt would say that he was using time efficiently, I however, considered this a reckless jaunt! Everything worked out though, and we loaded into the boat to go to our first island! Jess, on the other hand, had not yet even shown up due to a night of drinking with a yacht club circumnavigating the world. We went and banged on her hotel room door to wake her. She walked up to the dock the second before the boat was leaving.
Pinzon had two separate snorkeling sites. The first was a small cove filled with parrot fish, clown fish, and even sharks and sea turtles!
Encountering my first shark in the wild was pretty nerve wracking, but Brandt and Jess were considerably less intimidated. The sharks we saw were White Tip Reef sharks, and unlike the Jaws image I had in my head, they were small (maybe 4 feet long) and surprisingly skittish. I ended up enjoying finding them while still maintaining a careful distance and I found it best to keep another person between the shark and myself, just in case it attacked.
Allegedly there were penguins swimming too, but no one aside from the guide saw them...
The next site was near a rock outcrop was much deeper. The currents were stronger, and the guide had to limit areas that we could safely snorkel. Many of the colorful species of fish were the same as the first site, but we did see a bait ball!
A bait ball is a massive school of small feeder fish. This group move as one, and roughly keeps the same shape, which is usually a ball. Aside from how cool it was to dive into this school (the fish morph to surround you, it was like swimming in a dome made of fish), there was also a sea wolf hunting the fish as well!
A sea wolf is what Ecuadorians call a sea lion. Our guide explained that while northern countries use the term sea lion because of the way the animal behaves, in South America many people prefer the term sea wolf, or even sea dog, because the shape of the head looks canine.
The sea wolf would corral the fish and dive into the bait ball to feed. Not only were we able to dive into the fish, but we did so alongside a sea wolf! This was the highlight of my day.
After the second site we took a trip to a white sand beach and spent some time relaxing. We saw our first Blue-footed Boobie here on nearby rocks, however, the bird was too far for us to take pictures.
Feeling a little more crispy from the sun, we loaded into the boat for our final dive. Daphne is a smaller island than Pinzon, with a decently powerful current. Because of El Niño, and the combating currents, the temperature fluctuated from pleasantly warm to Pacific cold every thirty seconds or so. The schizophrenic temperature was well worth it, however, because we got to see Boobies up close!!
There are three types of Boobies in the Galapagos: Blue-footed, Red-footed, and White Mask. The Red-footed variety is only on two islands, and elusive.
Along with the Boobies, we were able to see another sea turtle! At the end of the day we left our snorkeling trip more sun burned, but content.
Next stop is Isla Isabela to see some flamingos, underwater lava tunnels, and hopefully penguins!
