Galapagos: Diving Floreana

Third day of diving.  Today we were going to the far away island of Floreana.  The ride was about 2 hours each way on a speed boat.  The weather was deteriorating, so the result was a very bumpy and long ride so after 5 minutes, I decided to take a motion sickness pill.  My companions were a 15-person group from Argentina.  There are diving buddies that go on trips around the world.  Their level of experience was very varied.  From quite advanced to just beginners.  We had 2 boats (8 people in each boat), with two dive masters in each boat.  The head dive master was very different than the ones the previous days as he kept us in a very short leash.  He also made the huge mistake of not doing a buoyancy check which resulted in an incredible waste of time and air in the first dive when half the group didn’t go down and we had to sit on the bottom waiting for them.  These dives were very easy and, combined with having a good buddy (Carlos), I felt pretty comfortable which reflected on my bottom times.

Here are the stats for the dives:

Dive	Max Depth	Avg Depth	Bottom Time
1	55ft	40ft	60mins
2	89ft	43ft	45mins

 

	Picture taken while waiting for the other divers to come down.
	Wrasse
	Juvenile Puffer Fish
	Adult Puffer Fish
	Sting Ray
	Streamer Hogfish
	Tiger Snake Eel
	White Tip Reef shark

During the surface time between the two dives, we moored in a protected bay to have lunch.  The lunch was excellent, a nice grilled fish with a prawn creamy sauce (I wonder if my complaint about the food the previous day was the reason).  After lunch, we had some time to go snorkeling where I had some very close encounters with Sea Lions and turtles.

The Sea Lions in Galapagos are genetically California Sea Lions.  However, they exhibit different behaviors (particularly on raising the young) which has led some scientists to rename the subspecies Galapagos Sea Lions.  In any case, they are very playful and curious and they are such an excellent predator that they have plenty of time to just relax on the beach.  It’s one of the few animals that are encountered everywhere in Galapagos.

I also find a green turtle feeding underwater.

 

 

 

 

After the surface interval, we headed to a more “advanced” site.  There, we did a drift dive next to a cliff wall with plenty of caves with lots of life from fish to sharks.  Unfortunately, my cave pictures are pretty bad given that I didn’t have a diffuser for my flash.

Underwater Turtle.  We found this turtle at about 60ft.

 

 

 

 

 

Free diving next to a wall.  It’s an interesting experience to just “fly” next to the wall, heading up and down as you find caves and sea life.  It’s also a very good exercise on buoyancy control.

 

 

 

When we were at 40ft, a sea lion came to check us out.  It was swimming very close to each of us, looking carefully and sometimes nipping on a diver fin.  At one moment, he got very interested in my camera so I was lucky to get some closer shots of him (some of them too close).

 

 

Carlos with the sea lion under us.

 

 

 

 

Playful Sea Lion

 

 

 

 

 

At one time, we found a huge cave under us and we headed there (reaching the deepest depth of the dive).  The cave was full of sharks, packed like sardines.  There were maybe 20 of them in there.  After they noticed us, a couple of them swim out, looking for a quieter place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to some scheduling problems, my travel agency had to put me for my last night in Puerto Ayora in a different hotel: the Red Boobie.  The hotel, although less charming than the Mainao, was as clean and the staff as friendly.  Breakfast was a notch better and they have a fantastic rooftop swimming pool.  The hotel is also more centric than the Mainao, but everything in Puerto Ayora is so close, that that just mean walking two blocks less to get to the harbor.

After a quick shower, I connected again with the Argentinean troop who invited me for dinner in their hotel.  They were very nice people, I wish I can join them for a future dive in the future.

Galapagos: Diving Gordon Rocks

Second Day of diving.  Today is Gordon Rocks, a bit farther away than the diving site yesterday.  I was the only passenger for Nautidiving, so they sent me to a different company which in turn sent me to a third one (I didn’t have to do anything, it was just a change of meeting place).  This company wasn’t as good as Nautidiving, offering a very simple lunch.  However, their dive masters (we had two) were very good.  Given the distance to get there (1 hour on a speed boat each way), we only did 2 dives plus the buoyancy check.  The ride was also very bumpy with one person getting very seasick.  My companions were one person from the US (Laura) and three Israelis.  As I did my buoyancy check the previous day, I just did snorkeling at the check site.  No jelly fish this time.

Here are the stats for the dive:

Dive	Max Depth	Avg Depth	Bottom Time
1	94ft	61ft	38mins
2	70ft	42ft	42mins

Gordon Rocks was a more advanced site with deeper dives and very strong currents.   The diving place is basically an eroded crater with the bottom of the crater, surrounded by two broken semi-circular walls.  The inside of the crater goes down to 95ft while the outside wall goes to a depth of more than 450ft.

The highlights of the dives were the encounter with a huge sunfish and a school of hammerhead sharks.  There were also some coral (unusual in Galapagos) on the inside walls plus turtles and lots of fish inside the crater.

	Beautiful coral
	Sunfish
	Laura
	Green Turtle

	Hammerhead Shark
	School of fish and diver
	Streamer Hogfish
	Turtle and Laura
	Two different kind of star fish

After the dive, I decided to have an extra day of diving the following day.  Originally I was scheduled for a tour of the highlands as the package assumes that you fly after the diving program, but given that I wasn’t doing that, diving was a possibility.  After scoring a place on a boat to Floreana, I went for dinner with the Israelis and Laura.

Galapagos: Diving North Seymor and Mosquera

My first day of diving in Galapagos.  Today I headed for three dives in the island of North Seymor and Mosquera. 

Water temperature was unseasonably high, a balmy 75F (24C).  By this time of the year, the cold currents should have arrived and cool the water, but the water was still warm, a sign that perhaps El Niño is coming.  Still, we were wearing full 6mm wetsuits which was a complete overkill for this temperature.  Before diving, we did a buoyancy check.  We got all the equipment on us and jumped in the water to find out how much weight to carry.  I felt a bit heavy with the suggested 10Kg (22lbs), but I decided to stick with that weight for the first dive.  Later I confirmed that it was too much and reduced it to 8Kg (18lbs). Immediately after I jumped in the water for the buoyancy check, I felt a sting in my hand.  It turned that I jumped exactly on top of a jelly fish.  After getting on board, the dive master used the  vinaigrette for the salad to stop the pain.  The vinegar in it was very effective to relief the pain but my hand smelled as if it was being marinated for the sharks.

The stats of the dive were:

Dive	Max Depth	Avg Depth	Bottom Time
1	73ft	52ft	40min
2	65ft	41ft	40min
3	86ft	57ft	38min

Here are some pictures of the dive.  The highlights were swimming with turtles and sea lions and close encounters with White Tip sharks.

	Green turtle
	Sting Ray
	Barracudas
	White tip shark
	Sergeant Major
	Garden Eels

Sea Stars

 

	Puffer fish
	Sea lion

 

After diving, I decided to go back with Mo Yee, one of my diving partners, to the Darwin Research Station. She was in the middle of a week-long cruise and for her day in Puerto Ayora, she decided to go diving rather than visiting the town and Research Station.  We finished early enough for her to visit the station so I offered to show her around.  We basically did the same as I did with Leandro with a bit more time to try to see George (this time, we saw "half" of him, plus his two consorts).

From the Research Station, we walked back to the other side of town (it just take 10 minutes) to the boat dock where she was going to be picked up to go back to her ship.  In the way there, we stopped at the fish market where fishermen were surrounded by pelicans and sea lions hoping for a piece of a fish to fall on the ground.

After dropping Mo Yee in her boat, I headed for a grilled fish (wahoo) dinner in "La Garrapata" (The Tick).

Galapagos: Puerto Ayora

Today is traveling day to Galapagos.  I woke up very early to get to the airport for my morning flight.  The Domestic Terminal was busy with big groups of kids going on trips.  However, check in was easy and fast.  In addition to the typical airport security, there was an additional check to make sure my luggage was free of fruits and insects.

My flight, in the aging 727, was beautiful.  Shortly after leaving Quito, we got excellent views of the volcanoes surrounding the city, and in particular Cotopaxi.  A bit later, as we were approaching Guayaquil, the landscape changed to jungle.  After a brief stopover in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador, we continued over the Pacific ocean to Galapagos.

At the airport, I quickly connected with my guide from Nautidiving, Leandro.  We took the free bus from the airport to the ferry crossing, took the ferry, and then he drove me to Puerto Ayora.  In the way there, we stopped at "Los Gemelos", two impressive volcanic sinkholes just by the road.  Around the sinkholes we saw a Galapagos Short-eared Owl.  Thanks to the lack of competitors, this is the only diurnal owl in the world.  The drive to Puerto Ayora was longer than I thought, close to an hour on a good paved road.

After arriving at town, he dropped me off in my hotel, Mainao.  The hotel is built in a Mediterranean style with nice common areas and simple and very clean rooms.  After drinking the welcome glass of "tomate de arbol" juice, I settle down and decided to go for a walk.

My guidebook recommended going to Tortuga Bay.  I got directions to the trailhead just to the edge of town.  The trail is a paved path built in the middle of a forest of cactus and poisonous trees.  Without that trail it would be virtually impossible to get to Tortuga Bay from land.  There were many opportunities to see lizards and birds, including the famous Darwin Finches (below) just at the edge of the trail.  Animals in Galapagos do not perceive humans as threats, so it is possible to get very close to them.

After about 40 minutes, I was at the bay.  Tortuga Bay is a beautiful stretch of white sand beach.  Most of the Galapagos Islands are volcanic, but some of the land was uplifted from the bottom of the ocean.  The uplifted land is rich in shells and corals that have been converted in beautiful white sands.  In the case of Tortuga Bay, it is very fine white sand.  Notice behind the picture the line of volcanic black rock which is also typical of the island.

While I was walking on the sand, I noticed very colorful crabs that would peak from holes and hide the moment I approached them.  These are the Galapagos Ghost Crabs.  I tried to get a picture of them by standing very quietly at the edge of the hole and waiting for them to pop up.  However, just the tiny movement of my finger to trigger the camera was enough to send them darting down the hole.  After several attempts, I have to content myself with using the zoom and getting a picture from far away.

At the end of the beach, I found my first Marine Iguana.  This was a special treat as it was swimming next to the Mangrove trees.  Marine Iguanas are well adapted be found in almost every island of the archipelago. Marine iguanas are usually black, so they are camouflage when laying on the black volcanic rocks of the islands. They are related to the Land Iguanas of Galapagos and the Green Iguana   of the Ecuadorian coast.

 

Nearby there was a huge group of resting Marine Iguanas, including several babies.  Marine Iguanas have an interesting behavior, they get ride of excess salt by "spitting" it violently out of their noses.  Beyond that, they do very little on land, just laying there warming up under the equatorial sun.

After spending an hour at the Bay, it was time for me to return and meet Leandro who took me to the Darwin Research Station. 

The station is known for their program to save the Giant Tortoises.  These animals were exploited in such numbers that some of the subspecies went extinct and others were reduced to such small numbers that it is unlikely that they could recover on their own.  Tortoises were taken by ships when it was discovered that they would remain alive for over a year, without water or food, if kept upside down in the hull of a ship.   This additional source of protein was more than welcome by sailors, so they were taking in great numbers.  In fact, the ship that carried Darwin, the Beagle, took 45 of them.  42 were used for food and 3 were kept alive to be brought to London (the last one of those three died just a couple of years ago).  In addition to this, the turtle needs to compete with three invasive species: pigs, cats, rats, and goats.  Pigs and cats are very efficient in finding tortoise eggs and eating them.  Rats (as well as pigs) kill and eat the young tortoises.  Finally, goats compete with adult tortoises for food, stressing the adults and contributing further to reduce their numbers.

The center captures adults and breed them.  The eggs are then put in incubators. Tortoises don't have a sex chromosome, so sex is determined by the temperature in which the egg hatches.  Eggs in high temperature will produce females, while the cooler ones will produce males.  Baby tortoises are kept in the center until they are "rat proof" (2 years) or, in the islands with pigs, until they are "pig proof" (3 years).  After that period, they are release in the island where their parents are from.

The center also rescue tortoises that were kept as pets.  These tortoises are not only kept in the center for breeding, but also to allow people to get very close to them.  The center is also home to Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta tortoise sub-species (although recently DNA evidence questions the origin of George).  There has been an international quest to find a mate for him and save the subspecies.  Unfortunately, no living tortoise from Pinta has been found.  Because of this, two females of a related subspecies have been put in his pen.  After years of ignoring them, George finally mate with them last year; however, the eggs produced by the females did not contain embryos.  Lonesome George is very shy and hides behind some trees of the enclosure, so I didn't get to see him in this visit.

Although less known than their work with tortoises, the research station also has a land iguanas breeding program.  Similar to the program with tortoises, adults from endangered subspecies are captured and breed in captivity.  The babies are kept in the station until they are old enough to defend themselves against invasive species.

The day I arrived in Puerto Ayora an important soccer game was being played: Ecuador, the underdog, versus Argentina.  To everybody's surprise, Ecuador defeated Argentina 2-0.  After the game, half the town went into the streets with Ecuadorian flags, celebrating the result of the match.  It was fun to see them going around an around on the main street in town.

After finding our way to Nautidiving, the company I was going diving with, I got a briefing for my diving trip the next day.  After an early dinner, and some blog work, it was time to call off the day.