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).