Puerto Ayora, Ecuador, South America

Today I officially crossed the Galapagos Islands off my list of things to see before I die, because I feel like I’ve seen them properly now. I got to see it on land yesterday, and today I got to see it under water, and it was spectacular!

I got up at 6am, met Raz at my hotel, and went over to the dive shop. We grabbed a hot roll for breakfast and then got on the boat to go to Floreana. It took over two hours to get there, and it was the choppiest water I’ve ever been in. The ride was absolutely terrible. It made me realize how lucky I am that I don’t get sea sick. There were seven of us in total going for the ride, and two of the people were really sea sick. They were in their 60’s or 70’s and the man had his head hanging off the side of the boat for half the ride. The woman tried to be a bit more discreet about it, but it was pretty obvious how miserable they were.

We finally got to the first dive site and Raz, Javier, and I got ready to go for our dive with the dive master Leo. We were wearing 6mm wetsuits for the dive, which seemed like they were too thick, but we absolutely needed them. The water was really cold, especially when we got down to 18 meters. The visibility was terrible, only about 3-5 meters, so it wasn’t nearly as good as the dive could have been, but it was still pretty spectacular. We saw a huge manta ray, some golden rays, a sea turtle, white tip reef sharks, and thousands of other tropical fish. It was a great dive.

We finished the dive and got back on the boat to move to another location. It was now time for an Ecuadorean couple to go for their first dive with Leo and we could either stay on the boat, or go snorkeling. We arrived at the next spot and it was a little cove filled with sea lions! Obviously we weren’t going to let this opportunity pass, so we grabbed a mask and snorkel and jumped in. The sea lions were so cool! They were so curious and playful, they were swimming right up to us and showing off how they could flip around and twirl in the water. They were awesome! We spent about a half hour in the water with them and then went back onto the boat. We didn’t even have time to dry off before we had to get our gear back on to go for our second dive.

We didn’t go far to the next site, and this time it was just Raz, Leo and me. This dive seemed to be bait warmer than the first one, and the visibility was a little bit better, but not much. This time we had a couple of sea lions vying for our attention, along with some sharks, another sea turtle, and a gajillion tropical fish. I have never seen this many fish in my life. It was amazing!

I’d say it was a very successful day of diving, even though the conditions left a lot to be desired. At least it gives me something to hope for on my next dive. The two hour boat ride back to Santa Cruz was as bad, if not worse, than the ride going to Floreana. We got back at about 4pm, so it was a long day, and we had a bit of time to chill before we had to move again.

Raz and I met up with Eleonora for dinner again, and this time we went to the street where the locals eat, so it was more authentic and much cheaper than the touristy restaurants. We sat down at a big table, and were almost immediately joined by a Canadian couple, Tami and Marcin. They were a really nice couple who are traveling around Ecuador for a while so we spent the whole dinner exchanging travel stories, and getting tips on what to see.

We all grabbed an ice cream after dinner and walked back to our hotels. It was a really long day, but it was excellent! I can’t wait to go diving again, but I think that will have to wait until I get over to Isabela island. Tomorrow I am going to see more of Santa Cruz with Raz before I catch the boat to Isabela. Should be another good day tomorrow!