10/13: Isla Isabela, Galapagos: Snorkeling with Sharks & Turtles - Wow, Wow, Wow!

We had a tour planned beginning mid-morning so decided to walk beforehand down to the boardwalk by the pier to the small cove called Concha Perla. 

After walking just a few yards, we came across a family of sea lions dozing in the mangrove forest.

What a lovely sight to watch them for a few minutes, especially with the baby nursing!

A little further on was a marine iguana sunning himself in the middle of the boardwalk. We knew we only had to step over him with no consequence luckily!

Next were more sea lions who blocked our path so we just hopped over them, too. Luckily, they didn’t bat an eyelash or whatever sea lions have!

As we stood and watched, one sea lion roused and became far more active than the others who were content to sleep in the semi-shade. He, however, wanted to play so kept plopping over them but they wanted nothing to do with him!

We watched as another big sea lion tried to climb up on the boardwalk a couple of times from the creek below but he finally had to give up as he couldn’t muster the strength!

The very small dock at the end of the boardwalk was a perfect place to watch sea lions and other mammals cavort in the cave from. We didn't realize until later that it was also an ideal place to go snorkeling.

The sea lion family was all tuckered out on our way back.

We had time to pop into Puerto Villamil's only church for a few minutes before we had to be back for our tour.

The church was unconventional to say the least with stained glass windows of local animals rather than saints! This one was the blue-footed boobie!

Under the altar was a life-sized carving of a giant tortoise!

We had been looking forward to the Los Tunneles Tour as it was billed as a combination of a boat ride, snorkeling far away from land and a walk, the latter two amid convoluted lava formations.

There were two other couples (much younger than us, of course!) and the three crew members on the small boat - that was the best ratio we'd ever had!

Another tour boat had spotted a manta ray in the cool and choppy waters so our captain slowed the boat so we could also see it. 

The white blob was the best photo I could get as it moved so quickly! The manta ray would grow to be eight meters long as an adult, about 24 feet!

Our fellow passengers:

Because of the strong Humboldt Current, it was very difficult to scuba dive around Union Rock, a huge rock perched in the middle of the sea. People trying it would have to use a regulator, according to our guide. We learned there are over a hundred currents around the Galapagos with three presenting major concerns to boat captains and fishermen.

With my telephoto lens, I could pick out some birds atop the highest part of the rock.

The captain maneuvered the boat around the entire rock so we could see it from different angles.

After a 45 minute boat ride, the captain moored the boat so we could go snorkeling amid the lava rock formations. We had rented short wet suits, masks and snorkels from our hotel and hoped we'd be warm enough in the 20 degree Celsius water for the next hour or so!

The following photos were taken by Esteban, our guide, with his Go Pro camera.

I cannot possibly adequately describe to you the emotions we felt swimming just a foot away from the sea turtles as they glided through the water. It was one of our all time highs!

Esteban had taken goodness only knows how many other small groups to these same waters before and therefore knew all the magical places in the rocks where we might best enjoy ourselves.

We saw three white-tipped reef sharks almost hidden under some rocks in a lava tunnel. In case you were wondering, no, it wasn't scary to be so close to them. To me, it was just a thrill, another part of our grand adventure!

Guess who the cute, masked couple was!!

Pretty darn hard to kiss underwater while wearing a mask and snorkel!

Our guide motioned us over one by one to look at the seahorse he’d found in a shallow area. The ground was very muddy so he wanted to make sure we didn’t disturb the mud and thus lose sight of the seahorse.

I admit I had difficulty initially recognizing it as a seahorse, mind you.

We were all pretty glad that Esteban had persevered until he found it in the shallows as we were all excited to see our first one.

I hope these photos convey the sense of the beauty we experienced when we poked our heads up above the water to take in the fantastic sights all around us that day.

We were lucky enough to spot six more sharks! What a thrill to be so close to the amazing animals.

Under a rock was a diamond stingray. I was not quite that stupid or fearless to get too close to it!

Marbled ray turtles were probably the most amazing sight as we saw them glide through the water for a fairly long period of time. I could have watched them for hours as they were so magical!

We were lucky enough to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia a couple of years ago and that was also a fantastic experience. The colors of the coral and the pristine, clear water there were far better than at least here in the Galapagos but I don't remember ever seeing much in the way of mammals except for gorgeous fish.

Perhaps this experience is fresher in my mind but swimming alongside the turtles was the bees' knees, for me at least!

This soft, feathery-like fern was common where we snorkeled. 

We also saw a lot of bi-color parrot fish and spinster wrasse, another fish, but Esteban didn't take any photos of them. Zachary: I KNOW I should have rented my own Go Pro or, better yet, bought an underwater camera as the other couples had! All I could think of was your telling me we needed to get one after our snorkeling in Australia and we still hadn't done it, hon.

After snorkeling for 90 minutes, we reluctantly had to get back on board the boat. At least, warm lemon grass tea welcomed us as we were chilled. That was followed by a late lunch of either chicken or fish with rice and vegetables. 

Then the boat ride in and out of the tunnel rock formations which was an altogether different but also exciting time.

You can see why it was called The Tunnels Tour!

Someone looked pretty content after snorkeling and getting warm again, didn't he?!

Sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks:

Seeing the tall cactus stalks jutting out of the rocks was almost like an apparition.

The combination of the bright blue sky, the greenish/turquoise water and the black, lava rocks would have made any artist dream of painting that scene, I thought.

None of us could stop taking photos of the rocks and tunnels as the captain almost wove the boat in and around the various shapes for at least 45 minutes as each turn of the boat gave us another view to marvel at!

There were about 3.5 kms of lava tunnels which formed 35,000 years ago. Lava layers formed on top of the lava flows.

Esteban began looking for a spot he could recommend to the captain to moor the boat.

The cactus only grow about three centimeters a year.

Our ‘dock’ as the captain tied up our boat and we all went ashore:

Almost immediately, Esteban led us to the biggest concentration of blue-footed boobies we'd ever seen! He said there were about 25,000 of them in the islands.

We stood mesmerized as male blue-footed boobies danced and whistled for females, all part of their courting ritual!

 

They dine on sardines but Esteban remarked there have been reduced quantities of them recently in the Galapagos.

A blue-footed boobie family stays together for six months and then the female leaves the nest for another nesting. The father stays with the baby for six more months to teach the baby how to survive. Babies learn to fly from 8-9 months of age; before that, they just flap their wings.

I think even I could perfect their mating dance as they hopped back and forth on each foot!

The females were larger and normally lay one to two eggs but only one hatches.

When the males and females aren't together, the males have black points around their pupils. 

Esteban knew this one was just two months old because he had been bringing tourists here since its birth. As I wrote in a previous post, the feet turn blue as the boobie ages.

After clambering around on the rock formations and seeing our last blue-footed boobies, we regretfully had to return to the boat. The captain had to wait for close to ten minutes for the exact wave position to get going. The boat rocked back and forth while stationary until he saw the perfect opportunity to ride the waves back to Puerto Villamil.

Neither of us had had such an exciting boat ride as the boat had to crest up and down the waves all the way back. It was akin to being on a roller coaster but the high points were far more frequent! All I can say is thank goodness none of the six of us had any issues with seasickness or it would have been a horrific time for everyone!

I was in the perfect spot on the boat to spot another manta ray. Esteban remarked this had been the first time in two months he had seen any manta rays because the moon and sun hadn’t been aligned properly.

A view of Union Rock on our return:

After we all got back safe and sound to Puerto Villamil around 4, Steven and I agreed this was probably one of the top ten day trips we’d ever taken. We’d enjoyed ourselves so much that the six of us decided to sign up with the same travel agency for their Volcano Sierra Negra trip the following day!

Next post: 10 mile Hike to the Sierra Negra Volcano - what were we thinking?!

Posted on Thanksgiving Day, November 23rd, 2017, from Santiago, Chile. Steven and I hope that each of you who celebrated the American holiday had a wonderful day with family and friends close by.