Galapagos Day 2: Diving around Floreana

Well today's diving was absolutely incredible. We met at the dive shop at 7:30am, had a quick briefing and then hopped a boat with a few other divers (two were a couple from NY, who got their scuba certification in Dutch Springs! Small world!). We were diving off another Galapagos Island called Floreana, which was about an hour's boat ride from Santa Cruz. Along the way, we passed playful sea lions, pelicans, and blue footed boobies. Once we arrived we got on our gear and got into the water, no sooner had we descended to the bottom than we spotted a white tipped reef shark. We were literally 2 feet from this relatively harmless shark but it was certainly the closest I have ever been to a wild shark and the first one that Jeremy had ever seen! A few moments later this really fast, large, brown thing came shooting by me. I didn't even realize what I was seeing until Jeremy started gesturing wildly...it was a sea lion! Unbelievable...the sea lion played around us for awhile and then our guide started swimming away! I could have watched that thing dip, turn, twist, and swim impossibly fast all day! Little did I know there was more in store.

We saw several eels, at least 5 sea turtles, HUGE schools of fish and an octopus! The Galapagos is one of the best "large creature" diving sites in the world. It does not have much coral, or sponges, but it does have these wild rock outcroppings and of course....large creatures! Our guide motioned me over to him and we crept down beside a little cave and inside was A WHITE TIPPED REEF SHARK. It got a little freaked and swam out of the cave right at me! To say we could have shared a kiss is not an exaggeration! The shark was about 6 ft long, and was so graceful! After I regained my composure, I swam after it and got some promising video! They are called white tipped reef sharks because they live close to reefs and have a small white mark on the very end of their tail fin and their dorsal fin. They are the only shark in the world that can "rest" on the ocean floor or reef. Because of the way their fins are positioned, they can "rest" and still allow water currents to circulate water in through their gills. All other sharks (including the close relative the black tipped reef shark) have to swim to circulate water through their gills. This is why you can come upon the white tipped shark and get so close...because it is "resting". The white tipped reef shark typically rests during the day and hunts at night.

Then we came up for a break. We drove to the other side of Floreana and anchored there while we had a snack (cheese sandwiches). Floreana has these steep jagged cliffs all around it with very few beaches. These cliffs are a natural spot for birds, and sea lions so we watched all these creatures while we warmed up and ate.

Back in the water for the second dive. We saw HUGE (like several hundred) schools of fish, barracuda, at least 5 more white tipped reef sharks, sting rays and the highlight for both of us.....at least 10 sea lions. We saw sea lions of every size from huge 5 ft plus to little 2 ft baby ones. They swam and played all around us, even nipping at another guy's fingers! They seemed as curious about us as we were about them. We were able to get so close that you could see their crazy whiskers and teeth! They moved so impossibly fast and did all kinds of wild maneuvers that it was hard to track them! It was hard to decide if you should swim up close to them (my approach) or hang back to take them all in (Jeremy's approach). As much as I love turtles, I have a new favorite diving companion! They just seemed like they were having as much fun as we were!

Back on the boat, we ate our lunch (fish, rice, and broccoli) on the way back and saw the most astounding thing......

Manta Ray's are HUGE sting rays...the largest one on record was 22ft wide. Ever since learning about their existence 10+ years ago in Australia, I have always wanted to see one, but never did. But on our way back to Santa Cruz this enormous, kite-like thing flies out of the water, literally does a flip in the air and disappears again. IT'S A MANTA RAY! Then it does it again and again and again! Why is it doing this strange jump, flip thing you are likely wondering (as we were). No one is really sure but it is likely a courtship display or a method to confuse predators. In any case it was outrageous and hard to believe your eyes when you saw this big, flat, creature do a somersault again and again! I never thought I would see my first live manta ray literally outside of the water!

Now we are back at our hotel and we are very tired, although it is only 4:30pm here. We are likely going to take a nap then hit the streets and all major attractions: shops and food only really start to open up around 7pm (learned this the hard way last night).

It was really cloudy all day so our footage was a little dark. But here are a few pictures that we took today: