Isla Santa Cruz...continued

Monday, June 9

I woke up early on Monday to go to the AeroGal ticketing office to see about changing my flight from the Galapagos back to the mainland of Ecuador. I was successful and moved my flight to the upcomng Sunday, June 15. Afterwards, I met up with 2 Canadian girls I had met on the island, Julie and Laurie, and headed to Las Grietas. Las Grietas is a small channel of water between to cliffs (like a canyon) that is filled with brackish water...fresh water from the highlands and salt water from the ocean. The real reason people go here is to cliff jump. There are several spots on the cliffs where you can leap from, depending on how high you want to go. I started the day with a back flip from the lower ledge, about 8 feet above the water. That did not satisfy me, though, so I made my to the top of cliffs where the water was about 45 feet below. The tough part about going this high here is that the landing area is not big...the safe landing area is only about 10 long, so you have to be careful about not jumping out too far or not jumping out far enough. A group of locals had just showed up when I was about to jump, so I did not have a lot of choice as to whether or not I was going to do it. I jumped and about mid way down I realized that I may have jumped out a bit too far. I ended up landing about 2 feet from the far wall, but was safe. However, Julie had failed to get a good picture, so I decided I needed to go again. My second jump was much better, but I did not trust Julie to take the picture, so Laurie was in charge. Hopefully her pics will come out better.

Then, at 2pm, I caught a speed boat to Isla Isabella. It was about a 2.5 hour trip through some of the roughest waters I have ever been on. Three minutes into the trip we had one guy vomiting off the side of the boat. Not a good sign. And, lucky me, I had the seat at the back of the boat and was continually get sprayed and dripped on. But, we all made it safely to Isabella.


Sunday, June 8

Today I was doing the most difficult and demanding of the Galapagos Islands, Gordon Rocks. Gordon Rocks is located on the east side of Santa Cruz and is known for its strong currents, but also for its sightings of hammerhead sharks. Sunday was quite rough on the water and the current was strong below the surface. We spent about 30 minutes underwater for our first dive, but saw no hammerheads...just sea lions, white tipped reef sharks, and lots of fish. For our second dive we decided to go to the same spot and look some more for the elusive hammerheads. During this dive we got to see a sea lion hunting, which turned into one of the more memorable moments during my diving in the Galapagos. The sea lion caught a large fish in its mouth and immediately blood began spilling from the kill. The white tipped reef sharks nearby quickly picked up the scent and chased after the sea lion. I'm guessing the sea lion made it out of the water with its kill, but they went quickly out of our view. With about 4 minutes of air left in our tanks before we had to head up for our safety stop, we were hanging on to a group of rocks where the current was very strong. After a few moments there, we were treated to the sight we were all waiting for...a small group of hammerhead sharks. There were about 6 or 7 of them and we got to watch them for a few minutes before we had to make our way to the surface. What a sight! Hammerheads have to be some of the strangest looking creatures on this planet and they are a wonder to watch and see in person.


Saturday, June 7

I woke up early Saturday morning to meet up for my dive to Beagle Rocks, a small group of rocks just south of Isla Santiago. This dive site is not listed on any of the dive maps at the shops on Santa Cruz and our dive master, Yen, said it is off the beaten path but a great spot. It turned out to be just as he said. The first dive was pedestrian as we saw some white tipped reef sharks, turtles, and loads of fish. During our time between dives we were snorkeling near the southern edge of the rocks and spotted two giant manta rays. Yen thought they were about 4 meters wide. Because of the thick wetsuits we were wearing, it was nearly impossible to dive down very far to get close to them. But, the manta rays continued circling the area for the next 20 minutes, so I got to see them several times and get within a few meters of them. For our second dive, we started along the wall of the rock where we had seen the manta rays and slowly made our way to the shallow area where the mantas had been circling. We were lucky enough to spot one of the manta rays again, although only briefly. Seeing those manta rays, I think, was the highlight of my diving career. Those animals are just so beautiful and graceful in the water.

For dinner I met up with 3 Canadian girls who I had met on the island. We ate one of their apartments. I ended up getting into an argument with them about introduced species on the islands. One of the girls is living on the islands and is working at the Charles Darwin Center. One of the things that the islands are trying to do is rid the area of introduced species, especially those that are killing indemic animals. This girl adopted 2 cats while living on Santa Cruz, and I made the the mistake of asking her if that was a conflict of interest, as the Darwin Center was trying to rid the islands of animals like cats. I was then bereated for the next little while for my question...I was told that I was only a tourist and didn't understand the problem or the solutions for it. I definitely didn't make new friends that night. Good times!