Diving Adventure in the Galapagos #8

April 18th – Quito to The Galapagos

Left the hotel at 0900 for an 1100 flight and had to get up at 0600 to find boxes to pack all my bargains brought home from Peru! Luggage and clothes, plus boxes of bargains that we won’t be taking to the islands will be safely stored for us by the hotel until our return in one week. We followed the same plan in Venezuela and it worked well, so that we are not burdened with unnecessary items during each leg of our trip. Our dive gear was left stored here while we journeyed to Peru.

Arrived in the Galapagos after about 2½ hours with a brief layover in Guayaquil. Landed on San Cristobal Island, and met promptly and efficiently by our dive masters, Fernando and Jaime. They transported us to the port a short distance away and ferried us 7 at a time in the rubber dinghies out to the Aggressor II, formerly the Albatross. Very nice yacht with individual staterooms and private baths. With a crew of ten, all of our needs should be well met.

We went a very short distance for an orientation dive. Never having used such heavy wet suits as will be required here, we had no real idea how much weight to use. The 70-72°F. water here requires heavy insulation and we will be using 6mm farmer Jane/Johns and 6mm shorties over them. Suiting up was certainly an experience. The suits are so heavy and restrictive that out of the water you can barely move. I tried 24# of weights first and could not stay off of the bottom. So I dropped 4# and did better but still feel pretty heavy.

Dicksie and David must feel snakebit: some of their luggage did not make it to the boat, and we wound up with a set of equipment from Illinois! That problem was soon sorted out, but the next was right around the corner. They had called ahead to rent BC’s and regs, and the equipment they got was old as the hills and in poor working condition. The crew finally got everything functioning but the dive was very short. Water temp. here was a chilly 66 degrees and once in the water, I was grateful for the heavy suit. The final insult though, came just as David was hanging off the ladder from the boat, thinking about sharks when a seal got a mouthful of his fin and began a serious tug of war! Gave David a real start!

Stayed down only 35 minutes playing with the sea lions. They’re incredibly tame and gentle. They swim all around you, occasionally tugging on a fin or glove and blowing bubbles in your mask. They’re quite mischievous and appear to be having a terrific time. One had a sea urchin in his mouth, tossing it around like a baseball!

After the check-out dive we were met on the dive deck with warmed towels and an appetizer. I could have gotten used to such treatment very easily.

Dinner was amberjack and very good. Poor Mike is bedeviled by his migraines and had little appetite. Pre-dive orientation for tomorrow: we’ll travel all night while we sleep, awaken for breakfast at 0700, dive at Seymour Island followed by a land tour, another dive, then another land tour at Isla Mosquera. Sharks are promised features.

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