Well, how wrong I was. Before we had got more than 50 m from the dock our guide, you can't do anything here without a guide, had pointed out blue footed boobies, penguin, and juvenile shark. We can't forget the sea lion and pelicans which are everywhere. Within 10 minuits, just cruising slowly across the harbour we added turtles and 2 sorts of ray to the total. Overhead wheeled frigate birds, turns and other birds i can't remember.
We then took a short walk across a small island, this baren pile of volcanic rock , a mere baby in geological terms, had only been around for a couple of 100,000 years. There was no soil, no useful nutrients but mangrove had already colonised its shores and it is now the home to bird colonies and the nesting ground to marine iguanas. Nest is perhaps a bit generous, more a hole scraped in the gravel to dump your eggs in and cover them up before running away back to the sea. Parenting does not translate into iguana. They have no need for the word.
Any way, back to the boat and into the water, we immediately discovered a huge turtle swimming along, no concern for the 10 ungainly humans gorping at it , several more turtles, Eagle rays, golden rays, sting rays scorpion fish, parrot fish, iguanas and much more.
After 1/2 an hour we swam, single file, along a narrow crevice in the black volcanic rock, looking down just a few feet below us there was suddenly a white tipped reef sharks, then 2 and then lots, all dozing in the cool shade on the bottom. These sharks are not aggressive but I guess most of us were playing the jaws theme tune in the back of our heads, that or baby shark..... these weren't babies though, they were up to 5 feet long. Then to finish it off a couple of playful sea lions spead back and forth amongst up, playing in our bubbles and nipping at shark tails as they passed, so perfectly adapted to their environment that fishing only takes a while leaving time to play and sleep.
That was it, 3 hours gone without going more than 1/2 mile from our anchor. I am beginning to understand how amazing these islands are, how diverse and unique their wildlife is and how fragile it all is. Definatly worth committing to save.
Any way, as I started, it was just a local snorkeling trip.
My photos don't do today justice, Simon has posted many excellent shots here on the blog so just wonder at those. Heather has also put some videos on Utube.
Sent from Yahoo Mail by magic