Galapagos

Land itself, after several days at sea, has a very distinct smell with each new location boasting is own peculiar scent. The Galapagos smells like dry, red African dirt mixed with sweet tobacco leaves and Aspen bark, punctuated by notes of wood smoke and unpolished shoe leather.

Land appeared on the horizon with the rising sun that particular morning. Rising quietly out of the glassy sea, the same tranquil surface we’d just motored across for the last 750 miles. Subtle and unassuming in shape, it projected a soft yet stark beauty similar to that of an African savanna or a wide-open Wyoming horizon. Gently sloping red clay hills brilliantly carpeted with thick layers of shrubs. Wide valleys lounging under brilliant blue skies. Rocky coastlines with mild waves lapping at their ankles. And a seal every once and a while, popping its head up for a peak around or floating lazily with one flipper straight up in the air like a sail to keep it balanced.

We spent most of our time on the island of Santa Cruz but did ignore the budget long enough to make it to Bartolome Island. Bartolome is a small uninhabited island that looks more like a red volcanic sand castle protruding out of a turquoise moat. Craggy and red, like a chunk of Mars mysteriously deposited in the middle of the Pacific. Barren might be an understatement. Stunning might be an understatement as well. There we saw some penguins, the infamous blue footed boobies and Zach laid down inched from a sleeping sea lion.

Now that we’d ignored the budget once, it was a little easier to do it again and we decided to go dive with hammerhead sharks. An experience well worth the splurge. Our first dive was by far the most spectacular. The visibility was good (well for the Galapagos), the current was ripping and the animals were out. When we first jumped in there was a turtle and then a bat ray (like a manta ray, but smaller), and then a hammerhead! Not to mention entire schools of king angel and butterfly fish.

As we approached a cut between the rocks, the current started taking its job a little more seriously and we all soon found ourselves at the bottom, gripping the rocks for dear life. Not to be deterred, we began pulling ourselves through towards the white tip sharks on the other side. With an unusual boldness for sharks (in my experience anyway) several white tips danced in front of us, swimming effortlessly into the current and then falling back. At one point, a white tip swam directly at me and - as if playing a game of chicken - turned only at the last moment, his tail gliding inches from my face. Holding on to the rocks against the ripping current with one hand and taking photos with the other, there wasn’t much I could do but keep on snapping. I actually have a picture of a shark that’s too close to focus!

After a little while the sharks dissipated and we pulled ourselves the rest of the way through the cut where the current eased and we were able to swim once more. We hovered along at the edge of the thermo cline, far enough above to maintain decent visibility and stay out of the freezing waters while at the same time close enough to spot the life that flocks to the nutrient rich waters of the Humboldt current. A group of sea lions joined us for a while, playfully approaching and quickly darting away. It seemed like every other minute we were pointing and yelling silently to each other - Sea lion! Shark! Turtle! Ray! Shark!

Then out of the cloudy green thermo cline appeared the (drum roll please)… hammerheads! Huge, muscular beasts with funny shaped faces gliding like ghosts through the cold murky water. Tons of them! All around us! Like a train of giant hammerhead cars silently parading in front of our unbelieving eyes. And then, as suddenly as they came, they were gone. Leaving us staring into the green water and wondering whether we’d really seen what we thought we had.

On the way back to a calm bay for lunch, a bat ray jumped high out of the water right next to our boat and did a double back flip. Then he jumped out again and executed a beautiful double axel followed by a triple sow cow! No, he really only did three double back flips in a row but we still awarded him a 9.8 for effort.

Other highlights included snorkeling with sea lions, getting salt sneezed on us by marine iguanas, walking amongst the giant tortoises and seeing Lonesome George (a 150 yr. old male who’s the last of his species but refuses to mate), witnessing a battle between two male marine iguanas and a baby reef shark swimming between Zach’s feet. The Galapagos is an absolutely amazing place and we only wish we’d really been able to explore it more.