The First Few Weeks

I have been on the islands for about two weeks now and this place is extraordinary. The school is a small building located right across from one of the islands beaches (Playa Man) usually occupied by numerous people and sea lions. I have been to three beaches; Loberia, Playa Man, and Punta Carola. Each beach is a great snorkeling spot to find various fishes, sea lions, turtles and rays. Classes go from 9am-12pm everyday, so right after class my friends and I usually hit up the beach for some snorkeling activities. I’ve seen so many different types of fish, Eagle Rays, Green and Hawksbill Sea Turtles and my favorite the Galapagos Sea Lion. To be honest the island life is very relaxed. I have done nothing but show up to class, go to the beach and snorkel. Food is a challenge sometimes here. I am not quite sure on how frequently the food is shipped to the island but there have been times at little restaurants where you can’t order something on the menu because they don’t have enough ingredients. Each class takes us on diving excursions, which I love because I get to observe cool things while gaining experience underwater. Like I mentioned in a past blog, my first dives in Ecuador were in Ayangue off the coast. As cool as that dive was, it did not compare to the dives I just completed a few days ago. I have a feeling each diving excursion is only going to get better and better because last dive was amazing. I would 100% do that dive again.

My most recent dive was at Kicker Rock off of San Cristobal, which was one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. I don’t even know how many times I have said it, how great that dive was. We saw SO MANY hammerhead sharks, like SO SO MANY. It was unbelievable. I have never dove with sharks before so I was a little scared but they are so harmless and more terrified of the air bubbles coming out of your regular. I saw a few Galapagos Sharks that were rather small, some White Tip sharks and Black Tip Sharks. I have attached some pictures to this post; the snorkeling ones are pretty decent where as some of my dive pictures are very blue.

For the weekend I am going to the island Santa Cruz with a few friends. We are leaving today after class and heading back to San Cristobal on Sunday. I love this experience and can’t wait to keep exploring what the Galapagos have to offer.