Strike,
<<<I don't care that the rest of you don't appear to have been diving.
:-)>>>
Monday I arrived home from a week in the Galapagos, , , , does that
count?? <G> Got in 21 dives off the "Sky Dancer" and saw dozens and
dozens of Hammerheads, , , Turtles, , , Morays, , , Sea Lions, , ,
Boobies, , <hehe>, , Huge Scorpion fish, , , , Sea Horses, , , ,
Dolphins, , , , and, , , some Good ole Friends and some Good new
friends!!
What a great time!!
The week in Galapagos was good. Briefly, , , the water was
generally not as clear as I'd like to be in, , , the water was also
cooler than this WWW would have preferred, ,the new 5/4/3 wetsuit kept
me warmer but I still longed for my "Dive-Skin-Only" diving!!
The (Peter Hughes) Sky Dancer was a GREAT boat. We dived off RIB's
which is not my favorite way of diving, , no problems though, even in
less-than-calm water!! The Crew was accommodating and very helpful with
the scant, , normal, , glitches that appear. They were "Wide Eyed" when
the toys began to appear from the HUGE gear-bags. We had a full charter
so we chose to go to those sites where the likelihood of seeing the big
stuff was better. We dived a full 6 dives at Darwin and 5 at Wolf which
is where we saw the majority of the big stuff, , although, , all the
sites had it's fair share of big stuff!!
On (Friday) May 3rd I flew from Atlanta to Miami and then into
Quito, , the capital of Equador. Flying in and out of Quito is an
experience, , , the plane makes its way down between the mountains to
the airport!! I arrived at night so could only see that there were
(Building) lights higher than the planes final approach!! The pass
through the guv-ment gauntlets was quick and easy when we arrived, , not
so quick and easy when we left!! Most of us stayed at the "Quito JW
Marriott" which is a Stunning facility right down town!! The hotel is
modern, , , beautiful and the restaurants are actually very good and
very reasonably priced!! I had built in a day (two nights) in Quito and
planned a (Saturday) tour with two old friends who were also booked on
the Sky Dancer. Quito is a beautiful city located in the Andes
mountains. It's altitude is approx. 10,000 feet so we didn't attempt to
do any hiking and climbing on our short one-day visit but did manage to
put together a private tour which included the city tour and a really
neat "Equator-Exhibit"!! On Saturday night most of the others arrived at
the Marriott, , which was a very good meeting place!! We had a very
early departure Sunday morning on Tame Airlines to Baltra, Galapagos.
On arrival in Baltra, , all the rest of the "Group" appeared as did
the crew from the Sky Dancer. They gathered us up and our "Mountains" of
gear and quickly shuttled us off to the boat. There, we secured our
rooms, , , unpacked the gear, , , had our meetings with the DM's, , ,
did our guided tour of the boat and it's "Emergency Equipment", , and, ,
, relaxed. Later that day we did a "Check-Out" dive in the harbor, , ,
<Arghhhhh>, , , Green Water, , , but, , , we were wet and, , in the
Galapagos!! <G>
On Monday the 6th our first dive was at North Seymour where we got
our first taste of Hammerheads, , Turtles, , lots of Moray Eels and cold
water!! <G> The temps may be ok to some, , but the high 60's (F) to low
70's was down-right cold to me, , oh well, , , get used to it <I said
to self> cause you is gonna dive!! One of the things that immediately
struck me was the underwater geology. Volcanic Rock is what it appeared
to be, , , no problem touching things here!! Matter of fact, , with the
currents a good "Hand-Hold" to the wall or bottom was a good practice.
I had been warned to bring a spare pair of gloves though, , the
barnacles were sharp and made quick work of tropical gloves. I stopped
by my local "Industrial Supply" store and bought a couple pairs of
"Kevlar" gloves which proved to be a very good purchase!! They looked
"Cotton-ish" but were very, very tough!! Oh, , the other thing you had
to be careful of were the huge number of Morays and Scorpion fish on and
in the rocky ledges, , nooks and crannies!! They were everywhere!!
Kewl!! <G>
On Monday we finished up the day with two more dives, , , one at
Mosqura and another at North Seymour!! Very, , Very good dives!!
On Tuesday we moved to Cousins. The above water landscapes
everywhere was stark. This island had a walk-way (trail) to the highest
point where a view of the island and the surrounding islands could be
observed. The Dancer gave us a choice of climbing or diving, , , I chose
to dive!! We dived a couple of dives and then snorkled a place where we
were able to see the Galapagos Penguins and some Marine Iguanas in the
wild!! The penguins were small and just like what one would expect, , ,
they stand tall, , , they waddle, , , they dive into the water, , ,they
eat, , and, , they poop!! <G> The Marine Iguanas look like they are
right out of a "Godzilla" movie!! <hehe> It's really amazing to see
them along the shore munching on the alge, , , I waited around to see if
I could see them in the water but missed out!! Well, , ,maybe next
time!! We finished out the day with a dive at Bartolome and a night dive
at Cousins. This was the first of only three night dives. Lots of
Sleeping Turtles, , , shrimp, , , "Shovelnose Lobster" ( Looked like
them anyway ), , , Sea Lions <--- they'd scare the hell out of you cause
you didn't know they were there till they zipped through your beam of
light!!, , , Spiney Lobsters, , , Star Fish, , , etc, , etc, , .
Overnight we made the long cruise to Wolf Island. We arrived on the
morning of the 8th, , Wednesday. We did two dives there which were good
but we wanted MORE so we chose to move on to Darwin to see what it had
to offer!! Good choice!! Beautiful island, , place!! HUGE arch on a
small island next to the main island!! High bluffs ALIVE with sea birds
hovering above and in front of them. Giant pods of dolphins forming
circles around fish balls to create a feast, , for themselves, , and for
our eyes!! Under the surface we saw, , , Mantas, , , Schooling
Hammerheads, , , White Tips, , Galapagos Sharks, , , Morays, , , Garden
Eels, , , Scorpion Fish, , , Schools of Jack, , ,Tuna, , , Grunts, ,
WOW!! Needless to say, , we finished off Wednesday with two more dives
there and did three more dives there on Thursday before moving back down
to Wolf for a (Thursday) night dive!! On Friday morning we did two dives
at Wolf then shoved off for a long trip South to the main group of
islands.
On Saturday morning we did two uneventful dives at North Seymour
Channel and another one at North Plaza. They were not real good but hey,
, I had to do them!! <G> Saturday afternoon we went ashore to the
"Darwin Research Center" which is a "Must See" for those visiting
Galapagos. There, visitors can see real Giant Tortises at all the "Age"
ranges. They have a nursury with 1 year olds and a pen with those that
are over 100 years old. The Research Center is located in the city of
Puerto Ayora and is the only town we visited. I don't know about the
other towns (?) but this one was worth the visit. Lots of places to shop
for those last minute T-shirts and wood Tortises!! <G> We had a dinner
there as a group at a very good resturant of which I've failed to
remember the name!!
All in all, , , , I had a GREAT time!! I know I've misspelled some
of the names of the sites and I know we missed some of the "Must See"
dive-sites there but we made choices and don't regret those choices. We
saw lots of stuff, , , I took over 600 digital photos of which I hope I
will be able to place 10% into the "Keepers" bin!! <G>
I've been diving with most of this (International) group for about 7
years. All of our trips are adventures and produce stories, , good
stories of fun and wonderful times!! This one was no different!! We're
already planning two trips for 2003 and have started talking about
2004!!
For those who are planning on going to Galapagos I'd recommend it
highly!! I'll go back but only after reviving myself with some
"in-between" tropical sites.
Caymans, , , three weeks away!! <G>
Alfred Kirkland
Dahlonega, GA.
Sorry about the Rambling!!
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