Galápagos Islands - Mosquera

We met up early in the morning at the dive shop and then got to know as well the other members of today's dives: A couple from Ecuador, a woman from Chile and a guy from Munich, Florian. We were all around the same age and got pretty quick into conversations. As promised we got a little refresher course but unfortunately not as in depth as we had hoped for. So we were a little nervous before the first dive.
And when I got into the water, the spare mouthpiece blew out and then I lacked weight to go down 🙈 The dive master brought another weight which helped for a few metres but then it fell 🙄 At least it wasn't my fault but still annoying... So he took me down with him and put a stone in the bag, then I had a pretty good buoyancy. But it was already like 10 minutes into the dive, right when we had entered the water there was a hammerhead shark underneath us 😳 Also a seal swimming quickly along the edge of the reef. As we reached the bottom there was a school of whitetip sharks curiously around us 🦈 It was a surreal experience to see the outline of the hammerhead sharks above us... Also a huge sea turtle came to visit and got up pretty close 🥰 My oxygen had been running a little low so our dive master helped out with his spare and we ended up at a - still formidable - 40 minutes dive. The conditions were pretty good but the currents are pretty tough there.

When we got out of the water, we drove to North Seymour Island and the other group "Discovery Dive" went in. We relaxed a bit on board with snacks and drinks while we waited for the other group to return. We were completely stunned by the amount of sharks we've seen!
Then it was time for the second dive... My system was a lot better and I felt a lot more comfortable. Unfortunately my breathing is still too quick, so I need some oxygen support to extend the dive time... The second dive treated us with manta rays and then all of a sudden we were right above a massive school of hammerhead sharks 😳😍 My heart was beating so fast, so I'm not sure if I took a good video... But the sight will be forever in my memory!
Soon afterwards we went back to the boat for some more snacks and then the relaxing boat ride and drive home. In the tour was a lunch included which we got at the Kiosk alley. Nothing special but I had a pretty good ceviche 🤩

At 14:30 in the afternoon we still had enough time to go explore the nearby Tortuga Bay, which we had planned already yesterday. It was a quite long walk with about 4km one way but after the dives it felt good moving our legs. And the pathway leading to the beach of Tortuga Bay was just magnificent with the cacti and local flora and fauna 🥰 But all of that was topped by the view when we reached the bay and the incredibly fine sand touched our feet. It really is one of the most beautiful beaches that I've ever seen... And as a special treat it's full of marine iguanas 🦎 They leave distinctive tracks in the sand and relax on the beach 🏖️ They're vegetarian, so despite their mean looks, harmless. The sea is too rough right in the bay but a little further is a laguna with shallow calm water, perfect to enjoy the views while cooling off. The temperature has been pretty high and also very humid. We dipped in but the horseflies were a bit annoying so we rather kept walking back to town.

There we had an overdue shower and made us presentable to go out for dinner and also clothes shopping 😁 We also stopped by the dive shop for the photos and videos of our dive. We went back to the hotel early because we were tired of the long day and activities. Also there is the ferry ride tomorrow morning at 06:30 😅Leggi altro