Galapagos so far and our first dive here

Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Thu 11 Mar 2010 18:56
We've now had a few days in Puerto Ayora and we've thoroughly enjoyed what we've seen so far. We took a stroll along the main street with Brian and Sheila and met some of the locals. We then all piled into a taxi (a pick up truck) to take us back to the anchorage. The reason for this was purely because you can get a taxi from anywhere in the town to anywhere in the town for $1 - as many people as you can fit in, one way - $1
 
  
 
 
Of an evening this street is closed off and kiosks open out onto the street and serve very simple but tasty meals (below)
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
Already we're amazed at how the animals behave, they are so used to humans you really can go within feet of them and they aren't afraid. We noticed this bird at the bow so we thought we'd test the limit, as you can see Amy made it pretty close.
 
  
 
 
It was the same when Amy and Jack took the Miss Tippy kids to use the hotel pool. A sea lion just lay sunbathing in amongst the tables in the restaurant, and marine iguanas strolled around the pool as well as herons and pelicans.
 
 
  
 
  
 
The sea lions sunbathing on the tri-maran in the anchorage
 
 
Yesterday (Wednesday) we took a dive trip out to Gordon Rocks, about an hour away, with some of the other ralliers. We had one boat with 9 divers and another with 13 snorkellers, all from the Blue Water Rally. Amy and Jack had a fantastic time snorkelling. They saw a reef shark and lots of fish but they spent most of their time playing with the sea lions.
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
While the kids were snorkelling we had one dive in the morning and another in the afternoon. Visibility wasn't great and we didn't see all that much in the morning but on the second dive we were surrounded by reef sharks, hammerhead sharks and white tip sharks as well as turtles and fish. Because of the number of currents merging in the areas surrounding the Galapagos the current was very very strong, more so in the afternoon. Whilst rising from the dive you have to take a safety stop at 6 metres where we had to cling on to the rocks struggling not to be taken with the current.
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
Chrissy and Mark to the left and Derry to the right
 
 
  
 
All sorts of fish and a turtle
 
 
 
A white tip shark
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
A shark that was heading straight for Paul then passed within a couple of feet