What a weekend. Phenomenal. Spectacular. Wild. Breathtaking.
Four amazing dives at Kicker Rock which is just 30mins by boat from port. Kicker Rock is a sheer walled cone rising out of the sea...only accessible by boat.
On Saturday Phil and I were first taken to Isla Lobos - small rocky island inhabited by sea lions and blue footed boobies. Our group (mostly snorkelers) jumped in the water and spent an hour swimming with a female sea lion. She was phenomenal fun....Phil and I spent most of our time free diving to about 10ft as she would follow us, spin around us and blow bubbles in our faces. When we weren't diving down, she sat on the surface with us, floating inches from our masks, eyeing us up and posing for my pictures and videos. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Words cannot do it justice :-)
We were then taken to Kicker Rock for our first dive...it was 61 deg F, which is over 20 deg colder than what I'm used to! I had a 3mm full wetsuit, plus a 7mm shorty...and I was still cold! My feet were so numb by the end of our 48mins that couldn't tell if I was even finning or not! But all that pales into insignificance when you see HUGE green turtles whenever you look up, Galapagos Sharks emerging from the depths or silhouetted against the surface, school upon school of fish...in the thousand...with turtles and sharks cruising through and around them, octopus and huge colorful starfish living in holes on the sheer walls, and thermoclines like I have never before experienced...then little 'ole us watching in awe at everything taking place right in front of us. Easily the best dive of my life. I surfaced...and was speechless. Doesn't normally happen to me! I hardly took any pics as I honestly didn't know where to look...I wanted to capture everything...but ended up getting not much of anything. I was too overwhelmed.
For our surface interval we went to Puerto Grande, a beautiful little cove on the coast with views out over to Kicker Rock. Here we had a yummy lunch and relaxed on the beach, then back out to Kicker Rock for our second dive - which was just as phenomenal as the first...and as I knew what to expect in terms of the cold, was more bearable! A huge (and I mean HUGE) Green Turtle came out of a school of fish and right up to my camera and just sat there....staring at me. Also had a Galapagos Shark come pretty close at one point. He was only about 4ft and must have got bored of me as he took off down the wall. I was in heaven :)
No Hammerheads, but seeing other sharks every few minutes more than made up for it :)
WHAT A DAY!!
And we did it all again on Sunday. In heaven I tell ya...in heaven :)
X
