'Life's so much better, down where it's wetter, take it from me'
- Sebastian the Crab
Juanita's first day of diving school was a morning of theory and videos followed by an afternoon in the pool learning skills. Sadly the local pools had all decided they didn't want divers on a Sunday and cancelled their bookings, leaving a full day of theory to be had, not exactly thrilling stuff. On the other side of the island, Jorje was going through the polar opposite.
Jorje has been diving for nearly 20 years and decided to do some advanced and deep dives while Juanita was in school. Gordon rocks is one of the best dive sites in the world, Its an old volcano crater, around 35m deep, known for its sea life but also its strong currents and rough seas. It didn't disappoint with either, the dive shop had given us gardening gloves to wear to grab onto rocks if the current got too strong, and we needed them. The currents swirl around the old crater and you just go with the flow, its known as the washing machine, the beauty of the site is that you can grab a rock and wait for 10 minutes and just watch the highway of sea life go past. The water isn't as clear as i was expecting but still 10-15m visibility. Our dive master told me that they have clearer days but then the sea life can see further as well and stay away from the divers. Sea-lions, turtles, schools of barracuda and tuna, manta rays, spotted rays and sharks, oh so many sharks use the crater as a cleaning station. Hammerheads, white tips, black tips, Galapagos sharks, nurse sharks. I was filming when i could but it was hard to keep still in the current and harder to keep up with the sheer number of fish swimming past. When we surfaced a few of us just looked at each other, it was all it took to know everyone realised how cool it was. The second dive was even better, at one stage 14 hammerheads swam alongside us, at least 15 turtles had gone past and literally countless numbers of white tips, a giant manta dropped in for a visit on our safety stop and Sealions greeted us at the surface. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Oh Galapagos you're just showing off now.
The next day Juanita finally got into the pool, practising all the skills, and quoting her, 'only quit about 3 times'. Getting used to breathing underwater and learning all the equipment and how to use it can be overwhelming on dry land, then you need to learn to do it all underwater in a day, but perseverance paid off and she was ready for the real thing tomorrow.
Jorje went back to Gordon Rocks for the morning, not as challenging as the day before but equally as good, the afternoon spent at Seymour North, another great dive. Finished with hammerheads coming to within 3 metres during our safety stop, such amazing creatures in the water, very timid, so to get close even for a few seconds was a treat.
Tuesday Jorje had a day out of the water, to rest the body and bank account, diving is $160 US per day and including the travel time a good 10-12 hours, so both needed a day off. Juanita however had her first two ocean dives to 12m. So excited to finally get beneath the ocean and see the the new world that lies there. Again, Galapagos didn't disappoint, the highlight drifting with turtles along the bottom and watching them feed.
Wednesday was Jorje's birthday and we went to the sea floor together, Juanita doing her final two school dives to 18m and Jorje tagging along just because. The first dive at Mosqueira, a lovely wall dive drifting along with the current. The usual suspects, turtles, eagle rays, garden eels, moray eels and a casual hammerhead. The second dive at Baltra was a little bit special. Again a drift dive along a volcanic wall. We hit max depth of 22m along a shelf drop-off and before we could turn around we were greeted by several big hammerheads and a 3m Galapagos shark swimming by. In the next 5 mins we saw black tips and white tips go by. We saw the hammerheads again later in the dive as well as the standard couple of turtles, schools of snapper, tuna and trevally. Working our way up the wall we got treated by some playful sea-lions who put on a show, including catching fish in front of us. So cheeky, you cant help but love them. Juanita had survived both her scuba course and diving with sharks and is now a qualified diver. Birthday drinks all round and dinner at the local markets. Dive buddy Javier bought along a bottle of red, a very rare treat, and we still managed to get to bed by
9 o'clock. Rock and Roll ! Tomorrow we were changing location and heading for Isla Isabela.
For the divers amongst you I apologise for the lack of pictures. I mostly film video while underwater so you'll have to wait to see the footage, but i can assure you there is some pretty damn cool footage ;)
