Monday, April 23, 2012

Our Last Day with Scuba Iguana


Today we ended our five days of diving in the Galapagos.  The last time I dived before the Galapagos, I was in Thailand with little experience.  In New Zealand, I had the chance to dive but turned it down because I was rushed and the diving was very chaotic and unprofessional.  As you can guess, when I arrived in the Galapagos, I was a little nervous that the diving would be stressful and rushed.  It turned out that I completed nine amazing, calm dives, with the help of awesome Scuba Iguana!  I also met some extremely friendly and professional dive masters.  For the first day, I met a young man named Dave, who first showed me the wonder of the Galapagos.  Later, I dived with a man named Pablo, who took photos by my side.  Today, with Pablo, I dived Gordon Rocks, possibly the hardest site in the Galapagos!

Gordon Rocks
Gordon Rocks had a huge build up.  I had heard so much about the strong current, the intimidating depth, and the difficult visibility.  I had to admit, I was pretty scared when I jumped off the boat.  I also knew that whatever happened, Pablo would take care of me.  It turned out to be definitely not as hard as I expected.  I went down to 19 meters and saw two hammerhead sharks and three black tipped sharks.  The hammerheads moved by very quickly, but I got an OK photo of one!  At several points, the bottom was twenty or more meters below us, but it did not scare me.  My Dad and some of his group saw an entire school of fifty hammerheads!  I missed it, being on the opposite side of the diving site at the time with Pablo.  The current was strong, but I held on to rocks and was fine.  For the second dive, also at Gordon, I decided to take a rest.  I had had an extremely successful week and I was exhausted!   Every morning, we have been getting up at 6:00 and diving until three.  I took a nap on the boat and relaxed! 


A Hammerhead in the Murk

Today, I faced my fears and had a blast!  I was a little nervous about Gordon, but my intuition told me that Pablo would always take care of me and I could do it.  It turned out to be a blast!  Man, I could not have expected more from the Galapagos!  My diving really improved and I saw some amazing things.  My favorite marine animal would be the hammerheads or the sea lions.  Wow, thanks Scuba Iguana!  Tomorrow, we will go on an eight day live aboard snorkel cruse with thirteen of my mom’s friends and family!  I am very excited and can hardly contain myself! 

RoGeo News:
No internet on the snorkel boat!  After about eight days and seven nights, all seven blogs will be backdated!

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!         

4 comments:

  1. Rohan - I just caught up and the last few posts have been sublime! I am so thrilled you love it there as much as I do! Diving there can be quite unpredictable and, hence, challenging (lots of currents and weird vis) but the profusion of life is astounding. Your photos are VERY good (I am truly impressed) and your whole presentation of this part of the trip is remarkable! I completely enjoyed the vicarious pleasure of being there with the three of you. What a blast!! We open soon and we have been crazy busy getting rid of cobwebs. love p & k

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy to hear that you are going to spend the next week snorkeling...over 30 years in the ER and only dive related issues that I remember seeing were people who dove the Galapagos and then hurried home without a proper time to get all the gases out.
    Photos remain incredible...still waiting to hear your thoughts on the Gooney Birds and the Frigates.

    Happy Birthday to Cat!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rohan, I rejoice that your Galapagos undersea adventures were so sensational, and that your skill and confidence grew and grew. Your pictures give a glorious taste of the animals you observed. Lots of love, Grandpa Morgan

    ReplyDelete
  4. are hammerheads friendly?
    which fishes you tasted?
    enjoy the sea ride.

    ReplyDelete