These Are Peaceful Sharks!

Today, our second day of diving, was nothing less then yesterday if not better.  At an early hour,  we left our hostel for the Scuba Iguana dive office.  There, we met another two couples who would be diving with us.  One of the two couples had just been certified and I was excited for them to experience the wonder of the Galapagos.  Today, my dive master was an Ecuadorean man named Pablo.  After getting organized, we walked out of the air conditioned Scuba Iguana dive shop and into the blazing sun.  After a forty-five minute drive across Santa Cruz, we loaded onto the boat.  Today, the boat ride lasted just under a half an hour.  I was so excited to go diving again, that the thirty minutes felt like hours.  When we finally arrived, I was acting crazy.  I was so excited to go diving, I could just not wait!!  Once everyone was ready, we rolled off the boat and into the water.



Pablo signaled for me to start my decent into the deep.  Right below us was an entire school of about ten Golden Rays.  They were only there for a second, but remained in my mind as a beautiful memory.  This dive was almost as interesting as yesterday’s.  Pablo and I floated over coral and sand and saw some very cool marine life.  My favorite part of the dive was drifting over the sandy bottom, far from the surface above.  Here I saw vast numbers of interesting Garden Eels.  These small creatures stick up from the sand and wave in the current.  At most they are one foot tall, but they can get as small as an inch.  These we saw in vast numbers, sticking  out of their holes in the sand.  I also saw a stingray buried in the sand.




Pablo had an underwater camera and liked taking pictures.  I never felt rushed while I was taking photos because Pablo was always doing the same.  We found that the sand is good to knell on for perfect focus.  The two of us saw about three sea lions and maybe five white tipped sharks.  One time, a shark appeared high above us surrounded by thousands of different fish.   We were both snapping away at this amazing opportunity.  I was starting to run low on air, so we slowly rose to the surface.  I loved diving with Pablo, and was sad to see the surface again.



The second dive was more intense, difficult, and jaw dropping.   This dive’s topography consisted of a steep wall, the top of which was located at a depth of about twelve meters, which dropped off to maybe twenty five meters.  We occasionally swam out into the deeper blue water in hopes of seeing sharks or rays.  Towards the end of the dive, we glided over the reef and stayed away from the drop off to our right.  At one point, Pablo and I met up with the other group underwater to watch a spectacular school of white tipped reef sharks.  Holding on to some rocks, we watched twenty circle around us.  Sadly, I had to leave early, as I had stomach cramps.  Cramps underwater are worse than above, and it was hard for me to endure these pains while we came up slowly and safely.  Once everybody had surfaced and we were all in the boat, we headed back to Santa Cruz. 






I loved the diving experience and am excited to go out again tomorrow!  If ever you guys want to start diving, Scuba Iguana is calm, relaxing, and professional.  Be an Iguana, a Scuba Iguana!

RoGeo news:
Three more days of fabulous diving yet to come! 
Check out the 2nd of 3 posts about my blog! www.kiducere.com/featured-posts/cat-and-tim-silbaugh/

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