By Mike Huber
Again, apologies for my lack of contributions over the past few months. I do have quite a bit of stories to backfill you all with. Somehow, I survived motorcycling Colombia without losing a kidney, getting married, or being drugged and robbed. My friend there wasn’t as fortunate, though. That will be a future blog.
As my 3-month visa was set to expire in Medellin, Colombia I thought continuing to explore South America was a wise decision. Having lived in Quito, Ecuador in 2012, this would be my next stop and allow me to plan my next adventure in a semi-familiar environment. That adventure didn’t take me long to select. It would be scuba diving in the Galapagos Islands.
Peak season for marine life in the Galapagos was May to October so the timing was perfect, and an 8-day live-aboard boat would allow plenty of dives to fully experience the Galapagos from an underwater perspective.
The process to gain entry into the Galapagos is quite daunting. It involves obtaining two permits and paying a $200 USD entry fee. Then for the diving they are very strict in terms of your experience. A minimum of 50 dives is required, which as a rescue diver I had, but of course I stopped logging my dives after 40 and left my logbook in the United States. Fortunately, after a phone call with the dive company and telling several of my diving stories (the ones where I almost died) they allowed me to book with them.
Upon arriving in the Galapagos, we were promptly welcomed by seals and iguanas before being shuttled to the dive boat, which would be our new home for the next 8 days. There were 12 other divers on the boat, all of whom were divemasters and had years (decades) more experience than I did.
The diving did not disappoint. One of the huge items on my list was swimming with hammerhead sharks. This item on my list was checked off with authority as we were surrounded by schools of them on more than one dive. They would silently approach you like a battalion of Cylons and swim just a few meters above you as they effortlessly hunted the waters here. With a total of 19 dives over the 8 days, there was a constant kaleidoscope of new wildlife daily.
On some dives we saw iguanas feasting on algae; on other dives I would feel a concussion of water hit me as sea lions and seals propelled by at lightning speed. The wildlife above the water was just as fascinating. I saw schools of sharks surrounding the boat, penguins, and boobies (some type of a bird that hung out around the boat).
The cost and admin work required to experience this adventure was worth it. The amazing diversity of this archipelago and the proximity you can get to the marine wildlife is absolutely one of the coolest things I have experienced on my travels.
Scuba diving at this point seems to be a fleeting hobby for me. Completing dives in the Galapagos was an excellent way to close out two amazing years of scuba diving adventures.