At 4 AM we hear the boat pull up the anchor and head to our next destination - Sombrero Chino. We arrive at the island just as we are getting ready for our morning dive. The island is shaped like a Chinese coolie hat - therefore the name. Today is our last day of diving and we are looking forward to these two dives.
Dive #9: Jacqui's Labyrinth at Jacqui's Rock off of Sombrero Chino: On this dive we did not see to many fish, other than the usual turtles and a sting ray. The highlight of diving off of this small island was the rock formations underwater. The water temperature was quite good, but the visibility was good. We had some current and surge, but very manageable. The rocks were jutting out in all directions and formed walls and slopes. We could see the multiple layers in the rock, often at dramatic angles. We found a labyrinth of alleyways and crevices between the rocks. Some of these seemed to extend almost all the way to the surface, and we were quite deep (almost 30 meters down). They varied in width from a few meters to a few feet. We cruised them as we hovered above the sandy/rocky bottom. Some we had to squeeze through, with our gear and bodies scraping both sides. It was a great dive.
When we made it back to the boat, we asked what was the name of the dive site. We were told that this was the first time they had dived it (we had planned to dive on another named dive site on a nearby island, but the plan changed), so Lars asked if it could be named after Jacqui. They agreed and we shall see if it sticks (we will have to come back and check)!
After our breakfast, we go ashore (wet landing) at the beach at Sombrero Chino. It is a nice little beach with quite a few sea lions. We even find a pup that must have been born within the last 24 hours - he still had the umbilical cord dragging behind it. The guide tells us that for the last three years they have had record pup births - it must be because of the cold waters that are currently full of food for the sea lions. During the El Nino years, the birth rate falls off.
At the edge of the beach there were the remnants of the old coral reef that used to exist here millions of years ago that at some point has been uplifted out of the sea. The waters around the Galapagos islands must have been warmer some time in the past. There is more plant life here than on Bartolome - this island has been around for a bit longer. Even the Galapagos tomato is growing here. There are lichen and flowers.
There is a huge carpet weed garden that is bright red. A nice touch is the worn piece of drift wood sitting right in the middle of it adding lots of character. From there we wander over to the top of the small cliff that drops off into the sea. There are crabs every where - they cover all the rocks. There are also marine iguanas scattered all over the rocks. Some of them are eating the seaweed that has been exposed by the low tide. From here we can also see the small island (Jacqui's rock) that we dived this morning.
On our way back to the beach we find a crab shell that is complete - except that that there is no crab inside. The crab had out grown the shell and had crawled out the "backdoor" and is now growing a new shell some where. He left behind a perfectly shaped complete shell.
Once back at the beach, we jump into the pangas to go on a short boat ride around the coast line to see what we can find. There are the usual marine iguanas lazing in the sun or eating the exposed seaweed and the crabs scurrying across the rocks.
We find lots of frigate birds and pelicans sitting on the rocks in between flying off and finding some fish in these rich waters. Once back on the boat, we pull the anchor and move to our next destination - North Seymour. We spend the rest of the morning lazing on the upper covered deck, watching the islands and sea go by. We are also fortunate to see some activity at sea, namely a whale breaching the sea and a manta ray jumping, twice, completely out of the water. We could see its entire body clear the water and then splash back down.
While we are having lunch, we observe a sea lion swimming in the sea and he is jumping from wave to wave, clearing the water each time. As we finish lunch, we arrive at North Seymour. We will not be going ashore here, rather it is just a diving spot. This is our last dive and we are looking forward to it.
Dive #10: North Seymour Point, Isla Seymour North: The seas are a bit rough as we head out to the dive site in the zodiac. We expect the current to be strong, so as we back roll into the water we immediately begin our descent. At the beginning of the dive, we will be going against the current so we needed to get down quickly so that we would not be swept away to far. But we had to take it a bit slow as we were having a harder time equalising, and we had to kick hard to not drift to far. At last we made it to the bottom and grabbed onto the rocks and pulled ourselves against the current to catch up with the others. We then hung out in one spot for a while to see what might come by. And we were pleased to see sharks come from both directions - a huge Galapagos shark form one side and a hammerhead from the other. But they were both quite shy, and turned away. The Galapagos shark came by to check us out one more time, but swam away. There were fish everywhere - no wonder there were so many birds feeding in the waters above us. We were pleased to constantly see eagle rays on this dive. They just kept gracefully cruising by us. One of them was huge - a wing span of 2 to 3 meters. A huge flight of golden rays also passed us by. There was one sting ray in the sand. At the end of the dive we cruised along a sandy patch that was just filled garden eels. They would stick vertically out of holes in the sand and sway with the surge. As we came near them, they would retreat into their holes. As we did our safety stop, a large school marlins came and circled us. A great way to finish our diving in the Galapagos (at least for this trip)!
Once back on the boat, we spend some time giving our gear a good wash and hanging it out to dry. We will be shipping it back home form Quito, so we want to make sure that it is dry. Shortly before 3 PM the boat moves to our next destination - Caleta Tortuga Negra on Isla Santa Cruz (Indefatigable). Once there, we will be going on a cruise around the mangroves in the zodiacs to see what kind of animal life we can find in the mangroves.
Once we are in the mangroves, the engines are turned off and the guides start to paddle us through the mangrove trees. The place is teeming with life in the water. We see turtles everywhere as they swim near the surface or as they come up for air. There heads are popping up like jack-in-the-boxes. At one point we come upon a couple of turtles mating. we are told that they can mate for 3 to 4 hours and that other males are standing by waiting for their turn (it has been shown that the more males that mate with one female, the more eggs that will be fertilised). There was one male cruising around waiting for its turn. The poor female was struggling to come up for breath every once in a while.
We also saw one white-tipped shark and one black-tipped shark cruising along, with their fins breaking the surface. There was also a small spotted eagle ray that we saw a couple of times cruising along - the tips of his wings would break the surface has he swam along. One of the stranger sights was seeing a shark completely jump out of the water, twist its body around and then fall back into the water with a splash. He was soon followed by a spotted eagle ray that also jumped completely out of the water. What a sight to experience.
We return to the boat around 5 PM and spend our time before dinner completing our dive log books and packing up some of our stuff. Just before dinner, the whole crew shows up in "dress whites", and we have a toast. This will be our last night on board and they have cooked up a feast for us.
The farewell dinner is excellent and we are stuffed. The cook has even baked a scrumptious cake for dessert. After dinner, we continue to have a few drinks and play a few rounds of Uno. This group of players is vicious and no mistakes are tolerated. We go to bed around midnight - no early diving tomorrow morning.