Galapagos day 4

During the first 3 days we had the impression that our guide wasn’t extremely professional but it is on day 4 that he completely lost the trust of the whole group.

At 8am on the dot everybody, including the bus and its driver, was ready to go outside the hotel and the only missing person was our guide!

We made various enquiries and eventually we were told that he had been out partying till late at night and he was still asleep in his room.

Finally he turned up at 9 (1 hr late) without an apology, saying that he was waiting for the bus.

In the meantime since also the bus had disappeared he dropped us at the nearest beach and left us there until 12 o clock.

We didn’t despair. The Galapagos are so naturally rich that any place is good enough to spend hrs looking at a multitude of animals. This beach, just outside town was full of birds, crabs and iguanas.

Our guide knew that he had messed things up massively and only a spectacular afternoon would have partially helped to sort things out. Therefore, with the help of a beautiful sunny day, he gave it his best shot.

First he took us for a boat ride in shallow crystalline waters where we were able to spot turtles, manta rays, penguins and blue footed boobies amongst other birds...

Then we went to the islote Tintoreras where baby iguanas were warming up among spectacular volcanic rock formations.

On the left side of the bay there is a narrow canyon (2 meters wide) where the waters are shallow and well protected from the ocean currents.

This is where sometimes white tip sharks come to sleep.

That day the canyon was practically full with dozens of sharks sleeping at the bottom of the sea and few (more awake ones) swimming around slowly.

These sharks are roughly 2 meters long and apparently they are not dangerous to humans, and yet snorkelling in the area has been recently prohibited due to an accident to an American tourist who panicked in the canyon......

......clearly we did not know all the above when our guide took us snorkelling in the canyon.....

We have mixed feelings about this experience.
Elena, who is not particularly fond of sharks and snakes, was a bit shocked when she found herself trapped in the narrow canyon with sharks swimming only 50 cms below her

Initially she looked down and was partially reassured by the presence of a friendly sea lion swimming around her.

After few minutes though she pretty much stopped looking waiting for death to come and bite. (too many Hollywood movies)

I was to say the least exhilarated and didn’t want the swim to end almost hoping that one sharks would brush me.

What gave us a bitter taste later on was the discovery that we had broken the Island’s rules.....not exactly what we came here for.