We were looking to take a trip to Bartolome Island to hike the volcano there but that trip was all booked up. We settled on a snorkeling trip at Isla Pinzon, a small uninhabited island to the west of Santa Cruz. We were promised excellent snorkeling along the coast where we'd be sure to see sharks, turtles, sea wolves and many fish. That little yellow dot is me.
We first stopped at the western edge of Santa Cruz at an inlet named La Fe ("the Faith") for a warm up snorkel.
I use the phrase "warm up" loosely - it was barely 70, overcast and windy. Just taking off my fleece to change into my wet suit was an exercise of mind over matter. None of the eight passengers looked keen. Our guide Lennie was a broad shouldered older man with close cropped black hair and neat rows of tiny teeth, one missing from the middle of the bottom row. He looked like a former military man. He didn't even bother to put on a wet suit, he had his mask in one hand and extra long black flippers in the other. "Ok, ya vamos!" he ordered us with a smile.
There was a woman from Chile who'd done the previous trip with us. She looked the least eager of all being that she couldn't swim. "You cannot swim?" Lennie asked her in Spanish, looking puzzled. He thought for a second then pulled out a circular float and explained how she'd use it to get around. "Anyone else?" he asked. Dodo and I raised our hands for a life jacket - the only ones to do so. I was glad that the Chilean woman was there. I hopped in and paddled a ways from the boat. The cold water went immediately up my arm sleeves.
Lennie explained that the sharks sleep during the day and would be resting on the ocean floor. "They are not harmful at all, but just stay behind me." That mixed message was kind of, well, mixed. "Now, make sure you stay twenty feet from the alpha sea wolves, they can be really aggressive." We snorkeled as a group. The waters went from 40 feet deep to about 10 and then Lennie whistled to us to follow him ashore. We stored our flippers and masks and waded through a small mangrove inlet and saw sea wolves and a gaggle of shiny black sea iguanas who were sleeping on an outcropping of jagged rock.
We then headed back to the boat for our hour ride to Pinzon. We took off our wet suits, toweled off and changed into warm clothes. Most of us were shivering. Dodo asked if the water at Pinzon would be different, meaning warmer. Lennie just smiled "Same!" Pinzon was much better in terms of critters. We immediately saw lots of sea turtles. I floated just 5 feet from one and watched it surface, take a breath, dive down and feed from the sea floor. We saw a lot of sharks, most as Lennie described but a few darting about, one swimming by me a little too close for comfort.
We also saw rays and plenty of sea wolves, most sitting on the rocky shore but some swimming about. The alphas were making a lot of noise and I took that to mean "back the hell up."
After a lunch on board Lennie offered us one more snorkel. I was one of the few who took him up. He would not be joining us "You're all grown up and on your own" he told me. I was first in and only a few followed. Most of these photos are from this final snorkel. He told me to head south along the coast line where I'd be sure to find many sea turtles. He was right. I followed them around, watching them feed. I also saw a tornado of large colorful fish in some kind of feeding frenzy at the bottom of the ocean, forty feet down. I stayed out there for about 30 minutes. Floating there, watching the sea creatures was really peaceful and beautiful.
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