Isla Isabela, Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions

Isla Isabela, Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions.
June 14

It was an easy start.  I had sleep last night.  It was a treat.  I checked out of my hostel and headed to the square of the Puerto Villamil for breakfast and seen that a stage was being built with huge band speakers.  A party!  So, I asked someone who could speak English and they told me that there was a grand fiesta tonight in honor of Father’s Day, and the whole town would be in attendance.  Any excuse will do.  Thinking it would be rude not to grace them with my presence, I blew off my ferry back to Isla Santa Cruz idea for 3pm, checked back into my hostel and had a relaxing day.  A relax is a new idea in this trip, and it takes some getting used to, but I tried the best I could.  Fortunately a Spanish man in the neighboring hammock offered me a beer.  Relaxing is nice after all.

At around 3pm, I decided that at high tide, it might be a good time to see if I could enjoy Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions during an ocean snorkel.  There were none around in the hour I was swimming around and I was unable to appreciate the fish because I was mentally let down by not getting to hang out with sea lions and penguins.  On the way back into the harbour there was a blond girl swimming around.  She seemed to be following something.  Was she Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions? I headed in her direction and all of a sudden a sea lion swam towards me head to head.  I panicked initially and when we did not make contact I regained focus. Well, it turns out that a wild Galapagos sea lion is pretty much just a water dog.  Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions is a reality.  Judging by its size it was probably a teenager and all it wanted to do was play with us humans the ocean.  It was amazing!  It is incredibly thrilling to be snorkeling in the water with very good vision and a sea lion quickly comes at you like a game of chicken between two cars, and 30 cm from your face it darts out of the way and past you.  Then it swims around your body and comes back at you again, stopping centimetres from your face where it just looks at you with huge as you both float there staring at each other.  Then it teases you.  Like a bully in the schoolyard who pretends to hit you to see if you will flinch, the sea lion in a staring contest with you quickly nudges his head forward at you and when you flinch, it just swims a lap around you.  I am sure it is laughing.  We played together for about 20 minutes.  The sea lion and us humans seemed to be in a tie for how much fun we each had.  It was a blast!  The Galapagos Islands are special.  You can really enjoy Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions.  It is amazing!  It really happens, Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions.  This is paradise and probably the most uniquely special place the earth has to offer.  What a day!

I cleaned up tried to call my father to no avail and headed to the Father’s Day fiesta in the town square.  As I was eating dinner, Angelique form Germany presented herself to my table.  I have run into her in three different countries not, and tonight was in the most far flung accessible island of the Galapagos.  It is impossible to be off the gringo trail even while away from the gringo trail…  Funny.  I was hanging out at a table with my Spanish friend waiting for things to develop in terms of a party.  There were six massive speakers blowing our hair back and blasting Latino music all the way to Hawaii, and the entire community seemed to be there sitting on the sidelines, but no one seemed to be doing anything except sitting.  I was around about 7 other gringos and one by one they went to bed.  I was the last man standing waiting for something to happen but stagnance and excessive noise for stagnance were all that I could find.  Perplexed, I also decided to turn in.  English tea was at a club on the way home, but I decided to call it a night for my 4:30am start in morning.

What a day.  Galapagos Swimming with Sea Lions and enjoying the sun.  Paradise.