A tour with Gustavo

Bright and early Dad and Nick took a dinghy tour to capture the sea lions on the fishing boats. Dad and I had arranged to go snorkelling and were picked up off the boat after breakfast. Two other couples joined us on the tour that went firstly to Isla Lobos. Here we cruised close to the rocky shore to observe marine iguanas, seals, boobies, nesting frigate birds and the vast untouched green flanks of the island. Outside the settled areas, there are few marks made by man on these islands. 98% of the land area is protected for the native animals as well as the feral ones (goats, donkeys, pigs, dogs & cats). We coursed across the blue ocean to Leon Domingo and snorkelled with the sharks. Everyone saw lots of Galapagos sharks, black tips, white tips but Dad was the only one to see a hammerhead. My highlight was a school of burley ~40kg yellow tail tuna than moved through the deep blue below, their silver finlets shinning like little diamonds down their backs. We moved to snorkel with the sea lions at Isla Lobos. The pups followed Dad like a bunch of rats in Hamelin snaking and whirling through the bright blue water just out of arms reach. We landed at Playa Ochoa to warm up and Dad lay in the sand amongst a group of sun bathing sea lions, he was approached by a curious pair of youngsters and took it as an invitation to start tickling bellies and flipperpits. It shows just how relaxed these animals are.