Fabulous Snorkeling at Pinzon

I got up this morning and left earlier than I needed.  I decided to take some time to get some shots of the malecon.  Little did I know, it was a very small malecon.  I thought it was bigger.  But, I also confirmed where I need to go for the ferry in the morning and that they start at 6 am.  I saw some sea lions having some fun together.  Maybe a mating routine or maybe just playing.  Regardless, it was fun to watch, but I didn't get any video.  

Santa Cruz Island's letters

Thsi guy was posing on the pier.

Textured mural on a tour office building off the malecon

Iguana statue in the traffic circle off the malecon

Blue-footed boobie statue on the malecon

Sally Lightfoot crabs on the sea wall

When the tour guy came by, he let me know I was going on a different boat today, which is fine.  I liked the other boat, but I'm wearing the same rash guard again today and now I don't need to worry if anybody is judging me!  Only me and a guy from Poland were at the meeting point.  But we were waiting for some others, so we were taken to a closer fancy hotel to wait.  I met the girl from Brazil and a couple from New Zealand, as well as our tour guide for the day, Susanna (Suzie).  When they got the word that the others were in, we headed to the pier.  This time, the boat came up to the pier and we didn't have to take a water taxi.  There were 10 of us – the ones I already said, a couple from Israel, two girls from Switzerland (not together), and a guy from China.  Everybody spoke either English or Spanish (or some combination of words that could get by) except the guy from China.  

Our first stop was Pinzon Island.  They had us put on wetsuits because everybody had been saying the water was cold.  I wasn't prepared for that.  I left mine in the room because I didn't think I needed it until San Cristobal.  But, the Ozempic has been my friend and I was able to fit into a men's XL.  It was just a little too long, but not enough to cause any problems.  Not like the wetsuit I had to use for swimming with the manatee!  But I digress.

Since everybody was good at snorkeling and there were specific places we weren't supposed to go (for our own safety around the sharks), I decided to take advantage of the life raft and let Suzie tow me.  When I'm towed, I kick and propel myself, so it's more a physical guiding instead of a tow. That way I didn't have to worry if the current got me and pulled me out somewhere I wasn't supposed to be and couldn't get back and I didn't have to worry about where I was in relation to everybody else and could just enjoy the view!

And what a view it was!  We saw lots of fish, sea lions, green sea turtles, an eagle ray, and white tipped reef sharks!  The sea lions didn't want to play with us today like yesterday, but the alpha male was a happy alpha male.  Suzie said sometimes he chases the snorkelers away.  They did play among themselves close to us.  I do need to get a smaller outex because it interferes with the lens retracting, but I think I got some good shots. 

Suzie tried to take some pictures of people by one of the turtles (the second).  The photo she took of me didn't turn out so great because I was having trouble not getting on him with the current pushing me.  But, I'm happy with it anyway! 

We got two different turtles.  The first turtle was the first time Suzie had to move the Chinese guy away from the animals because he was disturbing it.

This is the Chinese guy's camera that went down almost to the turtle's head caused it to change course.

Lots of different fish, and as long as the Chinese guy wasn't close, the water was generally clear.

Spiny sea urchin

Maybe a wrasse of some type

Blue-barred parrotfish.  There were schools of these guys.

Blue-barred parrotfish terminal male

Terminal male blue-barred parrotfish

Probably some type of wrasse

Some type of sponge

Rainbow wrasse

We came across a spotted eagle ray.  I wish I had gotten the right angle for its little beak, but since I can't swim under water, there wasn't much of a chance.

And I got a tiny, short-lived glance at an adorable trigger fish!  I love how the dorsal and pectoral fins move opposite each other

And the king angelfish

The white-tipped reef sharks were amazing.  We were told to just swim over them and to be careful about aggitating them.  They have never attacked, but they do have big, meat-eater teeth instead of the crushing shellfish teeth of the nurse shark, so they can attack if provoked.  Like nurse sharks, they are not ram ventillators, so they can rest on the bottom.

Suzie had to move the Chinese guy away from the sharks because he kept standing in the sand and churning up the water where no one could see and seemed to be starting to irritate the sharks.  She had to bring him in to her several times.  She was afraid she made him mad, but several of us told her not to worry about it.  He should know better than to stand in a snorkeling situation, and the language barrier wasn't an excuse.

On the way back to the boat, we swam past the sea lions.  The alpha male just yelled at us, but he didn't move or make any effort to really intimidate us.  We also swam by some other fish and another turtle.

Blue spotted cornetfish

Another green sea turtle.  This is the one that Suzie photographed us with, so I didn't take many photos myself.  I like the way the sergeant majors seemed to be hanging out around this turtle.

We came back in and had a snack – watermelon and crackers and some hot tea – and headed for the rock without a name.  When we got there, the current was high and there were some birds feeding on some top minnows.  So we threw out a line and trolled for a while.  We were unsuccessful this time, too.  

So we headed to a little secluded beach on the far side of Santa Cruz island.  The snorkeling there was dissappointing because the water was very churned and you could hardly see anything.  There were some crabs on the rocks and some marine iguanas on the sand.  There were also some sea lions resting under the mangrove trees.  Some people went out to snorkel some more and some of us just hung out on the beach.  I didn't have my glasses and the camera had to keep its condom on because we swam to and from the boat, so I hung out on the beach for a little while, then swam back to the boat.  I took a few pix, but I was starting to have a some condensation on the front lens.  You can see it in this shot.

When everybody got back to the boat, we had lunch.  Tuna and shrimp ceviche.  I opted for the alternate, which was pasta with mushroom gravy and rice.  There was also iced tea with lots of sugar and lots of ice.  I had some really nice conversation with multiple folks, then we headed back to Puerto Ayora.  Again, there was a sea lion resting on the bench and a bunch of iguanas sunning themselves on the pier.  There was also a pelican on the other side.  

I went to the grocery store and picked up some peanuts to get some protein for today and headed back to my room.  I need to get everything packed up and ready to go to the pier early in the morning for my transfer to Isabella.