Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of an awesome trip, that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship! The mate was a mighty sailor man, the skipper brave and sure…10 passengers set sail that day for a 3 hour tour…to Los Tuneles on Isabela Island!
This is a sheltered area along the coast of Isabela Island which formed when lava from a volcanic eruption cooled in the water forming a number of arches and tunnels. Being sheltered from the main surf hitting the island, this area is a haven for a variety of beautiful and exciting sea creatures.
Our morning started bright an early with a pick up from our hotel. We quickly were outfitted with snorkels, masks, fins and wetsuits and were ready to hit the great blue seas in our group of 10. We soon found ourselves bumping along on choppy seas as we departed Puerto Villamil and headed along the coast of Isabela Island to our first snorkeling site.
Along the way we passed a huge rock jutting out of the ocean, seemingly out of place. Here, we saw Red Footed Boobies perched on the rock. According to our guide, Eduardo, these birds only live in the vicinity of this rock and are able to catch all the fish they need. They do not go to other areas in the Galapagos because of competition with other birds.
Our boat carried on until we reached our first snorkeling location. Goggles and snorkel? Check. Fins? Check! We were good to go! The water was a bit chilly to start, but as we got going we warmed up in our wetsuits! Our expert guide Edouardo wasted no time getting going. Once everyone was in the water we headed to our first location where we saw…
Yes, a seahorse! I guessed we were starting small and working our way up the food chain!
The sea life started getting bigger after that. For instance, how about these 3 Golden Rays we saw?
On our way to the next spot…we came across this ray just hanging out in the sand feeling all camouflaged…
Our next stop was really fantastic…a cave full of reef sharks! How many can you count in the video?
Here’s about the best picture with most of the sharks together…smiling for the camera of course (they need some dental work!)
And then these two sleeping in a second cave. Interesting Fact! Most sharks need to continue moving in order to stay alive by keeping water flowing through their gills so they can breathe. Reef Sharks are able to “turn into the current” which causes water to flow through their gills and allows them to continue breathing even when they are not moving. Here’s a picture of two reef sharks resting on the sand.
Now THAT was cool!
By this time we had been in the water about an hour and other “tourists” were invading our space! So it was time to move on!
After short ride and a quick bite for lunch we were back in the water…and our adventures just kept on getting bigger. We headed towards an outcropping of rocks, and look what we found…
Here was my favourite giant sea turtle.
Up close and personal.
We were not restricted to animals “under the sea”!
And let’s not forget about one of the most famous birds of the Galapagos…the Blue Footed Boobie!
It was time to get out of the water and explore the land formations of Los Tuneles.
The sheltered area of Los Tuneles
Our boat slipped silently among the rock formations, and as we got closer to land what we saw was amazing.
I’ve never seen anything like this! The combination of the lava tunnels with cactus growing on the rocks was quite surreal.
After a wonderful day of snorkeling and exploring we headed back to Puerto Villamil, the main town and port on Isabela Island. Just when we thought that there couldn’t be any more surprises, we saw this off in the distance…Is it a bird? A plane?
No…it’s a Ray that went airborne!
We had a great day of snorkeling, reminding us of our time at the Great Barrier Reef. What was interesting to me was the diversity of life, but also the differences in the two snorkeling experiences. For instance, at the GBR there were huge corals and you would be swimming along just centimeters above the reef and then suddenly the coral would drop off like a great wall and the water would be 30 or 40 meters deep. When we snorkeled in Los Tuneles, the water rarely was deeper than 10-15 meters. Both were beautiful, just different.
We all loved our time swimming with the sea life at Los Tuneles. If you can only snorkel one location in the Galapagos, I recommend this location as you get to see a wide variety of sea life without having to go too far. One recommendation I’d make is to bring your own snorkel and mask if you can…the general tour operators don’t necessarily have the best equipment; my mask and snorkel leaked quite a bit which was distracting from the overall experience. Nonetheless, it was a great day in the water and we were thrilled with all the animals we saw…highly recommended!
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