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American Spirit II - Day 52; Swimming with White Tipped Sharks & Marine Iguana; Monday, February 24, 2014



Today was our earliest day yet on the M/V Fragata, with breakfast at 6:00 AM.

The first activity of the day was a hike from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM at Egas Port on Santiago Island; where we walked along a lava encrusted shoreline. Along the way we saw Fur Sea Lions, Sea Lions, Marine Iguana's, various species of birds and as always, Sally Lightfoot Crabs. These crabs are on all the islands in the Galapagos and the adults are bright red and turquoise in color, and the juveniles are black (to help them blend in with the lava rock).You've probably seen them as 'giant creatures' in old Japanese science fiction films. The adults are 4 inches in width.

We then weighed anchor and proceed to Sombrero Chino Island, where we started a hike at 1:00 PM and observed a small lava tunnel. The anchorage we were in was the clearest yet, with the bottom being sandy for a change. We could even see the bottom in the middle of the anchorage, which was a first. As usual, though, the shoreline was mostly lava rock.
We then swam across the anchorage to a shoreline on the other side, and snorkeled for an hour. Early on I sighted a 5 foot White-Tipped Shark in shallow water, and then saw the same shark later. I gave chase and he led me into the center of the channel. As usual, I had the Hero Camera on and filmed the pursuit. On a lava rock just a couple of feet above the water, I came upon a Penguin just sitting there. He paid no attention to me as I got to within 2 feet of him. Next our guide pointed out a Marine Iguana eating algae on the bottom in 5 feet of water. Once he was done eating, he swam quickly to the surface and breached the surface like a nuclear powered submarine. He appeared to be in need of oxygen. He then exited the water and stopped with his tail in the water while he rested on a rock in a mostly vertical position, face to face and right next to a Sally Lightfoot Crab.

What was particularly interesting during this snorkel were the large schools of fish that were meandering around the rocks and coral. We swam with them, and they paid no attention to us. A couple of these schools, where the fish were 12 inches or so in diameter, had interlopers in with them. By that I mean a fish that was different from all of the others in the school. I'd never seen that before, yet we saw that on 2 or 3 different occasions during our swim. I also saw the largest Needle Fish I'd seen all week, measuring 3 feet in length. They have really nice teeth!

Brian Fox




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