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American Spirit II - Day 44; Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks; Sunday, February 16, 2914



Up at 6:30 AM, for we had a trip to Kicker Rock, AKA Roca Pateadora. But first we were bussed to a beach, where we snorkeled amongst rocks and lots of fish,and saw two large turtles swimming. Our guide explained to us the difference between Sea Lions and Seals. Seal Lions have small ears and Seals have no visible ears; and their upper flippers are very strong, allowing them to go vertical more than a meter to climb up on rocks, boats, piers, etc. Seals don't have that upper body strength.

After leaving the beach, we headed back to the pier where we boarded a boat and headed to Kicker Rock.

Once at Kicker Rock we all got in the water to snorkel. Kicker Rock is a large imposing 'rock', with two channels cut between the rocks. We were going to snorkel thru one of the channels, the larger one. Upon entering the water large schools of fish were observed beneath us. And then, after being in the water on a few minutes, we saw a school of hammerhead sharks swimming beneath us and thru the school of fish. The largest of these sharks were 10 feet. Quite large. When Darlene first saw them, she thought that whatever they were they had fish horizontally in their mouths. Oops. Wrong guess. Joel and I swam down amongst the sharks. I had my Hero Camera, and was videotaping the event. I swam down on top of the hammerhead sharks, about 5 feet above and just behind them. I actually got as close as 5 feet of a large hammerhead and got it all on video. We saw multiple schools of hammerhead sharks; and more of them than any other type of shark. Truly awesome. The best snorkel or dive experience of my life. Going to Kicker Rock is reason enough alone to come to San Cristobal.

We also saw Galapagos sharks, Black Tipped Sharks, White Tipped Sharks, and 5 Eagle Rays swimming in formation. We snorkeled along the cliff wall, and could see a hundred feet below and to the top of the rock itself. I chased after a lone Black Tipped Shark, and then after he disappeared, he ended up coming back at me and circling me. Very cool. There were so many fish around that we weren't afraid of the sharks being interested in us. We also saw a 'bait ball', a large school of fish in cold water, holding in place. I swam thru in from bottom to top and the fish just parted around me as I went thru.

Janet saw an amoeba type organism, cradled it in the palm of her hand, then let it float away. She waved me over and I filmed it. The detail and clarity was breathtaking because it was only 6 inches beneath the surface in good light. This organism may be the precursor of a crustacean such as a lobster.

After we left Kicker Rock, we anchored in a cove and then took a walk along the beach. While still in the boat, we ate lunch. While doing so, we noticed a marine iguana swimming by us. I hopped in the water, gave chase, and got some video. Right after that I saw a lone large turtle swimming by.

Once we got back to American Spirit, a Sea Lion was resting on our transom. Even after seeing us looking down at him, he just laid there. After showers, we prepared to go out into shore later.

Brian Fox


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