Wow! What an incredible morning in the Galapagos. This being my second trip, I thought I had seen and experienced most of what these islands had to offer, but I couldn’t have been more wrong!
A boat ride from Porto Villamil on Isabela Island is an area known as the Los Tuneles (The Tunnels). This truly amazing underwater lava field is a maze of crystal clear pools, some with arches of black volcanic rock and covered with large cactus. With the water so calm and still, we swam in the pools with dozens of green turtles and eagle rays graceful gliding through the water – it was like a giant aquarium. Surely, nothing could beat this!
I was wrong again – we moved locations to try a spot of snorkelling. Exploring the different pools, I swam with the turtles and a few White Tip reef sharks, many more of which were sleeping under the rocks. In an area of mangrove I then saw the most incredible thing I think I have ever seen – seahorses. In one area there was a solitary sea horse swimming in the reeds close to the bottom, it was hard to believe this was real, a real seahorse in front of my eyes. It is the thing of fairy-tales. If this wasn’t enough we then saw a second one with its tail wrapped around an underwater tree trunk, I stayed watching it for some time, transfixed. It was hard to move on – I’m pretty sure this will be a once in a lifetime experience.
It seems that is the beauty and charm of the Galapagos Islands, you think you have seen everything and then it goes and surprises you again with something more incredible and wonderful. Truly amazing and unique.
