I was being pulled by the strong currents as I tried to hold on to the ropes tied to the boat. The dive master called me to swim close to the group, so I tried my best to swim against the current to get close to them. Then at the count of 3, everyone started to descend...

But wait, I looked above and I was still floating at the surface. I saw everyone below and they all seemed to be descending just fine. I tried to release more air from my BCD, exhaled all the air in my body but I still couldn’t seem to go down. I was thinking that I didn’t have a proper weight check before. Pre-dive weight check is necessary for proper buoyancy. Unfortunately, no one did the buoyancy check which is very important, but looking at the currents, it seemed that there was no time for a lot of things. Even for safety check that could save our lives! Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to swim after the hammerhead sharks lurking underneath the boat. Those guys love the strong current and cold water, but the stupid humans still found their way here no matter what.

Everything was happening so fast - get in the boat, try the equipment, check the regulator, everyone’s fitting the wetsuit, defog the mask, the boat was speeding to the site, everyone’s standing, everyone was busy, the waves were rocking the boat and I was sea sick, bam bam bam. It was crazy!

Flashback...

I remember waiting at the dive shop in hopes of getting the special "after 6 pm volunteer’s dive discount”, should there be a free slot in the boat. Before that, I was already waiting for a couple of days to get a big price slash from around $200 up to $160 for two tank dives. For me, that was such a big deal, especially after already being in the Galapagos for a couple of weeks paying the tourist prices. My host family informed me one time that there was already a free slot finally, and so I hurried to the town and waited patiently at the dive shop, wishing that no one else would book and fill the boat. Luckily, I got in and booked the dive next day.

I clearly told the staff at the dive shop that my last dive was last year. But I couldn’t remember why the pre-dive weight check was forgotten. But there were a lot of factors to consider why I couldn’t descend properly like before. It could be that I gained weight over the last couple of months or I became fat I should say (Ouch!), so I was more buoyant. And also, I was not carrying enough weights to counter this.

Back to reality:

One of the dive masters finally saw me enjoying the current surface more. He pulled me down slowly (this could be dangerous!), and I tried to equalize as much as I can as we descended, very carefully of course!

Equalize means to equalize pressure between the inside of your ears in the underwater environment.

Anyway, you will learn all these terms if you take the open water course or your license to scuba dive.

What a relief to belong to the group at last! Being there underwater, I was able to catch up quickly on my scuba diving skills.

So we dove to Seymour dive site first.

In North Seymour’s ocean side channel, you’ll get to dive on a rocky slope, then end up in a shallower area close to the island. Manta rays, stingrays, eagle rays, rays and more rays. And sometimes even hammerhead sharks swimming around here if you’re lucky!

Lots of fish, starfish and colorful pencil urchins.

The channel side is not very deep, just about 20m. But quite a lot of current here too. You start swimming from the eastern corner, following the major currents. You can dive quickly over the rock plateau, and there are also Galapagos sharks cruising around here. There is also a large sandy part where you can see a group of endemic garden eels.

And there’s always this photo bomber. When you are swimming along a reef and there will be something that will make you stop. You will go check that head coming out of an uninteresting hole, and a creature will suddenly come out, open and close its jaws as if trying to warn you. Don’t be afraid of its aggressive appearance, just showing-off, a typical Moray Eel!

But make sure not to touch these beautiful creatures - sharks, eels, rays, starfish etc., for 'their own safety!'

After lunch, we dove to the next dive site, the famous Gordon Rocks. The 'washing machine' of the Galapagos.

This is the highlight of any diving experience in the Galapagos, and you must have 30+ dives or you must be very experienced to brave the strong currents and the wild animals lurking here. There’s a channel that can make for very strong currents, surge, down currents, and with depth. This is why this is an advanced dive site.

And here you can spot a...

SHARK!!!!!

The hammerhead sharks are usually around this dive site. Seeing them close to us was such an exhilarating feeling! The visibility was pretty bad but I was happy to fulfill my dream of scuba diving with the hammerheads!

And there’s conch shell, jellyfish and nudibranches.

Nudibranchs are interesting little creatures that deserve attention too. The underwater macro photographer’s favorite. Nudibranchs are soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks, noted for their striking colors and forms.

In the end, due to improper weighting, I was starting to shoot up the surface (could be very dangerous!) as my tank was getting emptied. I was struggling to comply with the safety stop rule at this point, and my air was running low. It was time to go back up and face the reality with the humans. For 2 hours, I was able to enjoy silence and the amazing Galapagos underwater.

I hope you enjoy the dive tour!

(All photos are mine!)