Galapagos, Baby...

Now time flew, I can tell you that.

Once more, a whole week passed in an instant and by taking enough time to thoroughly reflect on what I experienced during that week, I am sure I will enjoy it even more and appreciate the whole trip even more.

We started off by arriving on San Cristobal, which is one of the Islands in the west of Galapagos. And since my Mum and I haven’t had a decent conversation during the last couple of months, due to my travelling, we caught up on recent activities and happenings, on both sides of the Atlantic.

The next day we already started full throttle into discovering the islands secrets, beginning with Leon Dormido, also known as Kicker Rock. We met up way too early for my taste, headed to the boat and after a short “preparation dive” at Isla de Lobo, we were on our way to check out Hammerhead sharks and other animals with a shitload of teeth.

All in all during the two dives at Kicker Rock, we not only saw the desired Hammerheads, but also Galapagos Sharks, White Tip Sharks, Black Tip Sharks, massive Turtles and of course Sea Lions.

But the most amazing animal that we encountered that day was a 2,5m – 3m Eagle Ray, who was hovering over us and absolutely ruled the dive site. We even forgot about the curious Galapagos Sharks who we surrounding us and came closing in on us, to check out what or who we were. Somehow I didn’t mind the sharks so much; I was too busy starring at the Eagle Ray in Awe as it flew by majestically. Although in between the two dives, we went snorkeling and a few of the Galapagos Sharks came insanely close, especially after surrounding me for a few minutes, then descending and ascending from directly under me… *Scary Shit*

The next day we went to Santa Cruz in the very early morning, which despite the small size is the main Island. Here I by incident met Nikki, one of the two dutch siblings, that I met in Montanita and Chris as well, and together with my Mum, we shared two midday beers at the harbour before the two of them left for other one of the other islands.

The next day, my Mum and me went to the next dive spot, called Gordon Rock, who as well was habitat to a lot of Hammerhead sharks. Unfortunately we had shit visibility, which is why the first dive only revealed shadows of Sharks passing by about 10m away from us.

During the second dive visibility was better and we even had a female shark pass by us within one arm’s reach. Our Dive Master took heaps of pictures which I will try to attach here a bit later, as Mum took the DVD with her home… :D

The whole dive was a bit over-shadowed by the fact that two other divers who were with us, were absolute noobs and didn’t know shit about diving. I remember them going up and down like Jojos and we constantly had to watch out for them not to bump into us, or dropping down on us from above, tank first…

The following day we again had the unfortunate pleasure of the two doofuses joining us on the third dive trip to an island south of Santa Cruz; Floreana.

It was a two hours drive by boat, which is why we had to leave Santa Cruz around 5:30am, but despite the hassle, the second dive there made more than just up for the troubles of getting there. First, we had a whole school of young Sea Lions play with us and later were surrounded by literally millions of fish who “tornadoed” around us and by their sheer number darkened up the water and made us believe we are cave diving. Again the Dive Master took thousands of pictures, which will be provided later.

The next day we also did a day tour on Santa Cruz to Tortuga Bay, which is like a kindergarten to sharks and rays and every other animal that breeds on the island. It was about an hour to get there, but again we were compensated by the view on a beautiful bay and also saw little sharks and rays; and little sharks are really cute… J

Also, on one of the beaches I ran into Karin from Montanita, who was too enjoying life to the fullest on this amazing group of Islands called Galapagos. Well, rather she recognized me as I was wearing my green hat and the orange glasses…

That night we went to eat all together in a little street on Santa Cruz, which basically is turned into a restaurant as the places all put their chairs and tables on the street and make it impossible for cars to pass.

It was nice to exchange some memories and hear about the experiences, which my Mum especially enjoyed, as travelling today varies severely from travelling back in the day.

The next day we already packed our stuff to Island hop one more time and go to Isabella, the island which Chris identified as the most beautiful of all of them. Upon arriving we were directly put into a bus and drove to see the flamingos in their little pond. Unfortunately those bastards were all gone and only one lonely flamingo hung about there. People took their picture and we returned kinda fast to the hotel to unpack out stuff.

The next day was dedicated to hiking up one of the many volcanos on the island. In the beginning the weather was shit and cloudy, but this made the climb a bit more pleasant, and right on time for reaching the summit the sun came out and burned down on us. And it was a breath-taking view over a 12km (in diameter) volcano that was covered with ashes, volcanic rocks and heaps of green plants, AND still active.

The afternoon was spend snorkeling in a bay just outside of the harbour called “Las Tintoreras” and despite the shitty visibility we saw massive Turtles feeding on sea grass.

Unfortunately, the next das already our day of departure, and after a 2hrs boat drive we were standing at the airport, in line of LAN airline to get our tickets.
I really need to get all those pictures and go through the whole trip one more time to really grasp the (uh, watch out, made-up word) “amazingness” and the diversity of what we saw during the hand full of days.

Anywho, after we touched down in Gauayquil, my Mum and I shared a quick good-bye and thanked each other for having made this awesome trip together and then headed our separate ways: my Mum towards Peru to conquer Machu Picchu, and me towards home, Montanita.

My plan was to change my stuff, and then head to Guayaquil (again) to catch a flight to Quito, because Chris and I had planed to get on a trip through Ecuador together and time was precious… There was adventure waiting for us, and I couldn’t wait for it to get started… :D

Study Times!!

After this amazing time, one more time, with Chris in Montanita, it was time to get some studying done. As mentioned before there were heaps of books which I had to read, comprehend and reflect on as part of the Dive Masters course. So much concerning the theoretical part, we also had to partake in practical classes, ranging from simple displaying skills in the pool to more complex objects as repairing Regulators, BCD´s and cleaning tanks. All in all a physically more demanding job than the theory part.

Moreover, I was told that there was a shipment coming from the 2^nd shop on Galapagos containing a shitload of broken Surfboards, which I had the great fortune to repair in the days to come. Upon seeing the boards my heart almost stopped: The girls (surfboards) looked like they have been raped by the devil himself.

Summing up, there was heaps to do and Victor really kept me busy during the time.
Usually I would get up around 9:00 and work from 10:00 to 12:30, have an hour of lunch and then return to my boards until 6 in the evening.

Sadly I didn’t really get to take some pictures of me shaping the boards or maintaining the dive equipment, which is why I don’t really have anything to attach to this post, but I will hopefully (and eventually) take some and maybe insert them later.

Furthermore, the end of February was closing in fast, which meant for me, that I’d soon be Island hopping on Galapagos, go diving with my Mum and enjoy all the craziness that this wonderful spot has to offer. So let’s get packed and off we go to explore Darwin`s life´s work.

The inevitable return of the great white Chris!!!

Weeeeeheeelll, after I had such a f***** up week before, the following one would be way different. I had a few projects that I was heading towards and as the post-title already reveals, I wouldn´t be alone!

First off: business!

I had seriously considered taking the diving to a new level and to follow the path of professionalism, which means: Dive Master.

There were a few hills that would have to be climbed before reaching my goal (EFR Course, Rescue Diver, Dive Master), and so I got to it.

The Emergency First Response course is something everyone with a drivers license has already attended, in my case it was useless as it must not be older than 2 years to be accepted as basis for the Rescue Diver. The book I had to read was of course excessively Americanized and everything was explained 300 times in such a simple language that even my neighbors’’ goldfish would pass with waving flags. The video that comes with it was basically the same crap just within a 90min version. The only funny and exciting part was the practical exercise that I did with two other Rescue Diver Trainees: Michelle (the other surf-instructor and local) and Eugenio (a soon to be Dive Master from Argentina who’ll stay here until June).

With the two of them, our practical training was hilarious, as our mannequin (made of a diving west, wetsuits and some tape), “Puta” had to withstand some really severe and brutal CPR attempts by Eugenio and me. In the end, we ourselves had to be the mannequins for repositioning an unconscious person and almost didn’t get our tasks done as we were constantly afraid the other would apply the same rough CPR methods on us, as we were lying on the floor with closed eyes. All in all we still got everything covered and had a very nice afternoon together.

The following days we had some theoretical sessions with our instructor to cover the chapter reviews of the rescue diver book, which was then followed by the written exam. On a Thursday afternoon, just before my last chapter review, I was sitting in the restaurant on the opposite side of the dive shop and checking emails on my laptop, when I caught Mr. Kaiser online in the FB chat. The conversation was short but cheerful and in essence, Chris said: “I quit my job today, respectively got fired and it might be the last night you’re sleeping alone in Montanita”. I really did do expect him to show up the next day but was still a little startled when the next day around 11am a wide grinning Chris was ready to enjoy his life at the coast. The timing could not have been better, as it was the weekend of the annual Reef Classics Surf Competition that Montanita hosts every year, and the place was packed.

I unfortunately was scheduled to go diving Saturday and Sunday and feared that I would not enjoy the time with Chris as much as I could have, under different circumstances.

To clarify plans, I stepped by my dive shop and asked Beatrice, who gladly told me that the two dives had been postponed to the weekend after.

GREAT News, that screams for celebration. Chris, beer me, let’s get plastered… :D
Which, once again, we did as graceful as possible. I remember drinking a lot of beer (and of course cocktails) that day and since I had a little cold the previous days, which I had just overcome, my battery was sucked empty by 2am at night. Chris though, continued to party hardy and came to my place around 5 in the morning.

The next day, after grabbing breakfast somewhere I was surprised by a friend who works as a manager at the restaurant across the street from my shop (Hola Ola) and whom I had been helping a bit with managing the place during previous weeks. I usually was paid in free coffee, tea and little snacks, but this day she smiled widely as she approached Chris and me and told me she had gotten me a VIP ticket for the big Surf-Party-Concert-Thing at the beach that night. After telling her that Chris needs one as well, she performed absolute magic and got another VIP ticket for the Kaiser, just a few hours later.

That night was EPIC, I tell you. Two bottles of rum were captivated that night between Chris, Jana (yes, she was back in the sweet spot), Andre (a Portuguese Dude who Jana had met while traveling) and me. After this we crushed the party and somehow Jana pulled another two tickets from somewhere so the four of us were in together and had an absolute blast. I remember that Chris and I got home that night around 4 and left the Hostel again around 5 to go back to the party, as it took us only about an hour to overcome hints of tiredness…

At some point it was just inevitable to go to bed and when we again woke up around 3pm on Sunday I suffered like I haven’t before in a long time. Chris didn’t feel as bad as I did, but still had hints of “hangover” hanging across his face. He left that day for Puerto Lopez (about an hour north of here) to have another day sipping cocktails at the beach before heading back to Quito, and I headed back to bed.

The next day I passed my written exam for the Rescue Diver with waving flags (96%) and already got my study equipment for the Dive Master theory, which is even more comprehensive as it entails:

-         Dive Master Manual (written exam after)

-         Encyclopedia of diving (written exam after)

-         Instructing Cards (for practical tests)

I seriously cannot tell you how glad I’ll be when I finally get that bitch out of my life and don’t ever have to study this stuff again. So long, let the studies begin and let it be over fast, please… :-/