The 360-Tour was our last full day trip and the one we were super exited about. We knew that we would circle the entire island of San Cristobal and snorkel at the famous Kicker Rock or Leon Dormido.
Our guide Alejandro was a super funny and motivated guy what promised us a great tour. When we took off with a pretty nice speedboat it was raining but after about 30min the rain had stopped and another 15min later the sun came out. The sun was right in time for our first snorkel at Bahia Rosario, and it would be a snorkel experience that will stay in our minds for a long time. We entered a small lagoon and the moment we put our head into the water we saw so many whitetip reef sharks that we weren’t able to count them all. They were mostly resting on the ground but some of them were taking turns. And no matter where you snorkeled in this lagoon, there were whitetips everywhere.
When we continued our snorkel in the bay, we also saw sea turtles, sting rays, big marble rays, golden rays, fast eagle rays, a puffer fish, baby barracudas, baby blacktip sharks and small bump head parrotfishes. In any direction you looked, there was something to spot.
A short boat ride later we stopped at a perfect beach to relax and observe the resting seals. After lunch we drove along an island with an extremely steep coast and looked out for the red footed booby. First, we saw him flying but that’s when he is hiding his feet, but then we finally saw him sitting on a little bush and presenting his unusually colored feet.
On our way to the next stop we passed a female humpback wale with her calf. That came quite as a surprise but the Galapagos are so full of life nothing should surprise us here.
The last stop of our trip was at the Kicker Rock. It is considered the highlight of the tour as you get the chance to see hammerhead sharks there. We didn’t see any but it was impressive to snorkel right next to this immense and beautiful rock full of live. With all the snorkeling in the cold water it was such an intense day that we almost fell asleep during dinner and therefore went to bed right after it.
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