By Dorothy Schwartz, 5-time OAT traveler, Melville, New York
I thought Machu Picchu would be the highlight of my Machu Picchu & the Galápagos adventure and it was dearly special. However, an event in the Galápagos changed my mind.
I have previously gone swimming and had wonderful encounters with dolphins, unfortunately for them in captivity. In the wild, though, they’re not that interested in humans. Tanya Streeter, the world champion free-diver, television presenter, and expert on interacting with marine life says, “People have a distorted view of dolphins. When they swim at you with their mouths open, people think they are smiling. Actually they’re saying, ‘Get out of my way, or I’m going to bite you, and these are the teeth I’m going to do it with.’” I’ve also had the pleasure of swimming with manatees and scratching their bellies. Now, let me tell you about my experience with the Galápagos sea lions.
There were six or eight sea lions in this group. When I first saw them they had bunched into a tumbling mass about ten feet away, just below the surface as I was. They each tried to peer at me and then hide behind each other at the same time. Suddenly, one shot at me, spun at the last second and rocketed underneath me. Wow.
They were all around me and seemed like they wanted to play. I read that if you do what they do, they’ll do what you do. They dived down when I dived down, I put my arms out in front of me and made like I was twisting and turning. They did their own thing and did twists, turns, and rolls. They zipped, zoomed, and leapt all around. They swam with me, right next to me. I was so fascinated. Their eyes staring straight into mine, nose to mask. Then they would flick their tails and shoot off like they were jet-powered. I was laughing so hard I almost lost the snorkel.
Swimming, or should I say playing, with the sea lions is like playing with a bunch of rambunctious puppies. They’ll shy away at first, but they can’t resist the temptation to check you out. They just seem to be going at it the whole time—pulling each other’s fins, blowing at each other—and they let me join their play! I felt completely safe and laughed and laughed. That is, until I saw the sharks way down at the bottom. Okay, then. Back in the boat for me.
I might suggest to others who actually go out and do things that swimming with sea lions should be at the top of your “bucket list”!
Experience your own wildlife encounters on our Machu Picchu & the Galapagos Small Ship Adventure.