El itinerario más habitual para los huéspedes en estos tiempos de pandemia es de 7 noches en las Galápagos. Pero ¿cómo es realmente el viaje para un cliente?
Hace muchísimo tiempo, Penny Yim-Barbieri trabajó para una versión anterior de Master Liveaboards. Lo disfrutó tanto que sigue embarcándose en nuestras embarcaciones hasta el día de hoy siempre que puede. Hace poco estuvo a bordo de Galapagos Master y tuvo la amabilidad de enviarnos una crónica de su viaje. Te dejamos con Penny...
Un destino en toda lista de deseos
«Pregunta a la mayoría de los buceadores si tienen una lista de deseos. La respuesta suele ser que sí, con las Galápagos y especialmente las islas Darwin y Wolf en lo más alto. Habiendo tenido la suerte de ir a estos puntos pelágicos de referencia en el Galapagos Master una vez antes, simplemente lo considero un destino de buceo imprescindible. Un lugar de buceo imprescindible en el sentido de «siempre que tengas la oportunidad, TIENES QUE BUCEAR allí».
Antes de ir a estos lugares mágicos, había muchas maravillas que desconocía. No sabía que los delfines «pilotando» a un enorme tiburón ballena de 15 m fuera siquiera algo que ocurriera. No sabía que las tortugas podían convertirse en actores secundarios en un escenario repleto de tiburones martillo, enormes tiburones de Galápagos preñados y nubes plateadas de jureles.
Of course, any mention of the Galapagos also usually triggers science memories. Especially of a guy named Darwin. Or unique flora and fauna that can only be found on (or under) these bits of volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific. As soon as you start to wander around (ten minutes from the airport!), his ideas become very easy to grasp. It’s easy to appreciate (even booby jokes are funnier in the Galapagos!) as you can see his theory at work all around you in 360° technicolour. Whether it’s a sea lion plopping itself on a neighbouring bench or a flightless cormorant hopping from rock to rock. Even el derrumbe del icónico Arco de Darwin, que tuvo lugar poco antes de nuestro viaje, es un ejemplo de la naturaleza mostrando su poder. En nuestro barco nos tomamos la libertad de rebautizar las columnas restantes como «Los Pilares de la Evolución».
Todos a bordo
We were very fortunate to have a dive cruise director who was also a certified naturalist, not the usual practice. This meant that we benefitted from the added insights of someone who could spell out connections. Giving very informative dive briefings and linking them together with our island visits. He provided a rich cohesiveness between what we were seeing on land (animals and geological formations) and what we were discovering underwater. This enhanced the entire experience!
Although divers can expect to see more sharks in the archipelago year-round than almost anywhere else on the planet, other star Galapagos creatures are said to be more seasonal. Our trip fell just between winter/summer (at the Equator, mind you). But we still managed to see what many consider the diving ‘Top Ten’: walls of hammerheads and many other sharks, turtles, big mama whale sharks, mantas, dolphins, big schools of fish, eagle rays, sea lions, mola molas, and marine iguanas.
Entire dives interacting with these last three might explain why something unexpected happened. Almost everyone’s most memorable dives were not necessarily at Wolf or Darwin. And even though wild dolphin encounters in the area are usually quite fleeting, we had them dancing and spinning around us or overhead on at least 50% of our dives. We also had not one but two sightings of the Galapagos batfish (have a look at este blog if you’re not familiar with it). I saw my first ever pairing of mama sea robin (or papa?) and baby “walking” along the sea bottom. Like most things “Galapagueño”, these fishes are found in other places but not necessarily sporting the same funhouse-mirror attire. Similarly, tuna and other pelagics can reach a massive size not often seen elsewhere.
Vuelve una y otra vez a por más
This explains some of the true beauty this place holds for me. Where else can you see sharks in such numbers and frequency that you (by which I mean lil’ unobservant me) start to take note of different behaviours, species, and social groupings? I don’t think there’s a t-shirt for it, but I’m downright glad that I can now tell a female shark from a male. How did I ever miss those not-exactly-invisible claspers?! How often can divers simply drift along in the blue, just soaking up the national geographic-worthy panorama unfolding before them? Maybe three tiny juvenile hammerheads following a female with mating scars. Or a huge Galapagos female sharks getting a good scrub at the butterfly fish spa. Possibly even an oceanic blacktip cruising through a school of courting jacks (the males wearing their dark threads in anticipation) while a tuna that dwarfs the shark zips by?!
All this never gets old hat. This is because you somehow start to notice more with each dive, the smaller things. Such as the turtle feeding on jellyfish or the eagle ray hoovering up the sand in search of a meal next to the garden eels. It’s the glorious sight of hundreds of sharks still fulfilling their role of apex predator on a healthy reef that makes my heart soar. But it is the mysteries of these islands first encountered by Darwin that keep me coming back. It’s the realization that I never know what I will find on a Galapagos dive, ensuring that the ocean will never lose its power to amaze me with its wonders.
Una experiencia de buceo que inspira
During the long sailing to Darwin and Wolf, accessible only by liveaboard, a fellow diver who had never done a week of diving asked if the trip was really worth all the travel time and expense. By the end, he had answered his own question with a resounding yes and I had to agree. My bank accounts will probably never whisper to me “go splurge on a dream trip”. But that said, my time spent on the Galapagos Master, and the memories and experiences it has afforded me, change the way I look at and make my way through the world, makes it truly priceless.
Mi más sincero agradecimiento a los fenomenales guías de buceo y a la tripulación del Galapagos Master. Hicieron que nuestros tiempos de desgasificación fueran casi tan agradables como nuestros momentos con tiburones. ¡Y nos trataron como a reyes y como a familia!»
¡Gracias a Penny por esta maravillosa crónica de viaje! Tú también puedes disfrutar de unas increíbles 7 noches en las Galápagos a bordo del Galapagos Master. ¿Por qué no echar un vistazo ahora.
