Sickness and Sharks

Saturday June 26th GENOVESA ISLAND
I woke up this morning feeling SUPER sick, not so much sea sick but stomach sick, most likely from something I had eaten or possibly the lack of sleep I had the last few nights. I barely ate breakfast and then reluctantly hopped in the dingy which took us to an enormous cliff on Genovesa Island, known for it's birds. We climbed up the stairs, which were somewhat blocked by a large fur seal, and once at the top, were surrounded by Boobies!! There were red-footed and masked-boobies everywhere, as well as mockingbirds, finches and the magnificent frigate bird, many of which had babies! The scene was like out of a movie, almost scary to some extent, as the birds way out numbered the 16 of us. We learned about the different species and took in the scenery, as I often took breaks, feeling weak and stomach sick. We climbed back down the stairs, hopped in the dingy and again observed the wildlife living amongst the cliffs, before getting back on the boat to change into our lovely wetsuits for another snorkeling adventure. I had decided I was going to sit this round out due to how sick/weak I felt, but after being informed that this area was known for hammerhead sharks I quickly had a change of heart! I decided to go along and bring my snorkeling gear, being ready to jump in only if a shark was spotted. We headed to the area, everyone in full wetsuit/gear and me in my sundress, with gear in hand. Within 5 minutes of being in the water, Miguel, one of the crew members, yelled "Shark!" Here I went! I quickly jumped into my wetsuit, put on my flippers and snorkel and dove off the side of the dingy. As I was swimming rapidly to Miguel all the weakness and sickness disappeared as I had such an adrenaline rush! But.... of course I was too slow and the shark had vanished by the time I got to the spot. I was a little disappointed, kind of relieved (because deep down I was super terrified of the whole idea of seeing a shark below me) and yet hopeful that there would be more in the area. Sure enough a couple minutes later another guy from our group yelled "Shark" and again I swam as fast as I could to the area! As a group we ended up seeing 5 hammerhead sharks, along with a couple Galapagos sharks. Terrifying, yet amazing!!! After the shark encounters we moved to another part of Genovesa Island where we snorkeled with more giant sting rays and sea lions; the sting rays were beautiful, yet scary and the sea lions actually played and swam with us! I can't even describe how awesome it was!

We went back to the Eden, where instantly I felt sick again. I skipped lunch and unfortunately stayed back on the boat when everyone else went to the beach. As much as I wanted to go, Laura and I put it into perspective that we were only 8 days into our trip and had about 60 to go so I should not over due it now. Instead I slept and took more pills. After a couple hours everyone came back and it was time for the farewell party, as it was our last night on the Eden. Again, I skipped this, and rested in my room. I joined just at the end to watch a little salsa dancing and make a toast to the staff on board. We had our last dinner together and exchanged emails. I then went to bed as we had to be up at 5:30 the next morning.

Sunday June 27th, SANTA CRUZ & a Sad Farewell
We woke at 5:30 and took a panga ride to the mangroves of Santa Cruz. It seemed way too early to be out and about but it was our last day and I was feeling better so I had to suck it up! I was just hoping I didn't fall out of the boat because I may have drowned, as I was still half asleep. It was way worth it though as we saw tons of our favorite blue-footed boobies, as well as pelicans, sea lions, mating turtles, which we actually ran into with our dingy, sharks and schools of sting rays!! There actually was a large Galapagos shark swimming along side our boat where if I had stuck my hand in the water I would've been touching him! So cool!

We returned to the Eden, had our last breakfast together, packed up our bags and headed back to land where we took a bus to the airport. We sadly took a last group photo, gave hugs and kisses and said farewell to our friends we had grown so close with the last few days. We had become somewhat of a family consisting of: an Italian couple with 2 children, 3 crazy Brazilians, one of which was always 20 steps behind the group, super friendly honeymooners from Holland, Julia and Debra from Pennsylvania, a quiet woman from Sweden, an adventurous Israeli fellow and David, our handsome Ecuadorian guide! It was sad to say goodbye but all good things must come to an end and this is only the start of my summer adventures! Laura and I did some shopping at the market outside the airport before climbing up the stairs of the plane and waving our final goodbye to the Galapagos Islands! Back to Quito we were headed!