Adventures of the very deep and very high!

September 2018 

After bidding adios to Mike in Madrid, I set off to meet Dad in South America! Quite the change of pace after years of European cities and villages. The plan was seven days aboard the Galapagos Aggressor III followed by a trip to the ancient Incan citadel, Machu Picchu. Dad has always had a vivacious spirit of adventure and I've been super lucky on several occasions to tag along with him. 

We met and briefly explored Guayaquil, Ecuador before flying to Baltra Island - a small island of the Galapagos Islands. A short ferry ride later and we were on Santa Cruz. The Galapagos are volcanic islands made famous by Charles Darwin. And the incredible diving that accompany them has always been on Dad's bucket list. 

We started the trip spending a couple of days acquainting ourselves with the locals...

One of the highlights was the Santa Cruz fish market where local fishermen would bring in their fresh catch to be sliced, diced and sold. But more interesting than the fish were the birds and sealion that came in for the scraps!

We were ready to board our beautiful liveaboard and head out to some of the best diving in the world found in the Wolf and Darwin islands. 

The itinerary included four dives per day, a couple of land excursions and lots of opportunities to meet more locals. And plenty of food to keep us well fueled up!  

Our hit-list included Marine Iguanas, Blue-footed Boobies, schooling Hammerheads and, of course, Whale Sharks! Unlike in some places like the Philipines and Australia where they feed the whale sharks to get close encounters with paying punters, these beauties were as wild as they come and were primarily migrating pregnant females. They were amazing. Each of these magical dives started with us waiting patiently on the side of a rock face, staring into the ether. Staring... staring... staring... When all of a sudden our guide would tap frantically on his dive tank with a metal pole, alerting us to a sight that is so hard to describe. Out of nowhere whale sharks the size of buses emerged out of the blue. We each swam as fast as we could to get a good look at these absolutely magnificent beasts. If you didn't keep an eye on your dive computer you could easily find yourself a lot deeper than you expected trying to keep up!

The vast plethora of wildlife above and below the surface did not disappoint. We were delighted by schooling hammerheads, marine iguana grazing for seaweed, red-lipped batfish, friendly sealions and so much more! 

We got to see the famous rock formation, Darwin's Arch before its sad, natural demise in 2021. 

Back on dry land we got to hang out with some other locals, the Galapagos Giant Tortoise! We even got to see hatchlings at the Charles Darwin Research Centre. 

After a few days drying out, we headed to Peru to experience Machu Picchu. We stayed in Cuzco, a World Heritage site itself, to acclimatise to the altitude and take advantage of some of the local cuisine including alpaca and guinea pig. When in Peru! The change in altitude was quite something, leaving you feeling breathless and lightheaded after very little exertion. We sipped Coca Tea whenever we could - leaves from the plant traditionally used to make cocaine. It had a slightly bitter taste and was renowned for preventing altitude sickness. 

We traveled to Aguas Calientes, a quaint little town in the heart of the Urubamba River Valley and  gateway to the nearby Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

We had a very informative guide, but in all honesty they could have been saying anything and we would have believed them. So much of what we know about the Incans and Machu Picchu is conjecture. Nonetheless, the fact that they lived and travelled by foot at such phenomenal altitudes was remarkable and the scenery was something else! 

I had an amazing trip with my all-time-favourite dive buddy and I can't wait for our next adventure!