While the daytime land adventures were beautiful, my favourite has got to be once you put your head underwater. Our first venture into the wet wilderness was a bit of false security. The water felt reasonably warm enough to dive into with just your bathers, but thankfully, the Nemo was equipped with 3mm wetsuits (though on some snorkels, a 5mm wouldn’t have hurt). Heading to the Galápagos, there was one thing at the top of my list that I really wanted to see, and that was to watch a marine iguana swimming underwater. But a little more about that later. 

For anyone who’s ever worn a wetsuit, you’d know it’s not fun putting it on. You’re essentially doing a wetsuit dance of pulling the thing past your thighs and hips, it’s like a jump and pull move, followed by a bend over and stretch, to gather enough material to get your arms in and zip it up. Or you could just do what the Scottish lady did, and have her husband pretty much lift her up by the wetsuit to shake her into the thing. You could hear the groans, huffs and puffs as everyone tried to squeeze into their wetsuit, usually taking a break once you get it past your hips, then the inevitable sigh of relief when you finally have it zipped up. The dance was performed twice a day, and was usually worth it. It doesn’t hurt to have been taught the belly drum, and being entertained by the false chest muscles an inflated wetsuit can give some.​​

I think I was the luckiest one on the ship when it came to snorkelling, I seemed to stumble upon moments no one else had a chance to experience. The fish were mesmerising to watch, but it was the marine animals that really stole the show. I was glad I invested in a GoPro a few years ago, I managed to capture some cool videos, but alas, it’s not the greatest at underwater photos. You need an incredibly steady hand to capture a clear photo underwater, a hint of movement, usually from the current moving your arm, for the shot to turn out blurry. Still, I happily swam away with crystal clear videos of playful seals, a large fish attacking a sea urchin, swimming alongside majestic marine turtles and even of a penguin hunting a school of baitfish! Some may not be too fond of the octopus, sea snake or white tip Galápagos shark videos though (don’t worry, white tip sharks only hunt small fish).
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But the absolute highlight of my time underwater is definitely the moment I stumbled upon a marine iguana swimming from rock to rock, and chowing down on algae. The one and only time I saw one, and the only one on the ship who managed to experience it. Sure, it’s not as cute as watching a bunch of marine turtles eating seaweed (which I also managed to capture and comes a close 2nd fave), but it’s something that’s unique to the Galápagos. It’s the only marine iguana in the world, and while it’s easy to see them swimming on the surface along some areas, finding them underwater is a random chance during our snorkels. I didn’t even see one when I went diving after the cruise.

Post cruise, I stayed an extra few days so I could tick another thing off my bucket list, scuba diving in the Galápagos. I must admit, it was a little disappointing. I didn’t get as close to marine animals as I did while I was snorkelling, I think that’s probably because the animals tend to stick closer to the rocks near the shore, whereas we went diving along the edges of reefs. I did swim amongst a massive school of fish, it was a little like parting a curtain of fish, so that was pretty cool. A 7mm wetsuit was definitely needed during the dive though. You could SEE the cold water currents. You know how on hot days, you can see the air rising right above tar roads? Or when you mix a sugar syrup into water and the viscosity is different? It’s the same with cold water currents, at first, I wasn’t sure what it was. But as soon as I swam into into it, fuck my life it was cold. It cut right through the 7mm wetsuit, I had to swim straight out, everything was starting to go numb. I’m sure if I was a bit more confident diving, and had more than 15 dives under my belt, I could’ve gone to a more advanced dive site (I heard that group saw a sunfish at Gordon Rocks, I was super jealous!), but I’m still a bit of a nervous diver. It just means I’ll have to go back…😉

The days I was alone post cruise were a little lonely, I made some awesome friends during the cruise that certainly added to the experience. I had to say goodbye to them once the cruise ended since I was the only one staying on for a few days and they were dearly missed. I reckon the cruise would’ve been a very different affair if I had been stuck on a boat for 8 days with just families and retirees. Instead a small band of mischiefs stuck together, spending nights playing cards, watching the sunset, splashing around, and having one memorable night that we were paying dearly for the next morning. It all began on day 2. We were docked at Puerto Ayora to see the Darwin Research station, but had a couple of hours after to explore the town. Needless to say, the Swiss, Canadian and Aussie hit a bar. A few cheap cocktails later (where I tried my first Pisco Sour), the 4 of decided we should get some booze for the boat. Perusing the budget options at the local supermarket saw us finally settle on 2 cheap (and by cheap, I mean US$12 each) bottles of rum, and 2 giant 3L bottles of Coke. Who knew Coke came in bottles that big! Thus began a beautiful friendship. Most nights where I wasn’t feeling a little sea sick, I spent playing cards with the group at the back of the boat. One particular night would see the Germans and good girl Norwegian join us for shenanigans, oh and so did our guide, Oswaldo! By that night, we were already down to one bottle of rum. The time stamp on my photos from the night tells me this was only day 5…but never fear! Oswaldo came to the rescue and gave us his and the bartender’s secret stash of cane liquor, and the Swiss brought out mini bottles of some liqueur. The night provided vague recollections of being interrogated about crushes, the Norwegian and Swiss girls pimping their “insecure” friends to me, and taking photos with cute girls to so I can use them to make other girls jealous (because we all know that totally works…). The thing I love is how cheesy music transcends country borders, it wasn’t long before we were all belting out the lyrics to the Spice Girls, Aqua, YMCA, and other classics. Waking up the next morning was pretty amusing/painful, we were up past 4am, and bear in mind, breakfast is usually at 8am, but the photos and videos on my phone, man they were brilliant. I was reminded of how the good girl Norwegian turned into a slutty Swede (which is also my new fave insult), and became our Khaleesi after riding on the back of someone wearing a red sleeping bag (don’t ask, I couldn’t even give you an answer). Some Bollywood music made an appearance that night, and everyone broke out some sweet stereotypical Indian dance moves. 

Breakfast was a painful affair, sunglasses were a common sight, and the older half of the group were highly amused. No wonder I missed them after the cruise. Oh, and whoever said the Swiss are neutral, uh huh, sure, sufficient peer pressure saw me msg someone I probably shouldn’t have, and was left feeling a little sorry for myself. But then I remembered the epic hangs I’ve had in the past 8 days, and thought, I’m on an adventure of a lifetime, who needs girls?! 😊 So Cancun next year right guys?