Galapagos: An Epic Boat Ride
We had an unforgettable boat ride from Punta Morena to Puerto Villamil, one which got the captain asking all of us for pictures afterwards. It started with huge flocks of sea birds, far from the coast which suggested there was an avian buffet going on in the ocean. Then, someone spotted a large fin and the chase was on. It’s hard to capture the excitement of the boat in photos and videos, but it was just pure joy as everyone (including the crew) ran from one side of the boat to the other — grinning and laughing at our remarkable fortune.
Our guide Fabian, a former captain himself, at the bow shouting directions
The underlying cause of excitement - pink krill bunches all over the ocean surface
This was the large fin — a huge whale shark, at least 25 feet long — feeding on the krill
Gulping down massive amounts of krill
Bright patches of krill surround the ocean giant
Here’s two videos of our whale shark encounter: you might be able to spot a sea lion frolicking around the whale shark in the first video. In the second video, you can watch the fish swim under our boat to the delight of everyone on board.
Next, our boat started chasing a huge dolphin pod, at least two hundred that stretched across the ocean horizon. Then as we motored on, a couple manta rays swam by the boat, gracefully looping just below the surface.
Dolphin pod speeding along and leaping all over
Lucky shot: caught this tuna flying out of the water (perhaps the dolphin prey?)
So cool!! How high did the tuna jump out of the water?
it’s hard to say but at least fifteen feet; quite a sight!
does look epic! galapagos is def on our next places to see!