Lava Tube Tour

Today we went on a tour. The small tour boat picked us up at Sila. We motored for forty-five minutes to the first snorkeling place. To get there, we had to bounce through crashing surf. Mama and Daddy were very impressed by the driver's skill as he navigated the surf. Everybody got into their wet suits and into the water where we started to snorkel. There were old lava tunnels. Rocks jutted out of the water making a network of channels.

An enormous ray lay motionless at the bottom.

It only ruffled the tips of its wings occasionally. Its wingspan was five feet long, the biggest ray I have ever seen. It looked like a stubby grey log with ray's wings and a tail. The group moved on. As we snorkeled, we saw a small spotted eagle ray. As it speedily swam away, we saw how much longer its tail was compared to the large ray's tail. Then I saw another group of rays. They disappeared almost as fast as I saw them. Then I saw them again. They were golden rays. About seven golden rays beat their wings slowly. Each wing span was about one and three quarters of a foot. They moved very elegantly, going far considering how little energy they were using. The top of them was solid gold and yellow. As they beat their wings, I saw the white on their undersides. The golden rays beautifully beat on.

We all snorkeled farther. As we swam through the channel, we saw various different fish. In a small under water cave, four white tip reef sharks lay in the gloom, pumping water through their gills.

We snorkeled a bit longer and saw a puffer fish hiding as we swam back to the tour boat.

 

A scary moray eel.

I took of my wet suit only to put it back on 20 minutes later to snorkel more lava tubes. Here, lots of schools of fish darted around. I was very cold. There was sand at the bottom and the water was clearer. It was deeper than the first place but not as murky. There was more underwater life:  plants and animals.

 

A sea lion lazed around on a rock, snorting and grunting in disapproval as we splashed by. After we swam under an arch, we saw two penguins. One leaped into the water and shot away. Like the golden rays, the Galapagos Penguins look like they are flying when they swim. The penguins are black on their flippers, back, and head. They have white on their bellies. They have speckles on their sides and they are about a foot and a half tall.

The one on the rock was fluffy because it was a juvenile losing its down and growing in feathers.

A little later, we saw a seahorse. It was around nine inches long. Its tail wrapped around the seaweed so it would stay in one spot. It blended with the seaweed nearly perfectly and I only saw it because Daddy pointed it out to me after the guide showed it to him.

The sea horse was hard to see.

 

We snorkeled a bit longer before going back to the tour boat. By then, I was shivering vigorously.

Once everybody was on the tour boat, we motored very slowly through the lava rocks until we came to a place full of arches.

We walked onto the shore, walking over the lava rock and arches. We all walked around on one big rock with tunnels and arches underneath it. Some arches were connected to nothing and just stood there on their own. Others looked like bridges, connecting one rock to another. The water was glassy calm and very beautiful.

Another selfie!

Blue footed Boobies nested in several places. They really do have blue feet!

 

Blue-Footed Boobies are funny things.

Look at all those Blue Feet

We looked around. Arches and rocks were everywhere making canals and tunnels through the lava rock. Sea turtles and fish swarmed in the "shipping lanes". The turtles were everywhere swimming under the lava arches and paddling through the tunnels.

They were truly pretty. A very large Spotted Eagle Ray was seen gliding through a tunnel underneath us.

Walking on top of these arches and rocks had been a great part of this adventure but we still had to go back to the boat.

To get back to the harbor where Sila was anchored, we had to motor through the surf again.

We circled for almost ten minutes with rocks right behind us and breaking surf in front of us while the captain looked for a good opportunity to go. We were sitting calmly waiting when suddenly the driver gunned the engine to full throttle. The little boat bounced up and down as we pelted through the large waves. We motored back to the harbor and the boat dropped us off at Sila. We said goodbye to everybody. It had been a fun day at the tunnels and arches. – Jack Rabbit