An octopus hiding under a rock

Our snorkeling trip to Pinzon Island was an amazing experience, but also a very cold one. It was a good thing that our guides urged us to rent wet suits before embarking on our tour. To get to the first snorkeling spot, near Pinzon Island, we had to take an hour and a half long boat ride. When I first caught sight of the mountain-like island, it appeared to have layers of clouds around its summit, like you can sometimes see in pictures of Mount Fuji, even though the elevation wasn’t that high.

The first snorkeling site was in a shallow, sandy bay. When I first jumped into the water, it felt shockingly cold. We followed our guide into the cove. He showed us a spot where five or six sharks were resting among mangrove roots. Soon, we also saw a small sea turtle eating from the bottom of the bay. Our group spread out in the water, all looking at different fish and animals. My favorite part of the whole tour was when four sea lions came into the water to swim with us. They were so playful, and twisted and dove around us.

The water in the second site was deeper and colder. The ocean floor was a landscape of huge boulders which made interesting and mysterious caves, hills, and drop-offs. Huge schools of sardines darted through the water in perfect synchrony, the light from above catching a few and making them flash silver from a sea of swirling gray. Our guide told us that penguins sometimes visited the area, but we didn’t have the luck to see one, although we did see a sea lion diving for fish.

Before snorkeling for a third time, we rode in the boat around Daphne Island to look at the different birds that perched on the cliffs. The third area had lots of colorful fish. We also saw sharks and two huge rays resting on the ocean floor. On the way back to Santa Cruz Island, our guides cast their fishing poles and trailed them behind the boat, but they didn’t catch anything.

Here’s a close-up of a sea lion on Pinzon Island. Can you spot it in the featured photo at the top of this post?