Galapagos Diary: Day Two - Floreana

Before lunch that same day we enjoyed a lecture by Richard Dawkins, "Responses to The God Delusion," then one after lunch by Eddie Tabash, "The Present Threat of the Religious Right to Our Modern Freedoms." (I will summarize these in another post.) Then we landed at Punta Cormorant on the island of Floreana.

I remember that the island had three large volcanoes that reminded me of the pyramids of Gizeh. We were promised dozens of pink flamingoes on the nature hike, but I skipped the walk to snorkel for my very first time. My partners were my roommate, Jo Ann (below in the white hat) and Sue (in the green).

Did I mention that I've been afraid of water since I managed to barely pass Advanced Beginners swim class when I was ten years old or so?

Well. I'd never stayed more than a few hours on a boat before. So far so good - no seasickness - and to my surprise, I took to breathing through my mouth underwater pretty quickly. Immediately, in fact.

Almost as if I really wasn't afraid of water anymore - or in fact had not been for quite some time.

And I realized that I didn't need the floatation device at all - because I'm a pretty good swimmer. Hello, Kristine! Been hanging onto a useless fear long enough?

Among many kinds of fish, as well as sea urchins, I saw the beautiful King Angelfish. Following others' advice, I took out my contacts and didn't wear my glasses, and frankly, the water magnifies everything, anyway. What you cannot see you swim close enough until you can see it. The fish did not mind.

Snorkeling is fun! I'll have to do this again. (Note to self: Bikini bottom can hold half a pound of sand. Next time, head right upstairs to the shower next to the jacuzzi on the sun deck.)

Yes! The jacuzzi on the sun deck! So conveniently close to the bar!