Swimming With Sea Lions In The Galapagos Islands

Our last stop aboard the Nortada before going back to Santa Cruz Island was Roca Blanca. This eroded crater looks like a humongous boulder uprooting from the sea, draped in napping sea lions and birds. Roca Blanca, meaning White Rock, gets its white color from- well honestly, bird poo, but don't let that deter you! It's surrounded by an abundance of life including sharks, oceanic manta rays, sea lions, seahorses, rays, and sometimes you can even see Sunfish, also known as Mola Mola! A current was practically looping around the island when we arrived, much like how it feels around Darwin's Arch, each side with its own unique variety of critters to play with and observe. I plopped in on one side of the island and was immediately surrounded by sea lions. It's hard not to giggle around them. They're goofy and floppy, easily one of the most interactive of all sea creatures. They were more curious and playful here than they were in Fernandina. They seemed to want to do nothing more than swim in loopty-loops and look at our "strange fins." Every time I came up to breathe I exhaled laughter and tried to catch my breath. My mask kept trying to leak and unseal from my face as my cheeks moved to make room for my huge grin (shoutout to Cressi for having epic masks that managed to keep the water out).

I really loved Roca Blanca. It was definitely one of my favorite days of the trip. All the nervous jitters and ripping currents of the main days of filming were done and it was only my second time swimming with sea lions! It was amazing to float around and around this little island over and over with them in the middle of the sea. I didn't even bring a camera with me so almost all of these images are by Juan Oliphant and the footage is from Ocean Ramsey.

During one loop around I was getting dropped off by the panga boat on one side and saw Guillaume and Ocean rapidly swimming with the current towards me. They yelled to jump in NOW and without any context I launched myself off the panga to find a huge black oceanic manta ray swimming below in my direction.

Another thing about sea lions, they don't smell the greatest, and you don't really realize this with a mask that covers your nose. I'm telling this so you don't make the same mistake I did and unknowingly take in a big gasp of "fresh air" once removing your mask while back on the panga boat downwind of the sea lions and have to do everything in your power not to dry heave in front of your friends! They're so darn cute though that I would definitely spend a day smelling like them if it meant getting to hang out with them all day!

To see more you can now get Galapagos Evolution on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo On Demand, and Google Play! It is directed by Roberto Ochoa He, narrated by Pierre-Yves Cousteau, and features fellow free divers Ocean Ramsey, Juan Oliphant, Guillaume Nery, Diran Devletian, the amazing scuba diver Leo Morales, and biologist Pelayo Salinas.

It was shot aboard the Nortada vessel with the Cressi team.