Los Tuneles
This was by far our favourite tour of the entire Galapagos trip. Up until this point, we had dabbled a little bit with snorkelling but hadn't appreciated how it would open up our view of all the underwater species that the Galapagos had to offer. There were only four of us on the Los Tuneles tour, us and a couple from Israel (Kfir Rahamim and his friend Sapir). As a result we received great personal attention. One review we read on the Internet said that Los Tuneles is like snorkeling in an aquarium and we certainly agree.
Trip to Los Tuneles - The day began with a one hour boat trip along the south coast of Isabela. We didn't expect to see much on the way but the boat slowed down a number of times so the guide could point out things in the water. There is a small island about half way along and it was loaded with Nazca boobies and a sea lion. We circled the island several times so we could get as many shots as we wanted.
Los Tuneles Above Ground - There are two completely different environments, above ground and underwater. Initially the captain toured around the lava tunnels so we could see the birds and animals and the interesting structures. The tide was fairly high so the tunnels were not very visible. Had the tide been lower there would have been more land bridges.
Los Tuneles Under Water - This was the highlight of the entire trip to the Galapagos. At first we were very cautious about what we could see snorkeling, but our guide Estavan talked us into hanging onto a floating ring/life preserver while he towed us around the area. It was fabulous. We were able to see a lot of what was under the water (not as much as Kfir and Sapir) but it was still pretty great. The pictures in this section came from two sources: John's new underwater camera (a Lumix DMC-TS30) and shots taken by Vladimir, the guide who went with Kfir and Sapir (a GoPro Hero3+). I've combined both shots here.
