Swimming with sealions
Galápagos National Park, Ecuador
As Galápagos species go, the Galápagos sealion isn’t special. It’s not endemic (they also live off the coast of Ecuador), and there are many other members of the islands’ fauna that have carved out more extraordinary niches – the marine iguana springs to mind, as does the giant tortoise. But while the Galápagos are famous as the crucible that helped Charles Darwin form his theory of evolution, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have some fun while you’re there. It’s not all work, work, work. After a hard day contemplating how land iguanas adapted to a marine lifestyle and a diet of algae, nothing beats donning your mask and diving into the Pacific Ocean for some playtime. Sealions do know how to play, and as long as you give them ample space, their innate curiosity will give you the extraordinary sensation of (almost) understanding what it’s like to be one. Santa Fé and La Loberia beach on San Cristóbal are great locations for close underwater encounters of the pinniped kind.