It's a Torpedo, No Wait It's a Booby

Adam and I had the joy of snorkeling off the red sandy beach at Pinnacle Rock on Bartolome Island in the Galapagos. We visited with the fish and sea turtles and marveled at the sea stars and sea cucumbers. The water was cold and once we made our way around the rock I decided it was time to head back to shore before my arms turned into popsicles. So we began our U-turn back to shore. All of the sudden I hear this loud noise next to me. It actually scared me and I screamed. I didn't know what it was and I was more then a little nervous to find out. So I turned...and did what most normal people do (NOT!). I got my underwater camera ready and started shooting. This was what I found...



So if you turn my blog background music off (pause it at the bottom of the blog) you might actually hear the surprise squeals from both Adam and I as we figured out it was a blue footed booby bird torpedo diving into the water next to us to catch a fish. I obviously did not get him diving head first into the water, but loving that I actually had proof that we swam with a bird. Amazing! I have no idea if he caught his fish or not. But it is definitely an experience we were excited to have had.

Blue-footed Booby facts from Wikipedia:
The Blue-foot dives into the ocean, sometimes from a great height, and swims underwater in pursuit of its prey.
They will point their bodies down like an arrow and dive into the water.
Plunge diving can be done from heights of 33–100 ft (10–30.5 m) and even up to 330 ft (100 m).
These birds hit the water around 60 mph (97 km/h) and can go to depths of 82 ft (25 m) below the water surface.