Ocean Addict

DIVING IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

There are some amazing dive spots around the world and many many lists of the best dive sites, wrecks reefs, walls etc. I don’t know who decides what’s the best or worst but as often as not I’ve found the ‘best dive site’ to be over hyped, over crowded and generally disappointing! At the end of 2007 with new laws concerning divers about to come into place, Sue and I decided to head to the Galapagos with the intention of diving dive sites 1 and 2 on the ‘best of’ list, Darwin and Wolf.

We had been both lucky and unlucky on trying to get to the Galapagos. New laws had unexpectedly been enforced concerning the licensing for all live-aboards heading north, meaning many boats booked and paid for years in advance were cancelled. Including ours. Amazingly we managed to get spaces on one of the Aggressor fleet at fairly short notice. With spaces on the boat we arrived in Ecuador to find we had no luggage, and then that the travel agency had not booked any onward flights to the Galapagos!

We eventually met our boat on the island of Santa Cruz and headed off for our first dive at a site called Punta Carrione on the small island of Baltra just off of Santa Cruz. We had come to the Galapagos in Whale Shark season, when the northern islands are at their best. This meant that the Southern Islands would be at their worst. In the right season, they are apparently fantastic. We landed on a dark soft sandy bottom in 2 foot of visibility and a cool temperature of 18 degrees. 40 minutes later we climbed back onto the boat having seen less than you would on an average UK shore dive. We also spent the following day in the Southern Islands, diving off Seymor Island which was a lot better with the odd shark and 8 metres of vis.

On the third day we woke up in Wolf and saw the Galapagos we’d been expecting to see. The visibility had increased to over 20 metres and the temperature was now a pleasant 24 degrees. On our first dive at Wolf we saw small schools of Hammerhead sharks as well as individual sharks all over the place. Chunky Galapagos sharks hung about on the reef corners while out in the blue Silky sharks, Eagle Rays and Turtles break the monotony of the Hammerheads! Throughout all the dives, you could hear dolphins which would often buzz by in twos and threes. The diving was excellent, though it seemed to lack the huge schools of pelagic fish we’d previously seen in the Cocos Islands and had expected here. The Hammerheads also seemed more distant and would not come in as close as in the Cocos.

After a day’s diving in Wolf, we moved on to the most northerly of the Galapagos Islands and the worlds best dive site, Darwin. We’d come in Whale Shark season hoping to see the odd beast and were disbelieving when the guides said we would definitely see them. My log book reads:

Darwins Arch - Wow, this was a fantastic dive. We descended to 20 metres watching a large school of hammer heads. Even sitting on the reef the sharks come right up to you, much closer than Wolf. The water clarity is also much better and its warmer again than Wolf. Towards the end of the dive we saw a huge whale shark. It was about 13 metres long but the girth was enormous. Definitely the biggest thing I’ve ever been in the water with. Managed to get right in front and above it as it went by. Amazing. Did the safety stop floating in the blue and saw Silkies, Tuna and dancing Dolphins jumping in and out of the water.

We did six dives at Darwins Arch, the only dive site on Darwin before we headed back to Wolf. In those six dives we saw 18 large mature Whale sharks up to 14 metres long, and at least one on every dive. On our last dive we saw seven of them, seeing up to 3 at any one time.

Hanging in warm blue water, surrounded by Hammerheads watching these huge gentle giants was with out a doubt the best diving experience of my life.

It was worth all the travel, hassle and money just for a single dive at Darwin’s Arch and for once, all the hype had been right.

We headed back south via Wolf and onto Santiago and Santa Cruz over the last few days of our live-aboard. Along the way we saw many more Sharks, Sea Lions, the bizarre rosy lipped Bat Fish, Sea Horses and even Mantas but we’d been spoiled at Darwin…if there was no Whale Shark it felt like a disappointing dive!

The Galapagos Islands turned out to be a truly unique location, both above and below the surface, I just hope its not a once in a life time!

Check out the gallery to see all my photos from this dive and my Croatia trip.