Around the world » Galapagos

Caleta Tortuga Negra

Bérna — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:38:32 +0000

Puerto Egas & Bartolome

Bérna — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:29:00 +0000

Puerto Egas

Bartolome

Cerro Dragon & Rabida

Bérna — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:19:49 +0000

Cerro Dragon

Rabida

Darwin Station

Bérna — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:16:34 +0000

Mosquera & Seymour

Bérna — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:14:13 +0000

New spots, new guide, new luck!?
We try, the first dive site is supposed to be a very good site to spot white tips and hammerheads, the second to see Rays (eagle, golden and maybe manta).
After a semi-complicated start caused by the new girl that didn’t have enough weight and the DM loosing her, we start drifting. After a couple of minutes luck seems to be playing with us, the fists mini school of white tips is just there. We stop, hold on a rock and watch. With the time passing, they get more and more curious and start checking us out, very cool! Meanwhile, schools of fish and turtles keep on passing by. We start moving again, we still want to see the hammerheads. As the dive goes on we keep on seeing white tips and turtles but no hammerhead, after all luck didn’t totally play with us. 60 minutes into the dive we start the ascend, three more minutes of safety stop and then it happens, at 1 m depth there they are, two beautiful small hammerheads waiting for us. Amazing! With big smiles on our faces we surface and get ready for more.
After a short lunch break we go rays spotting, as we drop to the bottom it is immediately clear why this site is so good for rays, an immense plain full of huge garden eels extends in front of us. Garden eels are thin eels that live in vertical holes in the sand, when no predator (first of all eagle rays) is around they come out of their holes standing upright catching food. When a predator (or a diver) is getting too close they quickly retract into the safety of the hole. They live in big groups creating what looks like gardens, hence the name.
After just a couple of minutes we see the first medium sized eagle ray, but it is just an appetizer to what is to come, seconds later a group of 12 spotted eagle rays is effortlessly passing five meters in front of us. The sight is amazing, but what is even more impressive is the size of the rays spanning from 80 cm to 3 m of wingspan, massive and still the most elegant sight you can imagine. The school stays around for a good five minutes giving me the chance to take some good (I hope – remember my display is not working) video shots. We move around a bit just to find another school and enjoy the spectacle. Not enough, while I’m filming Sarah spots a hammerhead!
Definitely a good day and at 2pm we’re back in Puerto Ayora to rest and enjoy our memories.
Eagle ray video coming

Floreana

Bérna — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:12:13 +0000

Early day today, we meet at the dive shop at 7… we leave for Floreana, the southernmost of Galapagos Islands, about 30 nautical miles from Puerto Ayora. The trip there lastas about two hours and the ocean is fairly calm but it manages to knock down Ryan and Luca’s wife and to make Sarah focus on the horizon.
Once we get there the Capitan decides that (to help the seasick ones) we will first do the land visit. On the dock we meet huge marine iguanas, pelicans, sally footed crabs and sleepy sea lions. A short bus ride gets us to the visit site, first we go for a stroll to see where buccaneers used to live and hunt in the 17th century then we go to the giant land tortoises.
What to say about them… HUGE! Those things can live up to 150 years (rough data) and keep on growing until they are around 80. Well, you’ll ask what the secret to such longevity is, definitely take it easy!
Half more hour of navigation takes us to the first dive site: Champion. Here we are supposed to se white tips, seals and a lot of fish. The site is very nice; there is a “bit” of current but nothing dramatic. As expected we se sea lions and white tips and lots of fish. Unfortunately no big surprise coming from the blue but for this the second dive should be better.
After lunch we move to Enderby where big big things (I’m talking whale-sharkish here) could surprise us.
First we go after the weird looking batfish over a sandy bottom. For once that I’m not being the lowest one to follow what our guide said, the others saw it and we didn’t… oh well. Then we moved to the rocky reef where all the activity was. There we saw plenty of fish, an octopus, a school of jacks and we fought hard against the very strong current waiting for the big ones to pass by but we were unlucky again. Well, not really unlucky, the dives were really cool; we just do not seem to be meant to see hammerheads and whale sharks…

Gordon’s Rock

Bérna — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:08:12 +0000

Yipiha..we are finally going diving!! With all the underwater advertising picture that we saw, we were more than ready to see school of hammerheads, whale sharks, turtles, penguins and all the rest. Apparently the place is one of the best to see what we really want to see: Hammerheads. We had the video camera of the dive shop with us, it was part of our deal for 130$ for two dives. The problem is that the housing screen is not working, so Marco will have to record without really knowing what he will point at. Will see… It was a short one hour ride from Puerto Ayora to the dive site. The current was stronger that we were used to. We had to grab the rocks to be able to stay at the same place for a while. During the first dive, I kind of see my first hammerhead but he was pretty far and disappeared fast. We saw lots of turtles sleeping at the bottom that we could admired from close.
The second dive is pretty much the same, thousands of fish everywhere. We hadn’t seen that anywhere else so far. It is really nice even though nothing big…BUT WHERE ARE THOSE SCHOOLS?

Galapagos – Puerto Ayora

Bérna — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:06:54 +0000