Galapagos Trip Report – Islas frozen in time

A journal by Rick Britcher, July 2008

Introduction

I've been diving since the late sixties, and all you have to keep diving is the inherent sense of adventure and the attraction of the unknown that provides it. No matter how many Sometimes I dive the same place, I never know what you see or what adventure you may have. There is also commerodary among divers. Some of my best friends are my students or people I've met in dive trips. Are these things that drag me to exotic destinations such as diving in the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.

Reach there is a journey in itself. Since there is only one flight each day to the islands, it takes at least two days travel time. I connected with a group of fourteen divers a dive shop in Pasadena, CA. We began our trip at LAX at 5 am for our first leg of the trip to Miami. From there we boarded a plane for Guiyaquil, Ecuador, one of the two main cities of that country. We arrived at 10 pm that night and were transferred to the Unihotel Guiyaquil in downtown, where we had booked rooms for night. The next day we had a couple of hours to kill, because the only flight to the Galapagos Islands was within 12 hours. We decided to take a short walk through the center. Guiyalquil is a very clean and picturesque, modern, with many parks, beautiful churches and government buildings. Across the street from the hotel was like a park and the cathedral. I was busy taking pictures in the park when I saw some of my friends frantically waving and pointing across the park. I looked up in the trees over me when they were pointing and I saw at least two dozen large iguanas chickens roost there as many. Then I heard the slap! I looked down and saw the floor was covered with fresh droppings. If I had taken one more step would have been nailed by iguana poop. My roommate was not so lucky. I was told on her way back to the hotel for a shower.

A representative of the aggressor Fleet joined us at the airport Guiyaquil at 10 AM and was in charge all of our check-in and luggage. What a pleasant surprise! The flight lasted two hours and finally after 36 hours, we were there, Isla San Cristobal Galapagos. Once again, the representative of the aggressor was there to meet us and handle all our teams. All boarded a bus for ten minutes walk the dock in the center of the city. Passing over sea lions laying on the dock, climb aboard an inflatable dingy for a short trip to the aggressor II, moored in the harbor. What a beautiful boat! The penthouse rooms each had two single beds, bathroom and shower. The rooms above the deck had a double bed bathroom and shower. There was a sun deck on top with sun loungers and hammocks. The dining room was very luxurious with lots of wood and brass. Cover Diving with 14 stations with a large rinse tank for cameras and two fighter ships. Lunch was ready for us when we assemble and we spent the afternoon securing arts, while the boat moved to an anchorage in the southeast of the island to our departure from diving.

With the exception of a small town in the port, rest of the island is uninhabited. The islands are volcanic and look very prehistoric. We anchored in a small cove and preparing for a dive to test our weights and make sure everything worked properly. We were told to wear the costumes of 7 mm, hoods and gloves even though the water temperature was 79 F. The dive instructor said that water would be much colder in our morning dive site. The islands are affected by three main streams, one from the south, one north and one from the west. The time of year and the strength of the different currents that determine the water temperature at each site. So we had to be prepared for the worst and hoping for the best. This first site was cloudy and the bottom was sand and rocks and populated by the usual reef fish: butterfly fish, damsels, grunts, puffers, eels, rays, etc. After immersion stretched out on the sun deck to dinner at 6 PM. When we all gathered in the dining room, the crew was dressed in his naval uniform white. They were very impressive. He greeted us with a champagne toast and a fabulous dinner. We had BBQ beef, chicken, fish, potatoes, rice and beans, seveche, and salsa. I ate too much! As the boat motored sailboat to our dive site first, he sat on the terrace and saw the sunset, talked and laughed until they were too tired to stay awake any longer. Diving began tomorrow.

Day 1

The bell rang for breakfast at 6:30 AM and we could have what we always wanted: eggs, waffles, cereal, fruit, toast. All you had to do was ask and the chef make it. information dive was at 8 AM and for each dive site drew a detailed map showing depth contours, depth, currents, etc. The first place was called Mosquera Island, a small sand bar between two larger islands, Seymour and Baltra. We anchored in the interior between the islands and the dive was on the sea side of Mosquera along a wall with a long flat of sand on top. The wall fell 90 feet and the sand flat was at 60 feet diving instructor, said that this was an easy and common ground and we want to start at one end of the wall and the wall dive to the other end. I wanted to test our skills for diving sure we could handle what was coming. We seven divers and a diving instructor in every sordid and dropped us on the left side of the wall on the sand flat. I sank to the sand to 60 feet and checked my computer. The visibility was only about 30 feet and green with plankton, it reminded me of Laguna Beach on a good day, except for water temperature. was 79 F. swam down on the wall and saw the bright layer of the thermocline at 75 feet as I swam through it, the water temperature dropped ten degrees, but the visibility was opened about 50 feet. The wall was covered with black coral. Moray eels and lobsters stuck his head out of the cracks. As I followed the wall, was surrounded by the usual suspects: schools, big-eyed jacks and small tuna, grunting, Crommie, angelfish, butterfly fish, Moorish wanders, barracudas, eagle rays stained. I went to the wall and swam across the sand flat for my safety stop. In the arena there were a couple of big and a large field of garden eels. As I sat on the surface waiting to be picked up I could see dozens of sea lions sunning on the beach in Mosquera. When we returned on board after the dive, one crew member had a plate of hot cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for us. When I brought down another crew member was a hot beach towel on my shoulders. Great!

The second dive was to be a repetition of the first and, after a surface interval time, were left in place on the reef. This time I went straight up the wall to the bottom in about 90 feet due to the upwelling was still quite cold down there, so do not stay long. I returned through the thermocline and stopped at the top of the wall and looked over the sand flat. There, about twenty yards away was a giant hammer, the most largest of the six species of hammerhead sharks. It was the biggest shark he had ever seen. It had to be at least 12 feet long. It's huge! I have swum with sharks 12 feet Caribbean reefs before and they were small in comparison. It reminded me of a great white, only the head of the handlebar. He was accompanied by several smaller ones scalloped hammerhead and quickly swim through the sand and over the wall and disappear like ghosts. There was no opportunity to take a picture. I looked for my friend, but was on the wall about ten feet taking pictures of reef fish. He did not see them or anyone else. Damn it, nobody would believe what he saw. It was at that moment I realized that was in the Galapagos. Later I said the dive master what he had seen and told me he had seen no one there a couple of years ago. From the island of face the open sea, which come to feed on schools of tuna swimming in the sand flat. Continue on the sand, hoping to see them again, but never did. Hammerheads are very skittish and do not like divers and bubbles noise.

A trip by land on the island Seymour was scheduled for after lunch. At 2 pm, dingies took us to the land and follow the path marked across the island. It was like a step back in time. The island was pristine and the wildlife was not afraid of human. We could have a few inches of nesting frigates, blue-footed boobies, marine and land iguanas, orange and blue crabs and sea lions. Richard, our Dive Master, was very knowledgeable about the history and biology of the island. It was amazing.

After a two hour walk back to the boat, which had just refueled at a military base in Baltra. The next stop was Isla Wolf, one hour crossing eighteen. We arrive there at about 8 the next morning. After a sauteed shrimp dinner and rice, we sat on the terrace and watched the sunset and talked about the day's events.

Day 2

We arrived at Wolf Island as scheduled escorted by a pod of dolphins riding the bow wake. Hundreds of gulls were diving into a ball of bait and dolphins became this and attacked him, and, jumping ten feet off the water. The first dive of the day was in Schrk-Bai, under current arrangements in the north, the visibility was 50-80 feet and the water was a beautiful turquoise blue. The water temperature was a mild 82 F and the air was 90 F. I had my costume Neoprene 7 mm because I do not know what to expect. When I did my push back against the dark I knew I was going to roast. The bottom was covered with large limpet-covered rocks and fell 30 feet and disappeared into the darkness below. He immediately swam towards the thermocline at about 100 feet to cool off. Outside the blue I could see the ghostly forms of several hammerhead sharks right on the edge of visibility. large schools of big eye jacks, barracuda, wahoo and passed. Every few minutes a Green turtle swimming. I tried to swim to the blue to photograph the sharks, but keep their distance, too far for a good photo. By the time we finished with stop the current security had led us to the northern tip of the island where they were waiting to pick dingies.

The second dive began in the Derumbe (sliding) and put on my vest and shorts just 5mm and no weight belt. As we went we were surrounded by hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks and Silkie. The current was much stronger, and hid behind a large rock and waited. Sharks marched through, sometimes twenty at a time. Large squads of sharks Hammer swimming in the stream and has very close. They were all 6-10 feet long and came from all directions. Finally I decided to swim in the blue and let me flow. I swam through large schools of surgeon fish, wahoo, jacks, and tuna. One moment I was surrounded by hammerhead sharks and turtles. After my safety stop that had once turned to the north of the island where I was gloomy waiting to pick up. No need to worry about getting lost at sea for every one of us was equipped with a GPS locator and a flag 10 feet. I never had to use dirty because the drivers were excellent in keeping track of everyone. We BBQ for lunch and had a passing rain storm that cooled things. The rain stopped just in time for the number three in diving.

Because there were so much action in the Denumbe, three and four dives in the exact place of it. The water was warm, the current was strong, and the sharks were everywhere. It was almost too for a single day. How can we overcome this? We anchored on the north side of Wolf for the night and are moving to Darwin Island the next morning. Was only one hour and two crosses that you could see the north island.

Day 3

When we woke the next morning We were anchored off the island arc Darwin Darwin left. There was a big storm to the north and a rainbow appeared between the arc and the island, a good omen of things to come. The first dive was started on a small inlet in the center of the Arch of Darwin. The water temperature was still 82 F and the visibility was 80 to 100 feet with the thermocline at about 70 feet There was a slight current and had many groupers, jacks, wahoo, trumpet fish, Moorish wanders, angels, eels and turtles. The current took the entire arch to the flat shallow area off the island Darwin. There we saw a squadron of hammer in about 35 feet of water. The dingies us up there and was on boat back to hot cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. We are so spoiled!

The second dive began in the west corner of the arc and were to pass the time should be wait for the action. We dropped to just above the thermocline at 70 feet, without power and saw hammerhead sharks and turtles crossed in from nowhere. A couple of eagle rays was sailed by a large school with big-eyed jacks. We went to lunch and then returned to the same dive site three. When I dropped in this time, conditions had changed a bit. I looked down and rocks in the lower part whiz. The current must have been at least 3 knots. Veterans is what we call a E-ticket ride. I quickly swam down to try to grab on a rock. The current was so strong that he could not stand and could not keep my position, no matter how hard I gave a kick. So I went with him. Swimming in the present was a great school of jacks followed by a group of hammerheads. He wandered for a while at 90 feet. to the bottom disappeared, all the time surrounded by sharks. I came after my safety stop and discovered that it had drifted about a half mile east of Darwin Island. I made a quick 360 and saw that the ship pursued only 20 meters away. He knew where was all the time. These guys were great! I'm definitely taking my hook reef at the next dive.

The current was still ripping when he jumped from the fourth dive. I had my reef hook this time but had several attempts to connect. The hook still rising from the rocks. After finally safe, I started taking photos. I soon realized it would be more difficult than expected. The current deflection to keep my flash out of position and my mask kept flooding. I was whipping back and forth in the chain of reefs and hitting my bare knees against strong barnacles covering the rocks. I decided to disengage and just drift with the current. This was a good idea because it passes through a pair of large groups of hammerhead sharks swimming in the stream. I threw all my films and appeared in about the same place that last dive.

Day 4

The next day we returned to Wolf Island, but we had the opportunity to do two dives in Arco Darwin, if we get up early. We boarded the dingies before breakfast and power to the arc. There was no current and visibility was at least 100 feet a pair of sea lions play with us and we saw a school of hammerheads in the blue. A huge school of jacks around us and we could hear crackling and popping dolphins, but never saw them. On the road back to the boat of dolphins showed up. We rushed with our snorkels and swam with them for a while. How wonderful! After breakfast we went to the same place for our second and last dive in the arc. He could still hear the dolphins, but we could not see them. Came louder and louder, and then six major bottlenose dolphins came out of nowhere. We circled a few times, checking us and then took off.

We arrived at Wolf Island and two dives at noon were provided. We were diving the collapse again and the current was so strong that the surface seemed a fast moving river. It was intense. We immediately were swept away. It was hard to hold even with the hook of the reefs. There were sharks everywhere hammer 6-8 feet, freshwater, Silkie. They simply keep coming and everyone was eating tuna! When we surfaced that had drifted across the end of the island half-mile past Schrk Bai. Since we had so much action, The second dive was in the same place. The conditions were the same, except the water temperature had dropped to 75F. The current must have caused an upwelling cold. It put a little cold without a wetsuit. Once again we were surrounded by sharks. This time the green sea turtles were there in force. I counted nineteen turtles in diving, and five at a time. As soon as we approach the second assailant, who pulled anchor and headed south to the main island group.

Day 5

We reached the island of Santiago the next day at noon and had time for two dives in the Rock's cousin. It was a small rocky island with a long wall south. The water was green with plankton and visibility may have been 10 feet at the surface. Water temperature was low at 60 and it looked like we were back in the water California. It was time wetsuits 7mm again. The wall fell 100 feet and visibility was better down deep. The wall was covered with black coral and thousands of aquarium fish. We saw turtles, rays moble, whitetip sharks, and seahorses. We follow the south wall and appeared on the back of the Prima Rock. While on the surface, a pair of large eyes seals came to play with us.

After our two dives we went to Bartolome Island anchorage for a tour land. This is the most famous of the Galapagos Islands and had a half dozen boats at anchor. The beach we were going to was one that was featured in the film "Master and Commander ". As we approached we saw a couple of little penguins standing on rocks and swimming in the water. It was only about 12 centimeters tall. walk by the sandy beach as dozens of red and orange crabs scurried into the water. We saw trenches across the sand dunes where turtles had laid their eggs, some just the night before. Sea iguanas perched on the rocks and gargoyles. The island was a volcano that erupted only 150 years ago and fresh lava flow looked like a lunar landscape. We hiked to the top of it and the sight of the islands was incredible. As the sun and mosquitoes attacked, we headed back to the dark. Back in the boat were treated to a roast turkey dinner and everyone joked that it was actually a pelican that the crew was captured.

Day 6

During the night he had moved to the island of Plazas for another trip by land. This island looked very prehistoric because it was covered with cactus thorn trees and hundreds of land iguanas. Iguanas main food source was the cactus and there was no shortage of either. As we walked Blue bobbies walk around honking at us and we had to step over sleeping sea lions on the road.

Our last dive was at Gordon Rocks, nicknamed the "Washing Machine." It was a volcano that had collapsed flows coming from everywhere and would be a leap in its interior. Visibility was much better than yesterday 50 to 100 feet, depending on the currents. There were many peaks were submerged and currents strong enough between them. We started on the right side and swam around the pinnacles the left and ended outside. There was a large school of barracuda in the interior of the crater and when we reached the outside of the left a group of manta rays greeted us. Just behind them were a lot of eagle rays. What a great way to end the last dive!

Our next stop was the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. Here is where they spawn and the home of various species of tortoises that inhabit the Galapagos Islands. Each island has its own distinct species of tortoise. The early navigators and explorers killed thousands of them for food and several species have become extinct. On the island of Pinta there was only one left and its name is Lonesome George. He now lives at the experimental station in the race who are trying to repopulate the island. Another island had only 12 left and through a successful breeding program there are now over a thousand. The station has hundreds of baby turtles and dozens adults up to 100 years old. They collect the eggs of each island and hatch. Each turtle is numbered and rises until it is five years old. Then release it in his native island. We spent the afternoon at the station.

Returned to the ship at 5 PM for a well deserved siesta. After resting for a couple of hours we met in the hall for a farewell toast to the crew. They were dressed in white again, and all agreed they did a fantastic job of caring for us. Then we headed back to town for dinner at a local restaurant. We ate, drank and talked until 11PM and then returned to the boat for our final moving San Cristobal. The next day we embarked on our flight Quiyaquil, where we spent the night again in the Unihotel. We were back home the next night.

It should be noted that diving in the Galapagos Islands is not for everyone. This is definitely the advanced diving. You must be comfortable diving in strong currents, cold water, without background, surrounded by large sharks. However, if this is the type of diving adrenaline you're looking for, then you put the Galapagos Islands in the top of your list of exotic dive locations. I'm glad I did.

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