Last dive today was in the Canyon. We dived it just before sunset so the light was a bit lower, but in the great viz we had it was a deep blue and we could still see about 30m or so. The current was swift from East to West (my favourite for this site) and was pushing up over the rock ridge on the east side of the site and wrapping around and over the cleaning station to the south. We took our time making our way down to this “Hotspot” of the dive site. We were sometimes just off the reef getting pushed up by the current and just hanging there like gliders in thermals which is super fun and sometimes low on the reef creeping around and hiding from the current.
It was a fun dive because of this dive style as well as the conditions and the mega fauna didn’t disappoint either!
We were visited by Hammerheads throughout the 45 minutes sometimes in pairs sometimes small groups and at the end a school of about 15 individuals above us as we were on the reef! All along the ridge were white tip reef sharks, black jacks and Bluefin trevally looking for an opportunity to feed! At the cleaning station we were welcomed by about 6 Silvertip sharks and several Galapagos sharks who again were loving the current and passed time and time again!
We stayed just off the station on the ridge and all the sharks as well as about 15 white tips would pass mere metres or less from our faces time and time again. A couple of Hammerheads also came to the station and made some really nice close passes.
Finally we started to drift through the site for our ascent and suddenly the pace changed. We saw a school of Hammers and the just after White tip and silvertips went shooting in one direction following some Jacks! We followed and saw 4 Oceanic Black tips, a few Silky sharks and 3 Silvertips just metres under the surface in an agitated state. Clearly some feeding had just occurred and we were seeing the aftermath! A few of them came over to check us out with a touch more vigour than usual before descending back to the deep or in the case of the silkies back out to sea near the surface! As we did our safety stop the sun poked through the clouds making beautiful sun beams in the water lighting up a few Jellies to investigate as we finished the dive!
Really was a special dive for me and the guests and it was a great way to end the day.
Divemaster Martyn, Nautilus Belle Amie
