The Canyon is smoking! All-in-one on the first dive here today, unbelievable. We started shallow at the manta rock and not even 5 minutes in, first giant chevron manta comes and circles us and dances with us like we are long time friends. We enjoy the company but already the jackfish are aligned, they go against the current , make a big ball and boom! a dolphin comes roaming in, chasing one jack right in front of our eye, almost bumping in the camera of one of the diver. The dolphin has little chance to catch the Bigeye jack, they actually just try to exhaust them until they puke their last half-digested fishmeal so the dolphin can feed on it. Does not sound so tasty but what a show to look at. So back to the dive, we are 1 manta and 1 dolphin in already, when the chase of the dolphin and the frenetic movements of the jack attracts the SHARKS. 2 big gallapagos speed up right through the baitball, followed by 1 smaller silvertip. And then that whitey shiny spot we all know around here: a hammerhead joins the party, roaming through the jacks with his shark friends. we follow the ball, the dolphin keeps chasing the jacks but does not get any food. I glance further up, closer to the surface and start banging like crazy on my tank: massive school of yellow fin tunas coming in. all sizes, they look like bullet flying as they speed toward us, they are hundreds smaller ones then a dozen of really massive ones, bigger than a silky shark. Actually 3 of them swim with all their fins out (they are retractable) and pushing each other like they are having a tuna pogo, probably some kind of dominance behaviour. they end up roughing up the poor silky shark, rubbing their body on it as it is were just a sandpaper, very useful to remove parasites. As we know around the islands, when the tunas show up, look down. and BOOm a school of 6 scalloped hammerhead sharks are following the tunas, just a few meters away from me. I turn around expecting an excited reaction from my diver
s…they are not even looking at the sharks! we have 4 giant mantas that bombed the place and start interacting with all the intensity they are capable of with the divers, like they dont want any shark to steal the show. they are the real rockstars after all. Divers are happy, they bubble on the mantas, they open their arms to communicate cheerfully with them and they end up seeing the hammerhead later as they circle back for another round, just because, you know, they like to be noticed as well. what a dive! unbelievable San benedicto, please never stop
Divemaster Yann, Nautilus Belle Amie
