Every dive at a new location throws up bundles of surprises. And this is what we found on this amazing trip.
The Boiler
The Boiler was rough today on our dive. There was a strong current from the South which gave us great visibility but because of the current, we preferred to spend most of the dive on the North side of the Boiler for all 3 of our dives. On dive 2, we made it slowly to the west side where we came across a lot of fish including a school of big-eyed jacks! There was also a juvenile hammerhead lurking on the west corner!
Our luck held on Day 2 too as we had an amazing time. Even on the check dive, there were hammerheads for company – what a start to the day! This continued with more hammerheads, silvertips, and Galapagos sharks including our first Mantas in the morning and Dolphins at the end of the dive. We, divers, could not have asked for more.
Fondeadero
Among my favorite dives are the ones where there is so much action you do not know where to look! This is what happened on our first dive at the Fondeadero.
We had barely been in the water for 5 minutes when we were surrounded by a massive school of bonito tunas. It was truly amazing to see them forming a bait ball as hungry Galapagos sharks were getting to the site. The ball was so big we could hear the dolphins hunting but couldn’t see them at first. A tiger shark and a manta also joined the party. And it went on for a good 30 minutes!
The ball suddenly disappeared so we started swimming to the shallower part of the site for the safety stop. That is when the pod of dolphins made their appearance out of the blue flipping past at a handshaking distance.
The Canyon
The highlight of our dives at the Canyon was the fourth one.
Here we were in the middle of a convoy of a chubby Galapagos shark escorted by a posse of jackfish bodyguards and led by a tiny pilot fish swimming just before his snout. Apparently, the lead fish hangs out there to take advantage of the shark’s hydrodynamics.
An unforgettable trip and I would love to come back for more.
