Dive Traveller
THE ENCHANTED ISLES OF THE GALAPAGOS
Text and Photography by Brandon Cole
ithout warning, they are suddenly there, so alien and impossible. A school of
hammerheads one hundred plus strong, like a wall of writhing barbwire, all angles and points. Beautifully sinister, hypnotic as they bend back and forth riding in on the sea wind, they surely must have come from the beyond. It’s as if The Arch, 60 feet (18m) above, is a gateway from another world. Through its wave-blasted doors,
all manner of marine wonders stream forth. Rivers of fish-- super- sized jacks and mirror-bright bonito tuna-- coursing through the blue. Dolphins and Silky sharks. Dozens of huge moray eels slithering about the reef. And of course ‘Mr. Big’ the whale shark, whose shadow eclipses all others, a regular visitor to Darwin Island. It’s still early in my weeklong
40 Magazine
August live-aboard tour on Galapagos Sky, but shocked and awed underwater, I’ve already promised myself that this won’t be my last trip to Las Islas Encantadas, ‘The Enchanted Isles’ of the Galapagos. Sure, Charles Darwin created all
the early buzz on this incomparable archipelago 620 miles (1000km) west of South America’s Ecuador. But it is today’s adventurous scuba explorers, those fervently wishing natural selection had favoured them with real gills, who have taken this marine reserve viral in diving circles. Year after year, Galapagos is at the top of the world’s best diving destinations lists. For some it’s the high-voltage big animals encountered underwater. For others, the topside experience with fearless wildlife and evolutionary oddballs sets this place apart. For me, it’s mixing it up with the menagerie of creatures large and small, temperate and tropical,
above and below the waves, all the while surrounded by smoldering volcanoes and surging seas. You just cannot help but feel part of the origin of life. Centrally located Santa Cruz
Dive with Godzilla, in
the Galapagos Islands!
Island is the hub of tourism in the Galapagos National Park. It is homebase for a large fleet of boats specializing in naturalist trips, which offer hiking excursions throughout the Islands. Of course no expedition to the Galapagos would be complete without giant tortoises. The Galapagos themselves are named for this reptilian heavyweight (galapago is Spanish for tortoise) that can weigh some 500 pounds (225kg) and live to 150 years. Though you will see turtles (of the green sea variety) on nearly every dive in the Galapagos, your first meeting with the Islands’ most famous animal ambassador will likely be at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz.
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