Galapagos Travel Report - Islands Frozen in Time

A Journal by Rick Britcher, July 2008

Introduction

            I have been diving since the late sixties, and the one thing that has keep me diving is the inherent sense of adventure and the lure of the unknown that it provides. No matter how many times I dive the same place, I never know what I might see or what adventure I might have. There is also the commerodary among divers. Some of my best friends are students of mine or people I've met while on dive trips. It's these things that draw me to such exotic dive destinations like the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.

            Getting there is a journey itself. Since there is only one flight each day to the islands, it takes at least two days travel time. I hooked up with a group of fourteen divers out of a dive shop in Pasadena, CA. We started our trek 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 two main cities in that country. We arrived at 10 PM that night and were transferred to the Unihotel in downtown Guiyaquil, where we had booked rooms for the night. The next day we had a couple hours to kill, because the only flight to the Galapagos was at 12 noon. We decided to take a short walk around downtown. Guiyalquil is a very clean, picturesque, modern city with many parks, beautiful churches and government buildings. Across the street from the hotel was such a park and cathedral. I was busy taking pictures in the park when I saw some of the my friends frantically waving and pointing at me from across the park. I looked up in the trees above me where they were pointing and I saw at least two dozen large iguanas roosting there like some many chickens. Then I heard the SPLAT! I looked down and saw that the ground was covered with their fresh droppings. If I had taken one more step, I would have been nailed by iguana poop. My roommate wasn't so lucky. They told me he was on his way back to the hotel to take a shower.

            A representative from the Aggressor Fleet met us at the Guiyaquil airport at 10 AM and handled all our check in and baggage. What a pleasant surprise! The flight took two hours and finally, after 36 hours, we were there, San Cristobal Island, Galapagos. Again, the representative from the Aggressor was there to met us and handle all our gear. We all boarded a bus for the ten minute ride to the dock in the center of town. Stepping over sea lions laying on the dock, we climbed aboard an inflatable dingy for a short ride to the Aggressor II, moored in the harbor. What a beautiful boat! The rooms below deck each had two single beds, bathroom and shower. The rooms above deck had one double bed, bathroom and shower. There was a sun-deck on top with lounge chairs and hammocks. The dining room and lounge was very plush with lots of wood and brass. The dive deck had 14 stations with a very large rinse tank for cameras and two chase boats. Lunch was ready for us when we boarded and we spent the afternoon stowing gear while the boat moved to an anchorage on the southeast side of the island for our check-out dive.

            Except for the small town at the harbor, the rest of the island is uninhabited. The islands are all volcanic and look very prehistoric. We anchored in a small cove and geared up for a dive to check our weights and make sure everything was working correctly. We were told to wear our 7mm suits, hoods, and gloves even though the water temp was 79 F. The dive master said the water would be much colder at our dive site tomorrow. The islands are affected by three major currents, one from the south, one from the north and one from the west. The time of year and strength of the different currents would determine the temperature of the water at each site. So we had to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. This first site was murky and the bottom was sand and rocks and inhabited by the usual reef fish: butterfly fish, damsels, grunts, puffers, eels, rays, etc. After the dive we stretched out on the sun deck until dinner at 6 PM. When we all gathered in the dining salon, the crew came in dressed in their white naval uniforms. They were very stunning. They greeted us with a champagne toast and a fabulous dinner. We had BBQ steak, chicken, fish, potatoes, rice and beans, seveche, and salsa. I ate way too much! As the boat motored to our first dive site, we sat up on the sun deck and watched the sunset, talked and laughed until we were too tired to stay awake any longer. Diving started tomorrow.

Day 1

            The breakfast bell rang at 6:30 AM and we could have what ever we wanted: eggs, waffles, cereal, fruit, toast. All you had to do was ask and the chef would make it. Dive briefing was at 8 AM and for each site the dive master drew a detailed map showing bottom contours, depths, currents, etc. The first site was called Mosquera Island, a small sand bar between two larger islands, Seymour and Baltra. We anchored on the inside between the islands and the dive  was on the ocean side of Mosquera along a wall with a long sand flat on top. The wall dropped to 90 ft. and the sand flat was at 60 ft. The dive master said that this was an easy spot with no currents and we would start at one end of the wall and dive the wall to the other end. He wanted to check our diving skills to make sure we could handle what was to come. We had seven divers and a dive master in each dingy and we were dropped at the left end of the wall over the sand flat. I sank down to the sand a 60 ft and checked my computer. Visibility was only about 30 ft. and green with plankton, reminded me of Laguna Beach on a good day, except the water temp. was 79 F. I swam down over the wall and could see the shimmering layer of the thermocline at 75 ft. As I swam through it, the water temperature dropped ten degrees but the visibility opened up to about 50 ft.. The wall was covered with black coral. Moray eels and lobsters poked their heads out of the cracks. As I followed the wall, I was surrounded by the usual suspects: schools of big-eyed jacks and small tuna, grunts, crommies, angel fish, butterfly fish, moorish idles, barracuda, spotted eagle rays. I ascended the wall and swam over the sand flat to do my safety stop. On the sand were a couple of large stingrays and a big 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 on Mosquera. When we got back on board after the dive, one of the crew had a plate of hot cinnamon buns and hot chocolate for us. When I pulled down my wetsuit another crew member put a hot beach towel on my shoulders. Sweet!

            The second dive was to be a repeat of the first and, after about an hour surface interval, we were dropped off in the same place on the reef. This time I went straight down the wall to the bottom at about 90 ft. Due to the upwelling it was still pretty chilly down there, so I didn't stay long. I came back up through the thermocline and stopped at the top of the wall and looked out over the sand flat. There, about twenty feet away was a Great Hammerhead, the largest of the six species of hammerheads. It was the biggest shark I had ever seen. It had to be at least 12 ft long. It was massive! I've swam with 12 ft Caribbean reef sharks before and they were small in comparison. It reminded me of a Great White, only with a handlebar head. It was accompanied by several other smaller scalloped hammerheads and they quickly swam across the sand and over the wall, disappearing like ghosts. There was no chance to take a picture. I looked around for my buddy, but he was down the wall about ten feet taking pictures of reef fish. He didn't see them nor did anyone else. Damn, nobody was going to believe what I saw. It was at that moment that I realized that I was in the Galapagos. I later told the dive master what I had seen and he said he had seen one there a couple of years ago. Since the island faces the open ocean, they come in to feed on the schools of tuna swimming over the sand flat. I continued along the sand hoping to see them again, but never did. Hammerheads are very skittish and don't like divers and their noisy bubbles.

            A land excursion on Seymour Island was planned for after lunch. At 2 PM the dingies took us ashore and we followed the marked trail across the island. It was like we stepped back in time. The island was pristine and the wildlife was not afraid of humans. We could get within inches of nesting frigates, blue footed boobies, land and sea iguanas, orange and blue crabs, and sea lions. Richard, our dive master, was extremely knowledgeable about the history and biology of the island. It was amazing.

            After a two hour hike we went back to the boat, which had just refueled at the military base on Baltra. Next stop was Wolf Island, an eighteen hour crossing. We should arrive there at about 8 the next morning. After a dinner of sauteed shrimp and rice, we sat on the sun deck and watched the sunset and talked about the day's events.

Day 2

            We arrived at Wolf Island on schedule escorted by a pod of dolphins riding the bow wake. Hundreds of seagulls were diving a bait ball and the dolphins moved in and attacked it as well, jumping ten feet out of the water. The first dive of the day was at Schrk-bai with the current running to the north, visibility was 50-80 ft and the water was a beautiful turquoise blue. Water temperature was a balmy 82 F and the air was 90 F. I had my <