A green turtle rides the current at Darwin Island, outswimming the jacks the noise and the sight of an unnatural column of ascending gas.
In the Eastern Pacific, hammerhead sharks migrate around remote seamounts: Cocos Island, Malpelo, Socorro and the Galapagos. They are all great liveaboard destinations, although Malpelo is exposed and challenging for guests and professionals alike.
The sharks visit northern Galapagos to ride the layer between the cool water of the depths and the warmer surface water. They must keep moving to breathe, but in their schools it is thought they enter a relaxed state as they recover from a night of hunting in deeper water. They also visit the seamounts to be cleaned by barberfish.
Typically, you’ ll be diving around the 25m mark, three times a day, on a nitrox mix of between 30 and 32 %. There are strong currents and unforgiving thermoclines that reduce or raise the water temperature by
8-10 ° C, but it’ s all part of the adventure. The sharks are totally harmless, of course.
Supporting cast: My principal reason for favouring the Galapagos is the variety. In the north, you get a lot of schooling fish, plus massive whale sharks from August to October, bottlenose dolphins and Galapagos sharks. In the south you can dive with Mola mola, sealions, cownose rays, marine iguanas and endemic penguins. This is why, for me, Galapagos is the ultimate big animal destination.
Box office: You can dive with scalloped hammerheads at a variety of worldwide locations, including the Red Sea( Daedalus or Jackson Reef) or at Mikomoto Island in Japan. But the Eastern Pacific is where it’ s at when it comes to reliable sightings. Expect to pay close to £ 6,000 for a fully inclusive liveaboard trip with flights from the UK to Ecuador and onto Galapagos.
Wolf island is known for its resident eagle rays
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