TRAVEL SPECIAL
SBelow : A marine iguana feeding on
algae at Cabo Douglas
SInset : Marine Iguanas at Santa Cruz
You know those documentaries where the crew has a week to film some rare beast , and they keep you waiting right until the last few minutes ? Well , this is not one of those stories , because on our first dive of our first day at Wolf Island , the water was alive with scalloped hammerhead sharks .
The current came in unpredictable gusts that threatened to blow us off the sloping reef , and the sharks kept a wary distance from the melee . But even in in the milky blue haze of the thermocline I could make out their ghostly shapes receding into the void . Gradually , the other divers began to surface in buddy pairs as their gas ran low , leaving me with my buddy Sophie Rennie and our guide , Max . Just as I thought the action was over , Max pointed below us , to where a dense group of sharks was approaching .
I was in prime position just as the sharks drifted past , some trying to slow down as a squadron of barberfish billowed out to offer their cleaning services .
For a few unknowable moments I was in the middle of a hammerhead school , barely able to decide which way to point my camera as the sharks converged on me . It had been a decade since my last visit , and already Galapagos had delivered a once-in-a-lifetime moment .
A tale of two weeks
The photos on these pages were taken on two backto-back weeks on the Galapagos Sky liveaboard , which took place in February this year . I wanted to go for two weeks partly because it ’ s such a long way to go for just six days of diving , but also because no two trips are ever the same in Galapagos , where ever-changing currents dictate the action . The ‘ Sky ’ is a beautifully appointed liveaboard in the classic style – lots of gently creaking teak , a cushion-strewn saloon and an expansive sundeck where you can lie back on hammocks and watch frigate birds swooping overhead . g
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