from
Patricia Stucki
Patricia is an independent guide and has been working as a guide in the Galapagos islands since 1996, she was born in Switzerland and speaks 4 languages English, French, German and Spanish
Patricia was the guide on both my Galapagos dive trips this year, in August/September and October/November. While researching information for my Galapagos Islands dive trips I have noticed a complete lack of up to date information regarding the current weather and dive conditions in the Galapagos islands. So I discussed this with Patricia and she has agreed to keep me updated with Galapagos dive reports and sightings from each of her Galapagos dive trips.
Galapagos Islands dive reports - August/September 2003 - conditions were perfect for this trip, at Darwin Island the water temp was 23/24 degrees and passengers had up to 52 Whale Shark sightings, loads of Hammerhead Sharks, snorkelled with a huge pod of Pilot Whales, masses of fish, and Dolphins turned up every now and then, water temp in the west was 19 degrees and the other islands 20 degrees
Galapagos Islands dive reports - October/November - conditions at Darwin Island were not so good on this trip as the current had reversed and in so doing was bringing warmer water from the north, water temp was 25 degrees, we did see lots of Hammerhead Sharks but not in the numbers usually present, there were no Whale Sharks to be seen, however passengers did get to snorkel and dive with a very large pod of Melon Headed Whales on a number of occasions, Dolphins put in an appearance every so often, fish life was good and all the diving took place on the opposite side of the Arch. conditions in the west were good, water temp was 21 degrees and several Sunfish (Mola Mola) were sighted
Galapagos Islands dive report - November 2003 from Patricia - For this diving trip conditions at Darwin Island are back to normal with a water temp of 22/23 degrees, they had 1 Whale Shark sighting on this cruise. In the Central islands there was a water temp of 19 degrees
Galapagos Islands Conditions report - November/December 2003 - Last week I had my first land cruise since August - diving seems to be less at the moment. But it was good and interesting. The water in the west (Fernandina and Isabela) was quite cold (like 19 degrees), central islands are more like 23 and Espaniola was cold again. Around the "airport" on Espaniola island there are no Waved Albatrosses but near the blowhole we saw about six chicks (changing into juveniles and getting feathers) and 10 adults. One run over the rocks and took off! Well, I'm on board for my next cruise again on Sunday - this time two weeks of land guiding.
Galapagos Islands dive report - December/January 04 - In North Seymour we found few Hammerhead Sharks but there were dozens of White tipped Sharks. Staying on the rocks they come really close to you. As a detail junkie I was fascinated. There were also a couple of Mobula's and a few Spotted Eagle Rays around. And when you hold on the rocks you have to be careful not to put your hand on a Mulliner Doris (Tambja mullineri, probably endemic); they are all over.
Galapagos Islands dive report - January 04 - On last weeks cruise we had three families on board of Lammer Law and there were children. It is quite a challenge to dive with 12 and 13 year olds, We didn't go to Wolf Island and Darwin Island but we dove in Tagus Cove and Punta Espinoza: Cleaner Shrimps, Octopus, Seahorses, Harlequin Wrasses and a Horn shark. The water was at 22 degrees Celsius but the visibility was not too good. In Gardner at Espaniola Island we had a terrible thermocline at about 12 meters: temperature dropped from 24 to 18 degrees! No hammerhead sharks but Eagle Rays feeding and lots of Groupers and Snappers. At Enderby in Floreana was spectacular: quite a few Hammerhead Sharks and White tip Sharks and dozens of young Galapagos sharks. Some Golden Cow Rays, Barracudas in masses and good current - temperature was 23 degrees. Temperatures in general are between 21 and 25 degrees. By the way: Cape Marshall was excellent and we did two dives there. Saw Mobula's, Mantas, Hammerhead Sharks, big school of Brown Striped Salemas, Tiger Snake Eel and other Eels, White tip Sharks etc. The Golden Cow Rays in the attachment I took at Santa Fe island.
Galapagos Islands dive report - February 04 - About the diving here right now: Water temperature is between 18 (Punta Vicente Roca) and 25 degrees. And that means of course that the Hammerhead Sharks are deep: the big schools of them are at about 26 to 30 metres. But I mean BIG schools: in Wolf Island out in the blue we enjoyed being completely encircled by them. Where ever you looked you saw Hammerheads - amazing. Darwin Island is not the best right now: the big cleaning station at the sandy patch is great. But the Sharks are deep. We had one of those unforgetable experiences with the Silky Sharks: it was about 17.30 and we were in the safety stop. I showed to somebody a Mobula that was passing. Everybody else finished the safety stop and went up. The two of us we took a little longer and suddenly the Silky Sharks showed up! about 20 of them around us moving fast, elegant, effortless and serious and getting really close. It was one of those moments you get that prickling feeling and you are laughing by the time the dinghy is there and you get inside.... Roca Redonda is highly recommended these days: could be that there is very strong currents and that the washing machine is on... but many big and curious Galapagos Sharks are around. Hammerheads show up as well and often Spotted Eagle Rays and of course Barracudas in big numbers. Rays are very common to see right now: in Cousin's Rock we saw Spotted Eagle Rays, Mobulas and a Manta but the highlight was Cabo Marshall. It was so good that we decided to do three dives there: about 50 Mobulas, another 50 Golden Cowrays and at least 10 big Mantas. During the surface intervals we observed them jumping: the big Mantas have to make an enormous effort to jump and of course they don't manage to do a loop. Besides there were Hammerhead Sharks, Barracudas, four big Yellow finned Tunas!, huge school of Salemas, Sea Lions and incredible visibility.
Galapagos Islands dive report - April 04 - Instead of heavy currents we found Marchena very calm. We even didn’t need an anchor and a buoy to enter (to avoid that currents separate the whole group). Activity was moderate but it was a good start before going north. Big school of reef fish like Yellow tailed Surgeonfish, Barber fish or King Angelfish, lots and big spotted Morays, “monsters” of Scorpion fish. One of the main attraction of the place are probably the immense fields of the endemic Galapagos Garden eels. As expected there was a group of Dolphins passing in the afternoon. In Wolf Island we had to dive down to 30 metres to meet the big schools of Hammerhead Sharks. The water temperature was between 24 and 27 degrees and the thermo clines were deep. Current was not too strong. Best spot in Darwin Island was the sandy patch: abundant Hammerheads and Mobulas. As a personal highlight I met a school (about 20) of Glasseyes (commonly known as “Glasseye Snapper”) out in the blue in unusual coloration with bright yellow fins. During day they are normally under ledge overhangs and other shaded areas on rocky reefs. Cape Marshall spoiled us with many big Mantas performing and passing close. And even Albany was surprisingly good with Golden Cowrays and big Spotted Eagle rays and playing Sea lions.
Galapagos Islands dive report - End of April: A four days of cruising in the beautiful private motor yacht Silver Lining with let’s say regular diving. Visibility was only about ten metres and there was not much current. The climate is changing already: water temperatures are dropping and the “warmest” we had was 22 degrees. The coldest was at North Seymour – recovering a lost anchor at 16 degrees observed by a Red-lipped Batfish. The Hammerhead Sharks at Gordon Rocks didn’t show up but it seems like none of the dive sites is safe anymore of “Shark Finners”: a colleague dive guide found a finless Hammerhead Shark there lately! Cousin’s Rock was exciting because the playful Sea Lions were around us. After 40 minutes we (last diver with air and me) had a great encounter with a huge group of Barracudas, 4 Eagle Rays, 9 Golden Cow Rays and three big Hammerheads – of course all at the same time so that one doesn’t know were to look. On the night dive in Puerto Egas (James Bay) we focused successfully on the Red Lipped Batfish – probably one of the weirdest creatures. And in North Seymour – where I expected to see lots of White Tipped Sharks – we found one of them dead with a big Shark bite on one side!
UPDATE July - Patricia has been travelling in Europe for a month or so and since getting back to Galapagos she has been on a big cruise ship for a month - hence the lack of reports, Patricia tells me that there are masses of Hammerheads up north and will be going there soon... so check back in a couple of weeks!
Galapagos Islands dive report - Aug 04 - Popular target on this cruise (July 18th to 25th) have been the Mobula Rays. Most people haven’t even heard about Mobulas before and we tried hard to spot some: In the Galapagos Islands they seem to become more and more frequent. The main attention was definitely on the Whale Sharks up at Darwin Island. On six dives there we had only one without any Whale Shark sighting – normally we got spoiled with up to six sightings on a single dive. The amazing thing about those giants is that they are absolutely silent and appear all of a sudden out of nowhere. I was watching a school of Big Eye Jacks and a Whale Shark appears from behind the Jacks. Or to have a Whale Shark passing above you – a silhouette against the light surface. Hammerhead Sharks where abundant but they didn’t build the huge schools at the moment. Instead you see them mixed up with Silky Sharks. There are dozens of those very curious Sharks, which tend to approach and even circle small groups of divers or snorkellers at the surface. On the snorkelling with the Melon Headed Whales (once more they were hanging out in fairly big groups at Darwin Island) we saw quite lots of Silkies. Darwin Island and Wolf Island had water temperatures of 22/23 degrees. In Wolf Island we hit a thermocline at about 25m – temperature down below was 19 degrees. Regular current and abundant Galapagos Sharks and Hammerhead sharks. Groups of Dolphins checked us out on one dive. The coldest water we encountered in Cape Marshall: At a depth below 12m the water was crystal clear but only 16 degrees. Few good size Mantas where around, Eagle Rays, Hammerhead Sharks and lots of Barracudas. The Seahorses in Cousin’s Rock are rare lately. Due to request on the Asian market they tend to get fished out illegally. At Baltra island there were at least five fishing boats from Costa Rica that were caught by the National Park Service the last weeks sailing or even fishing illegally in the Galapagos Marine Reserve.
Galapagos Islands dive report - Aug/Sept 04 - After a temperature wise pretty hard start – 18° Celsius (65° Fahrenheit) at the check out dive at Puerto Egas – we got rewarded with a lot of Red Lipped Batfish. Cape Marshall offered big schools of different Grunts, Yellow Tailed Surgeonfish and other species, Eagle Rays and one Manta Ray at 17° C (63° F) and moderate visibility. Those initial dives were continued in rather cold western waters at Roca Redonda (19°C/66°F) and Punta Vicente Roca (16°/60°F). But at least we encountered Mola Mola (Sunfish). Probably the most impressive thing ever seen in Darwin's Arch was the Whale Shark over the platform (shallow area of about 16 meters) NOT advancing against the current. We observed the big fish for at least 10 minutes and the Whale Shark – even swimming – didn’t get any further against that incredibly strong current. Not to mention that even for good divers in excellent shape it was not possible to keep up with another big Whale Shark that passed against current in deeper waters. And then another highlight: A baby Whale Shark above us. About three metres only – in the Galapagos Islands we are spoiled with the really big Whale Sharks – and very unusual but even the dinghy driver saw it at the surface while following our bubbles. At Darwin we had one day without Whale Sharks but it was still good with Yellow Fin Tuna, juvenile Leather Bass in the black spine Sea Urchin and famous “Scar” (the lonesome Dolphin). Wolf Island was surprisingly good with a couple of Whale Sharks around and lots of Hammerhead and Galapagos Sharks. Marchena surprised us with less current than expected but we saw a lot of Hammerhead Sharks, Morays (even one of the rare Zebra Morays) all over and big schools of fish.
Galapagos Islands dive report - November 04 I’m back home for a change. On my first day off (monday)– I went diving to Floreana Island. 21 degrees felt pretty cold. With Xpedition I’ve just been in Floreana on Saturday and we observed lots of Tuna (bonitos) chasing big schools of probably young Sardines. Snorkelling I had an encounter with four
Penguins. On the dive in Champion yesterday we could see the Bonito again hunting their prey and yesterday I was in North Seymour and Mosquera and it was excellent. thermocline in Seymour at 26 metres (21 to 18 degrees).
Galapagos Islands dive report - Aug - Nov 05
To keep up with dive reports after a large break here a resume of the experiences between August and October 2005.
Compared to the amount of Whale Sharks in the last years we noticed fewer encounters in August up in Darwin. Each week there were some of them to see and it was obvious that we met the same juvenile Whale Shark several times. The one that always showed a quite busy or even confused behaviour and was in a hurry. In October there were more and bigger Whale Sharks even though the water temperatures were higher (up to 26 degrees compared to 23 before). A cold thermo cline was not far below and on a night dive at Wolf it hit us with 15 degrees! In Punta Vicente Roca we saw up to six Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) in a single dive. They seem to become less shy with divers – unless you approach them of course. There are almost uncountable amounts of Turtles and loads of juvenile fish (Sardines mostly) that attract hungry Penguins. Those fellows even stop in front of divers to have a close look or swim once around and keep hunting afterwards. The colourful Harlequin Wrasses were abundant and a few times we spotted Golden Rays, groups of about 20 Pacific Burr fish or like in Darwin schools of Bonitos. The water temperature was less spoiling: sometimes down to 14 degrees. With Whales we were more successful in August: False Killer whales in Espańola Island, Bryde’s whales north of Cousin’s and sailing around northern Isabela, sometimes Melon Headed Whales in Darwin, and the highlight at the end of august: a Humpback Whale mother with calf breaching and showing off at Wolf Island! That show even made up for the few Whale Sharks we had seen! Eagle Rays in groups of up to more than 20 we met at Espańola, Gordon Rocks and at Wolf Island, sometimes few Golden Rays went with them. A school of 20 Golden Rays passed at North Seymour and once in a while we saw a Mobula – up to four of them together in Darwin. On every dive at “El Derumbe” in Wolf Island we enjoyed Galapagos Sharks in big groups and very close. Smaller samples of the same species we enjoyed in the channel at Kicker Rocks off the coast of San Cristobal. In October we had an extremely rare encounter at Darwin’s Arch: A Silvertip Shark passed curiously several times in front of us – only on one dive.
Galapagos Islands dive report - Aug 06
The trip this year was one of the best to date we had a lot of unforgettable moments, probably the best was a pod of Orca's at Wolf Island in the exact same place we saw the Humpback Whales last year we all saw them from the boat and followed them for a while, the frustrating thing was they were where we were about to dive, of course they moved on by the time we entered the water although when we finished the dive they had returned and were feeding nearby, Patricia and one lucky diver managed to get in and see them underwater. We had lots of Whalesharks at Darwin. We also had a shoal of 9 Mola Mola at Punta Vicente Roca... Up to this time we always thought they were solitary fish. I went to Ecuador a week early and went down to the coast to go Whale watching... something I kept wanting to do but never got around to it, well in the end I only managed to get 1 day there but it was well worth it, we had 2 Humpbacks breaching and showing off for around 45 mins and although the boat was rocking a fair bit I managed to get some great shots, I certainly would recommend this if you are interested.
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