Favorite Dives

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  2018-06-15 Ecuador Darwin Island
  Darwin's Arch

  Darwin Island arguably only has one dive site, and that is at Darwin Arch. (We can just assume from this point forward that we saw hammerheads and galapagos sharks on every dive.) Nonetheless, each dive here brought on a different experience. This time, we briefly settling in with the others along the ledge at 70'. I say "briefly" because we were soon up and swimming along with our first of many encounters of a whale shark on this dive. After first entering, Jen pointed out a scorpionfish. These were abundant, and not so much interesting to point out except this one happened to be in our path as we made are way across the boulders. (Later inspection of the video revealed that this may have been a player scorpionfish, but the video is too bad to tell for sure.) I had been wary of accidentally setting down on one of these and ruining my day, but so far we avoided the little landminds. Back to the whale sharks: about 5 minutes into our dive, and shortly after spotting the scorpionfish, Paulo's rattle engaged and I saw him pointing up. Near the surface swam a large whale shark, and soon I heard the tale-tell ascent warnings as everyone ascended to get a better look. (My dive profile, as it turns out, looks more like a heart rate monitor than the pretty flat lines found in the analogue charts.) For a short half-hour, we stayed relatively still as the shark swam figure-8s, approaching us 6 or 7 times during the dive. It turns out that our buddies noticed that this wasn't a single whale shark, but a pair that were swimming in the same path, but opposite of each other. The pair was apparent as one of them had a notch near the tail, and the other a scar on its underside. At any rate, after thinking our first dive-of-the-day could not be topped, I was finding out I was wrong. I had my closest encounter yet with a whale shark, as one threaded between me and a few other divers: totally spatially aware, she tilted to sideways as she swam by: one pectoral fin over me, the opposite under the diver directly on the other side. As soon as she cleared us, she glided back and moved effortlessly through our bubbles. As she went by, the water swept over me with a surprising amount of force from her tail. (We had been warned not to get to close, as an accidental *whack* could send us spinning through the water!) Each pass was as exhilarating as the one before; each time tempted to reach out just a few inches to feel their skin as they glide by. But all of us behaved and just took in the scene, and before we knew it our time was up. We ascended through a thick school of creolefish and jacks to our safety stop, where we were greeted again by one of the sharks. As I began to surface, I noticed a silky shark swimming tight circles around James, while everyone else in the group stayed their distance! I was about to film him when I noticed James already has his camera out, so I kept watching instead. Then the little guy darted toward James! I later kidded him that I was frantically reaching for my GoPro at that point so I could get the attack on video! But she apparently was more curious than hungry, and swam away shortly after. Back on the panga, Jen popped up shortly after I climbed on the boat, with one of the whale sharks directly below her. I yelled out at her to "look down!" and when she finally did, she said her fins were nearly touching. She popped back up wide-eyed and smiling. A great end to a perfect dive! This, indeed, is why we're here.

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  2018-06-15 Ecuador Darwin Island
  Darwin's Arch

  Moray eels are everywhere in these outer islands of the Galapagos: I don't think we've been on a single dive at Wolf or Darwin without seeing several. As with the wrasse, hogfish, moorish idols and other fish that inhabit the waters around the barnacle-laden boulders. We're looking for the big stuff now, but it's not hard to get distracted by these beautiful creatures; never a dull moment! Right away we spotted several hammerheads: more than yesterday. The water seemed clearer today, which made for better viewing (and photography). Could be due to the clearer skies this morning, or maybe there was less detritus in the water column. We hung out longer on the ledge, about 65' under the surface. The hammerheads took up their usual pattern: swim by below and in front of us, up the wall, then circle back around above and behind. The hogfish were ever-present, waiting for a free handout. Another green sea turtle, a finescale triggerfish, and then it was time to ascend. Dennis and I were at about the same tank pressure, albeit I had 100cf tanks and he had 80's, so we started up together. And then it happened: the largest whale shark I have seen! We were all by ourselves, at the right place and at the right time. Dennis had his back turned, but I knew he'd see her, so I kept filming. We were swimming head-first toward each other, then she slowly turned and swam by, effortlessly moving through the water with barely a move, but faster than I could hope to keep up. I didn't have to, as she swam right by me. About half-way along, I could hear Paulo's rattle: he was alerting the others now to what I had already discovered. As I turned to watch her swim away and toward the group, there was Dennis beside me, giving me a thumbs-up. This single dive made the entire trip worth it! This was why we came to the Galapagos. And now we would all hungry for more!

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  2015-06-04 United States Key Largo, FL
  Uscgc Duane (Wpg 33)

  First dive on the USCG Duane! Sunny and warm, with calm seas and a light current of 1/4 knot. This trip was a ad hoc gathering of friends, Cam, Joseph, Billy, Laurin, Jen and myself. We descended on the stack. Cam and Laurin were working on their wreck and deep specialties, so they went with Billy and Jen, Joseph and I went to explore the ship. We did a few swim-throughs, swimming over the starboard side toward aft, then back and through to the port side. I saw a large grey angel and other smaller reef fish. We continued to swim toward the bow with another swim-through on the way. Jen and Joseph continued swimming to the bow against the current, while I stayed back to conserve air. We then returned to the line and ascended. I got a few more shots of the ship from above. I noticed the flag was almost new: I found out later that she is replaced on every Memorial Day. Overweight: next time try 14 lbs. SAC = 1.19 cf/min

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  2015-06-04 United States Key Largo, FL
  North North Dry Rocks

  One of my favorite reef dives to date, and definitely my longest bottom time! After practicing breathing techniques, Joseph and I stayed so that I could push the 1 hour mark before resurfacing. There are mooring balls here, but it is obvious that this reef isn't dived as often as others nearby (North Dry Rock and Dry Rocks where the Christ of the Abyss is located. The reef forms deep sand channels with a lot of marine life. Going over them again and again wore my ears out a bit. I filmed a lot, running out of battery power on a near-fully charged battery. At the end, when everyone else resurfaced, Joseph and I stuck around for another 20-15 minutes. That's when a lot of the fish came out of hiding! I swam slowly along the reef, and saw the most colorful queen angel I've ever seen, along with a 2-3 foot long Golden Tail Moray Eel (Gymnothorax miliaris). (Laurin had spotted a smaller moray eel earlier hiding out in the coral nearby.) Unfortunately, my battery had already run out by this time, so I didn't get any footage of it. Resurfaced a minute over our allotted time of 60 minutes, but no worries: Capt. Steve has been great this entire trip! And this out-of-the-way spot is one of the best! SAC = 0.82 cf/min