Diving Darwin and Wolf
A long, bumpy overnight voyage took us over the equatorial line and up to the northern most and most remote Galápagos Islands of Wolf and Darwin. There were two dive sites we varied between on Wolf, depending on the unpredictable currents. Again, the diving was tough - please don’t judge us too harshly. We all were required to wear gloves and told to hold on to rocks or barnacles to brace against the current and not over exert ourselves. Where we were diving, there were not many fragile corals or sea weeds to be cautious of, but we still tried to place our hands carefully.
I was finally able to take my camera out at Shark Bay on Wolf island without endangering myself in the current. One of my favourite fish friend were the Mexican hogfish. They liked to follow us divers, swimming between our hands and elbows hoping we’d break off a barnacle or startle a crab out of hiding and they could have a quick, easy snack.
Life under the water and on land in Galapagos is remarkably abundant! Everywhere you looked there was a creature or fish to watch.
These hammerheads were more shy and wary than those we met at Seymour, but I was able to capture their hanging figures cruising by in the deep.
We had a feathered brigade follow our boat for this leg of the journey. A number of magnificent frigates decided to rest on the upper deck of the boat. And impolitely fire their giant streams of stinky fish poo all over the sun deck.
El Derrumbe (landslide) was a similar story - I had my camera out and didn’t lose it in the strong current. And we were in luck! We spotted another hammerhead in the distance. But the fish are so abundant, they crowded my shot. Lol!
We met some more of the local staples on the wall.
Travelling three hours further, we reached the northernmost island in Galapagos - Darwin. Ironically named as Charles Darwin never made landfall on the island.
We actually got to dive at Darwin Arch! Well, Darwin Towers or the Pillars of Evolution if you prefer since the platform forming the arch collapsed in May of 2021.
Under the pillars, we met the usual locals and were peering into the deep off the balconies to find hammerheads, silky sharks, Galapagos reef sharks and even whale sharks, although that seemed a slim possibility. We did manage to see a few of the big fish, but they stayed rather deep and rather distant.
Or they’re wearing their sunscreen. I know I don’t want bright red boobies from the sun.
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