Peter A. Hughes traveled aboard the M/V Galapagos Sky on May 22 – 29, 2011 and prepared this special MANTA SEASON trip report.
Opening Comment: “As I have stated many times before in various media I feel the period of January thru’ mid June (Manta Season) is my favorite time of the year to visit & dive the fabulous Galapagos Islands – with emphasis on May thru’ mid June being my most favorite!! The following trip slide show and daily log show exactly why Manta Season is such a great time to visit Galapagos.
From Peter’s Daily Log:
Sunday: Up early (anticipation is building) @ the Oro Verde Hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador. We begin the day with an excellent buffet b/fast before heading off for our flight aboard one of Aerogal’s spanking, brand new A320 Airbus airplanes for the short 1 ½ hour flight from Guayaquil to San Cristobal in the Galapagos.
We board M/V Galapagos Sky – Safety & General Orientation briefings, lunch, gear set up and check out dive (Galapagos National Park requirement) at Isla Lobos – this time w/ some overly playful (and one particularly large) female sea lions – great fun as the “beast” playfully mouthed my head!! Back to vessel and we cruise to …
Monday: Arrive Itabaca Channel between Baltra & Santa Cruz Islands for our visit to the highlands of Santa Cruz to view & photograph the giant tortoises in their natural habitat, visit the quite amazing lava tubes, the endemic Scalecias Forest and the sink holes – about a four hour excursion and well worth every minute of it! Back for lunch and then, due to an engine problem w/ one of our just overhauled (??? go figure ???) main engines we forfeited two afternoon dives at Cousins Rock – once a practice bombing target for the US – and (normally, as I have done the site before – several times) great dives offering up a little bit of “everything” and a real good preview of what’s to come – we left for the longer than usual transit north to Wolf Island.
Tuesday: Arrive & anchor at Wolf Island and prepare for our three scheduled dives – no disappointments here – the waters “up north” surrounding both Wolf & Darwin islands is considerably warmer than the waters surrounding the central or southern islands of the Galapagos as a result of the warming effects of the Panama Current streaming down from the north around them and especially, at this time of year, are clearer (and calmer too) – currents were typically light w/ surge being far more of a factor than current. Our sightings over the three dives included, but were not limited to scorpion fish, lobsters, red lipped bat fish (yeeesss, third dive of the day) countless moray eels (many free swimming along the wall,) turtles “by the dozen,” eagle rays, dolphins in a “fly-by,” and sharks – walls of hammerheads w/ some coming in very close in their curious review of the bubble blowers invading their peace, Galapagos sharks (some XXL sizes too,) silky sharks and last but not least, the always playful sea lions.
Wednesday: Very early Wednesday AM Capt. Victor & his crew hauled anchor and got us underway for the transit from Wolf island to Darwin island (Darwin island is the farthest north in the Galapagos archipelago) where we started our dive day w/ an incredible early, pre-b/fast AM dive – again NO disappointments here – our three scheduled dives, w/ 100ft (30 m) viz & comfy water temps in the 80F (24C) range offered us “blinding” (due to their volume) schools of Creole fish, huge schools of horse eyed jacks, bonitos, tuna, steel pompano, marauding (XL) blue Trevally, African pompano (XL), snapper ( XXL), dolphins on their usual “fly-bys,” hammerheads in significant schools as well as solitary, at cleaning stations manned mostly by beautiful king angel fish, Galapagos sharks (XXL at this time of year,) the ever present silky sharks on our blue water safety stops AND (unusual, but my SECOND such experience) a XXXL TIGER SHARK and oh yeah baby, even a late afternoon, early season whale shark – w/ the ever curious blue footed booby bird joining us as we wait for the panga (dive tender) on the surface – what more could you ask for????
Thursday: Again an early, pre b/fast dive (we continued to fight time throughout the week due to malfunctioning main engine – but NO ONE was complaining about the early AM dives,) breakfast and another dive – all the usual sightings w/ the additions of some black tip sharks but unfortunately, no further sighting of the tiger shark (we did go looking, heh, heh) and no further sighting of any whale sharks.
Over the lunch break we transited back to Wolf island for our third dive of the day and our last schedule dive in the northern islands – due to slow speed of vessel we were a little late in arriving but the dive site “Landslide” was a real azz kicker!! HOLY COW!! I have dove/dived (whatever) “Landslide” many times over the past 12 years – at all different times of the year (May – mid June still my favorite) but this was like none other!! What can I say – my editorial skills fall far short of any ability to come close to what this dive offered – rivers of Creole fish hindered our view despite the 100ft viz (30m) & 80F (24C), eagle rays, free swimming moray eels, turtles again “by the dozen,” sea lions, dolphins on their “fly-bys,” walls of hammerheads coming in particularly close, Galapagos sharks (XXL) virtually “on top of us,” several black tips and the ever present silkies on our safety stop out “in the blue.” And this does not even consider the huge snapper, grouper, black & blue Trevally and … it goes on & on, it was “ sheer turmoil down there!!”
Now it is time to say “farewell” to the northern islands and head back south, crossing the equator for the second time (first on way up north,) for our overnight ( but flat calm) transit to our Friday destination.
Friday: Arrive Roca Redondo – a “rock” in the middle of nowhere, an extension of the volcanic geology of Isabella island and a convenient stop for a dive (or two) but, very much conditions dependent on the way to Punta Vincente Roca. Roca Redondo offers amazing curtains of femoral rising from the sea floor through which all manner of sea creatures may appear - sea lions, fur sea lions too, hammerhead sharks and … here viz had dropped significantly – maybe 35 ft (10m) w/ a noticeable drop in water temperature too – 72F (20C) but still much warmer than the mid June thru’ December period – but w/ the hammerheads appearing almost mysteriously out of the gloom and coming in very close, it gave a certain excitement to the dive.
On to Punta Vincente Roca – this north western corner of Isabella is constantly bathed by the cold Cromwell Current and as such is what I describe as a “deep, dirty, dark & damned cold dive” heh, heh, but one that is fast becoming one of my favorite dives ever – and I hate “cold!!” Viz was down to possibly less than 35ft (10m) & water temp dropped further to 70F (19C).The environment is absolutely amazing!! A sheer, deep wall covered w/ sea fans, opportunities to see red lipped bat fish, horn sharks, sea horses, a flightless cormorant (my first swimming – fast – underwater) and (as we did) Mola Molas (oceanic sun fish) – one of the weirdest creatures in the sea - and again turtles “by the dozen,” swimming, floating on the surface and sleeping or feeding on the bottom and just so much more – so very well worth the “cold.”
After dive panga (dive tender) rides for photo ops include all manner of birds including the Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas and …
Saturday: We arrived at Cabo Marshall in the early AM for two scheduled dives – again (stuck CD or per the old days “broken record”) NO disappointments here – white tip sharks, gigantic school of selemas (a “sardine”endemic to Galapagos,) eagle rays, schooling mobula rays (mini mantas) and the always intriguing MANTA RAY – we were graced w/ several slow & up close & personal swim-bys the manata rays and this ray parade was punctuated by cero mackerel, wahoo, many XL Pacific dog snapper, grouper, tuna and the ever present rivers of Creole fish streaming over the wall and then off we have to go – back to port.
Sunday: Breakfast & “good bye.” It has been a great week, great diving, incredible sightings, Galapagos weather at its best – clear, warm, calm seas, light winds, blue skies dotted w/ puffy white clouds and a blazing sun that will warm you in minutes (and burn you too, if not very careful) after every dive – all shared w/ wonderful new friends & dive buddies – I cannot wait to do it all again!! I can never get enough of it!!
That’s it folks – hope you enjoy & that we will see you soon but until then and as always … keep an ocean mind,
Peter
