Hammerhead Shark Dive Safari - The Logbook

Tips: If you don't like reading - there's a video at the bottom :)

Day 1

Last week, we activated our entire financial reserves and treated ourselves to something that every diver can only dream of. We will be visiting the two most remote islands of the Galapagos on a diving safari and go into the water at Wolf and Darwin Island.

In the morning, we pack our things at Bella & Andres and wait at the port until we set off after lunch. At Rustica - Mathias's colleagues might laugh at the thought of it - we wait for the departure with maracuya juice and iced coffee. Shortly after noon, we meet Robin, a young Dutch diver who is traveling with us, and Richard, one of the diving guides. We take a small boat out to the Humboldt Explorer II - our home for the next week. Here, we have lunch first and get to know the around 10 other visitors and the 7-member crew. Americans, Spaniards, English, the aforementioned Dutchman, and in addition to the two of us Swiss, a South Korean and two brothers from Israel form the diving team. The crew consists exclusively of locals - one of them has even lived in Switzerland before.

The first meal is very healthy, varied and delicious and the ship makes a good first impression. In addition to spacious cabins - ours even has a double bed - all equipped with private bathrooms, the boat offers a dining area with a sofa corner, a dive deck, an upper deck with sun loungers, a jacuzzi, and a refrigerator with cold beer. Yes - it's all-inclusive here - even the drinks...

The checkout dive is postponed to tomorrow. There are problems with a tourist's arrival, which disrupts the "schedule" a bit. So we introduce ourselves, try on all the rental equipment, and the afternoon is rather uneventful on the boat in the harbor. After dinner, we play some card games and have conversations - mainly about diving - and then it's off to bed.

Day 2

The alarm goes off at 6 o'clock and we have breakfast first. There is everything from toast to eggs, cereal, and fruit, and of course coffee or tea. We are now next to Santa Cruz Island because the late diver still needs to be brought to the boat. After a detailed briefing, we go into the water for the first time. A group of 6 with the two of us and a group of 8, mixed with divers using air and nitrox, venture into the waters of the Galapagos for the first time. At about 5 meters depth, we repeat two short technical skills that you may need to apply in an emergency, and then go on the first dive. After 50 minutes, we are back up, having seen the first small reef sharks and two amazing mobula rays.

After about 90 minutes of surface interval - food and a sun lounger on the upper deck help to refuel and warm up - we go back in for the second time. The water is not as cold as expected - about 26° - and we are underwater for the maximum dive time of 50 minutes again. This time we see more reef sharks, a sea turtle, an eagle ray, and towards the end, the first hammerhead sharks.

Lunch is almost ready when we return to the boat and dry off. In the afternoon, we go ashore to North Seymour Island. Here, we find a large colony of frigate birds that breed and raise their offspring here. Blue-footed boobies, pelicans, and a few smaller birds can also be spotted. In addition to the marine iguanas, which we already know, we see their close relatives on land for the first time here. They are much lighter, mostly yellowish-brown, and like to stay in the shade of the cacti in the breeding heat.

Back on the boat, we have a nice afternoon snack and we can relax - our day is pretty much over. Now follows a boat trip of about 16 hours to Wolf Island. Apart from dinner, there is not much else on the program, so we focus on our books or simply on the endless expanse of the ocean. The boat rocks less than expected, so it's actually very cozy, even though we drive all night and the noise of the engine is quite audible in the cabin below.

Dinner is again very plentiful and delicious - the glass of red wine is also included - and we linger a bit afterwards before everyone tiredly and full of anticipation for tomorrow retreats to their cabins. Tomorrow, we will have four dives at Wolf Island, starting before breakfast.

Day 3

We start at 6 o'clock - without breakfast but with a short briefing, we are already in the water before 7 o'clock. We have sailed to Wolf Island overnight and now take a small boat to the first dive in Shark Bay. Due to the current, we drift halfway around the island, but have a great dive and see many individual hammerhead sharks passing by. We hold onto large rocks from time to time and observe the action.

When resurfacing, the current takes us quite strongly and our group gets split up. Seraina and Mathias with guide Xavier get a bit too close to the next big rock (Elephant Rock) and have to kick quite hard with their fins for a short time to get past it and into open water. First critical situation overcome and shortly afterwards the boat picks us up.

We have breakfast and take a short break - then we go straight to the second dive. We go into the water in Shark Bay again. This time we also see some hammerhead sharks. The highlight for Mathias, however, is the moment when he turns around and a large Galapagos shark (about 3 meters long) emerges behind the whole group of divers and swims around more or less unnoticed behind them.

After a lunch break - diving makes you hungry - we go into the water for the third time. We see a not very shy sea turtle and again many hammerhead sharks. There are also moray eels everywhere and you have to be careful which rock you hold onto - so as not to disturb a moray eel in its home.

The fourth dive is a real challenge. The current is very strong and it is difficult to hold on with just one hand. Most of the time, you need both hands and a solid rock to keep your grip. Unfortunately, we don't see much this time, and due to the advanced dive time of this day, it's already over after almost 35 minutes, so as not to risk decompression sickness. So we go out into the blue for the safety stop and here the group gets lost in the strong current. The buddy pairs stick together and so Mathias and Seraina alone in the open sea - above, below, left, and right simply nothing but water - do the safety stop at 5 meters for three minutes and then resurface. The boat finds us quickly and as the first, then the guide with the two Israeli brothers from our group, and after a few minutes also the two American girls. Not ideal to end up with a divided group in such a current, but it can happen. Everyone reacted correctly and so everyone landed safely back on the boat.

In the evening, we enjoy the Firobe beer in the jacuzzi for the first time and for dinner, we have a delicious asado (barbecue) - after 4 dives and over 3 hours in the water today, eating is no problem at all! We end the evening again with red wine, playing cards, and diving discussions.

Day 4

Like yesterday, we start with a dive first. We are still at Wolf Island and dive into the refreshing water at half past six in the morning. The current is again relatively strong and we cling to rocks as best we can. Once again, we see some hammerhead sharks - but the best comes at the end this time. When we head into the blue to do the safety stop, some curious dolphins come to visit us. We have heard them underwater for a while and have already seen them from the big boat, but now in the water, it's something completely different. They swim playfully around us, dive over and under us, and put on a great show until we eventually have to resurface and leave them behind. We hope to see them again.

After breakfast on the second and for now last dive at Wolf Island, we finally see a large school of hammerhead sharks briefly and from a distance. Probably 50, if not 100 animals swim past us in the depths - not capturable by the camera but weakly visible to the naked eye in the vastness of the sea - like gray-silver shimmer on the horizon.

After an early lunch, we continue with the boat to Darwin Island and to the famous arch in front of it (Darwin's Arch). Here, we will dive twice in the afternoon. The sea is rougher than before, but it doesn't cause us any problems. We are slowly getting used to the constant swaying.

Dive 3 on this day starts just before Darwin's Arch. We see some hammerhead sharks passing by, a sea turtle is not bothered by us at all and continues to eat calmly while we sit around it, hold onto the rocks, and wait for something exciting to happen. But not much happens - a small cute Pacific boxfish, several moray eels (of which there are plenty here), and some pufferfish later, we are already resurfacing.

We end the day with another dive at Darwin's Arch - but the last dive today is the least spectacular. We see one or two dolphins swimming above us at the surface, but not much else is going on.

That's it for today - we dry off, have a Feierabend beer, observe dolphins from the boat, and wait for dinner together. The weather is getting worse, it even starts to rain for the first time and is slightly stormy. But stomach-wise, everything is still okay.

Day 5

Today, we dive four times at Darwin's Arch. It's a bit less strenuous here than in the strong currents of Wolf Island, but you also don't see as many big animals. We see many turtles on each dive, a great garden full of starfish, a sandy area with hundreds of "garden eels," and we encounter the occasional hammerhead shark - some animals, however, are visibly smaller than before - probably young ones. We complete the first three dives before lunch - then one more and then we return to Wolf Island, where we have dinner and play cards with red wine. Seraina's stomach is a bit upset for the first time, but it gets better soon. We are looking forward to diving at Wolf Island again tomorrow.

Day 6

Wake up call and into the water. And getting up early is worth it. We see an eagle ray that poses for us and glides past us several times. In the end, another highlight - first two blacktip sharks, Galapagos sharks, and then a huge school of hammerhead sharks. There must be hundreds of animals again, passing us in the depths. Mega! Also, during the second dive, we stay at about 18 meters depth and sharks swim past us next to, above, and below us. This time, they are mostly Galapagos sharks. An absolutely breathtaking scene that, to be honest, is not captured as well by the GoPro as it really is. We don't have much air left and have to resurface, and as the crowning glory, we are greeted by two dolphins during the safety stop. A dive that we probably won't forget so quickly.

Dive three is similar to the previous two and is a great ending to the experiences out here at Wolf Island. We end up separated from the group again outside in the sea, but we see many sharks again and can count the last dive here as a beautiful and accident-free experience. Now we finally have lunch - we are very hungry - and then the long journey back to the main islands of the Galapagos begins.

We spend the journey until dinner mainly dozing off on the sun deck. Always get yourself sunblock, so you don't get a sunburn. It's tricky with the breeze - and after cooling off in the jacuzzi (cold water is better during the day, in the evening, warm water would be okay too) especially.

In the evening, some of us exchange some photo and video material. It's great to have all the sightings documented so beautifully and we will enjoy looking at it over and over again. In the video, you mainly see our highlights as well as a few best-of moments from a few of our dive buddies.

Day 7

During the night, we navigated to Cousin's Rock, where we are already anchored when we wake up. For the last time, we jump into the water early - even before breakfast. The diving here is rather relaxed - there is little current, a bit more coral and small stuff, and it's not quite as deep. We spend 50 minutes underwater, see lots of rays (eagle and mobula rays), and also encounter a smaller whitetip reef shark. After breakfast, we have the last dive at Cousin's Rock - again. Once again, we get to observe some rays and find a whitetip reef shark sleeping on a sandy bed this time. He lets himself be photographed from close up, which we of course do. For now, diving is over and we drive to Santa Cruz Island.

Here, we go ashore in the afternoon to visit a ranch that provides a protected home for lots of giant tortoises. Our guide gives us some information during the short walk - then it's free time in the town. We check into our hostel and stroll around Puerto Ayora for a while. Then we meet the other guests from the boat for aperitifs and dinner. They have to go back to the boat tonight for the last night and the crossing to San Cristobal. We skip that and stay here. We also want to explore this island a bit and then move on from here to Isabela.

In the evening, we finally have WiFi again. Check football results, keep in touch with family and friends, and of course, update the blog. But first, we need to review all the material. We have taken several videos and some photos over the week and we are already looking forward to making a best-of compilation.

Day 8

Since we went ashore in Santa Cruz yesterday, we discover a new island on day 8. We have a delicious breakfast at an acai bar in Puerto Ayora, the largest "town" on the Galapagos Islands, and afterwards, we visit Tortuga Bay, which is located a bit outside. Though it does not have any turtles - contrary to what the name would suggest - it does have plenty of marine iguanas and in the water also some young blacktip reef sharks, not bigger than a fish.

We stroll along the beach, keeping an eye out for the many animals and cool off in a small bay before we head back to the main town and visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here, you can learn about all kinds of discoveries and insights about the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands. It also has a breeding station for giant tortoises, and here you can find the subspecies from the different islands - they actually differ quite noticeably from each other.

After just one day here on Santa Cruz, we will move on tomorrow and we are looking forward to providing you with news from Isabela soon.