Eric Ault’s Galapagos Report (Cont.)

After an overnight cruise (“navigating” according to Divemaster Walter Torres) Friday morning found us at the island of North Seymour. According to my log book, the first dive at North Seymour turned out to be my 500th dive since getting certified in 1996. Here we got our introduction to panga diving. Boarding the panga from the main boat proved to be challenging as you attempt to step into the pitching, rising and falling panga while wearing your tank and weights. But the crew is very adept at aiding aging, over-weight divers. Once the dive site is reached, all divers execute a backward roll entry at the count of three and head for the rendezvous point.

At North Seymour we got our first taste of diving with sharks. A large number of white tips are found there along with many other kinds of fishes, again familiar shapes in different livery. The bottom at most of the dive sites was made up of volcanic rocks with little coral, hard or soft. Most divers wore gloves to protect their hands while hanging on to the rocks in the current waiting for the “show” to start. At the beginning of the dive at North Seymour I saw a beautiful blue striped nudibranch. Feeling very pleased with myself I showed it to the divemaster who did not express much excitement at my find. No wonder; these things turned up just about everywhere at this dive site.

All too soon it was time to surface (after a safety stop, of course) and experience the second difficult part about panga diving; getting back into the panga from the water. If you are a divemaster or a 17-year-old football player like Kennen Hootman you can make panga boarding look easy. But say you’re about forty years older, then it can be challenging. A few people used La Escalera (the ladder) at the stern of the panga, but most divers struggled into the panga with assistance from the driver and other divers. Sometimes it was a real struggle, but other times you were almost instantly back in the panga as if by magic. Go figure!

After a couple of dives, we made our first land excursion on the Island of North Seymour. The National Park has set up specific trails for visitors who must be accompanied by a certified guide. Divemaster Walter Torres was the Aggressor’s guide. He did a great job of explaining the Islands’ natural history and the biology of the various animals we saw. As advertised, the animals on North Seymour seemed almost totally unconcerned by our presence. Sea lions which had hauled themselves out to sun on the steps leading up from the boat landing declined to move and had to be stepped over. The famous blue-footed boobies nesting on the ground posed for photos with their chicks as did the land and marine iguanas. Male Frigate birds nested in the stunted trees showing off their bright red throat pouches to entice passing females. Back on the beach a seal pup lumbered up to pose for some pictures before going off to bother his brother or sister asleep nearby.

Following our excursion to North Seymour, the Aggressor set sail for Wolf Island where we arrived after breakfast the next day. Wolf is a small rocky island with steep cliffs all around. Schools of hammerheads are frequently seen at Wolf along with the occasional whale shark. The drill for diving at Wolf was to quickly descend to 60 to 80 feet and then hang on in the current and wait for the show to start. Besides the promised schooling hammerheads, we also saw large schools of jacks of various kinds, chubs, snappers and goatfish. Great numbers of Creole fish were everywhere at all of the dive sites throughout the islands. Green turtles were plentiful, too. It was at Wolf where we saw our three whale sharks during our two morning dives, truly an awesome sight. Nothing like swimming next to a fish the size of a school bus. Despite my excitement I did after all manage to get some decent photos of these ocean giants.

Wolf Island »