My Diving Travel Log

We returned August 12th from our Compass diving trip. There were 14 of us traveling together so we filled the boat.

The diving was fantastic. We passed on a few of the nature walks in favor of spending more time at Darwin and Wolf Islands. The water was about 73 and 68 to 70 further south. We saw schooling female hammerhead sharks (too may to count but they were between 7-10 feet), mating turtles, whale sharks (awesome! in groups of 7 or 8, maybe 15-20 feet long), free swimming morays, all types of rays, Galapagos sharks and more small schooling fish than anyone could count. The current was stiff. We used reef hooks on the barnacle covered volcanic rocks. We made 3-5 dives a day depending on where we were, but made no night dives.

We did three nature walks. Our dive master was also certified by the Marine Park as a naturalist, and she knew every plant, bird, animal and reptile. She was extremely informative. We also spent an afternoon at the Darwin Research Center. Throughout the islands we saw the giant tortoise, marine iguana, land iguana, penguins, blue footed boobies, sea lions, frigate birds - it was wonderful. It was amazing that there is so much life on such barren land.

This dive trip is not for novice divers. There is no pretty coral to see. The vis at best was 40-60 feet. The water was cool (68-73) (7mm wetsuits, gloves and hoods are necessary) and the current was swift. The weather was overcast all week and the seas generally rough between islands. The folks at Compass took really good care of us; we all had a ball.

Check out some of the fish we saw.