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Day 5

The 5:30 bell, dressed and off to dive before breakfast --

Dive 11 -- Darwin's Arch

The current was different than expected today, so we made our way across the ridge again to pick up the current going the right direction.

Because of the dangerous waves and rocks near the arch and the island, great care is taken to get into the right current. Too close to the rocks and the Pangas will not pick you up! They can't get close to these dangerous areas, and we have been amply warned.

Lots to see on this dive-- Gene and I saw one whale Shark. I swam fairly close, it was shallow and not as big as the others -- perhaps under 30 ft. Still a big fish. It was only in about 20 feet of water, so I swam up a ways to see it.. We drifted with Rick, Herb and Steve. Relaxing dive at the end, the beginning had been very surgey.

Breakfast was good. Now time to relax. There will be 4 dives today both Gene and I are sitting out this next one. The weather is cooler and we've been watching the dolphins and the boobies from the deck of the boat, but as the Arch becomes shrouded in mist, we are also feeling the dampness and ready to warm up inside. The pangas have just left. The plan is that on the way back from this dive they will pick us up to snorkel with the dolphins (if the dolphins are still here). I will be dressed and ready if this is the case.

Snorkel!

Went out to chase the dolphins. The pod? Family? Group? Is very big. Looks like more than 100 maybe more than 200, maybe more than one group? We went out on the Panga and got in right in the middle of them. Fun to swim with them and see them under water. They didn't stick around long, each time we would be with them only a minute or two, then they would dive deeper or swim faster. You could see babies in the group, so maybe that's why they didn't want to play with us. It was fun, a good workout before lunch.

Lunch was really interesting. Hominy- Potato pancake--peanut sauce, fried bananas, avocado salad and green salad and fruit salad in a carved watermelon that looked like a whale. Starting it off with a great squid and Wahoo ceviche with popcorn!

When the time came to do the next dive, it was dark and misting, you could barely see the arch! A quick vote said to wait another hour and combine dives 3 and 4 … It was much brighter in another hour, and we were well rested and ready to go.

Dive 12 Darwin's Arch

The plan was to drop directly into the sandy area after the ridge and swim with the sharks. Well, we dropped into the rocks right near the sand and watched. Both Galapagos and Hammer heads showed up within a minute. So lots of people started crawling across the sandy bottom (not easy since the current was strong and not much to hold on to) We looked like a bunch of GI Joes. All of a sudden a Galapagos shark, to me it looked 9 feet, came whirling around whipping its body quickly, then a large hammer head did the same thing and right on his tail another Galapagos shark.. They were swimming wildly and above us. I went back to the rocks not feeling as safe in the sand. Then several divers crawled out into the sand and

I followed to see -- sharks -- large ones swimming in 2's or 3's, both kinds were passing through the far edge of the sand. The current was strong and I kept getting edged further down the sand. When I looked back to see Gene and Kathleen, they were no longer in sight. I tried to swim back toward the rocks but no one was there. So I headed back out into the sand looking for yellow fins. I found some! But they didn't belong to Gene.. I realized most of the people I was seeing now were from the other Panga.. I was separated from my group and my buddy… I saw sharks…