Malpelo July 20 - Aug 2nd, 10 dive day special

Our 3rd trip and the best to date, sea conditions pretty calm, viz the usual mix - the plankton here does drop it but that is why there is so much life.

El Niño clearly kicking in with water temps 26-28 degrees but this certainly does not seem to have affected the diversity of marine life to see, top side certainly playing out in what should be the dry season with some cloudy days & sharp showers

Vivax this time, pretty much the twin of the Ferox and would happily go on either, the Pangas are easier/better as the seating is down the middle of them but no deal breaker

The fact your gear stays on the rib all week makes it so much easier than climbing up the ladder with all your gear on.

Marine life, all the usual and then some

Jacks at D’Artagnan are still a world class dive, to be surrounded by over 1,000 is simply incredible

Whale sharks up to 12 metres

Oceanic Mantas with one dive where they stayed with us for 40 minutes

The odd Tiger Shark

Usual Galapagos and Silky, both are simply huge here

Hammerheads were simply stunning, often over 50 and the best 2-3 dives maybe 200.

Numerous large schools of fish everywhere

Some of the small stuff is pretty cool too

You simply don’t know what will turn up on any dive, or which one during the day with no apparent pattern to whether dives 1,2 or 3 are the best, you can have 30 minutes of not much and then boom huge schools of Hammerheads or some Mantas 

Don’t be afraid to dive into the blue for a good part at the end of the dive - sometimes it doesn’t pay off but in the 3 trips this is always how we have seen the larger schools of Hammerheads (save some NDL and air so you can drop back down if need be)

My Olympus OM5 struggled with the light at times (though likely the user😂) and a camera more focused on low light conditions would certainly help but those using the Insta 360 got some incredible footage

5mm semi dry with a light hood was fine, 2mm gloves a must for holding on in some dives in surge or current when required, strong power fins such as Jet seem best. 15 litre tanks are such a boon, air consumption here is typically higher then tropical dives

Diving here is best described as “Gnarly”, but don’t let that put you off as the rewards are potentially amazing and the experience of Malpelo’s conditions certainly improves your diving

Malpelo is simply about the marine life in abundance and max size; Colombia Dive Adventures delivers this superbly - would I go back in the future, for sure

Which lens did you use?

Ciao

12-40 Pro f2.8, some of the dark days due to weather didn’t help either and the fact we were below 25 metres often😂

Meant to add a couple of short clips from the divers with Insta