Galapagos June 2007

Just returned from a great trip on the Sea Dancer to the Galapagos, hosted by Mauricio Handler.

The amount and variety of life on land and underwater is amazing. Unfortunately viz did not cooperate our week, so I did not get as many great shots as I would have liked. They were all there, hammerheads, whale sharks, rays, etc - just not close and clear enough for my limited photographic skills.

Got to go back!

http://waterworldimage.smugmug.com/Underwater

Nice images, I really like the sea lion going after the school of grunts...

Chuck,

I like your images too, considering conditions - ah come on you do have great skills!! B)

Was Mauricio helpful, did you learn a lot?

What did you think of Galapagos, I've not had the opportunity to do it yet. I think you were lucky to see whale shark in June, I've heard that is often a little early for them there.

Best, Carol

Thanks guys. Galapagos is amazing; especially around Wolf and Darwin, the sea life is astounding! Every afternoon after diving we would sit and watch multiple large schools of dolphin, turtles, pilot whales, sea lions, birds etc on and in the water. Unfortunately mother nature did not schedule our week for clear viz. The animals were all there, schools of hammerheads in the gloom etc, just not great for pics. However one week before, the viz was 60-80ft and folks at the airport showed amazing pictures of groups of whalesharks, schooling hammerheads, groups of rays etc. I only got to see the shadow of a whale shark on the first day at Darwin. We were in Darwin for 4 days- by the end of the third day some folks wanted to leave as we had not seen whalesharks. First dive on day 4 - most of the group saw whalesharks, (of course then they all wanted to stay) and again on the next two dives. I did not That's just the way it is, with mother nature. We had a great group, Mauricio is a great guy, good teacher, and I think a master with his understanding and control of light. The Sea Dancer was a great boat with great crew as well.