Hammerhead sharks and whale sharks, Galapagos

:: Monday, October 9th, 2006 @ 4:22:40 pm

:: Tags: Photo, Travel

whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and divers at darwin’s arch, galapagos

I just spent a week diving the Galapagos and experienced the best whale shark and hammerhead shark encounters I’ve ever had. More later…

school of scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) darwin’s arch, galapagos

school of scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) darwin’s arch, galapagos

Popularity: 24% | Guayaquil, Ecuador | link | trackback | Oct 9, 2006 16:22:40

:: 17 comments (rss)

1. posted by Aaron on Mon, October 09, 2006 @ 5:37 pm

   Oh, so that’s what a bazillion hammerhead sharks looks like.

2. posted by kennyliu on Mon, October 09, 2006 @ 7:55 pm

   holy shit

3. posted by Caroline :) on Mon, October 09, 2006 @ 11:39 pm

   Gorgeous.

4. posted by Tobias on Tue, October 10, 2006 @ 1:35 am

   Eric, please stop doing those fantastic trips. I’m getting very very jealous every time when I see your updates with the amazing photos (while sitting in the office). Or take me with you next time…please!?!? ;-)

   Best regards Tobias

5. posted by Heidi on Tue, October 10, 2006 @ 6:59 am

   Oh, this is just mean. Mean mean mean.

6. posted by ilanbt on Tue, October 10, 2006 @ 10:49 am

   Wow what a great whale shark photo. I was in Galapagos at early July and unfortunatly Mr Big wasn’t there.

7. posted by Dave on Tue, October 10, 2006 @ 12:01 pm

   OK, I’ll borrow a f—ing dry suit! Amazing. :)

8. posted by echeng on Tue, October 10, 2006 @ 12:51 pm

   Dave - the water at darwin was 78 degrees.

9. posted by Matt M. on Fri, October 13, 2006 @ 12:04 pm

   I was on the trip with Eric and can vouch for the HH activity… it was fantastic. Also, the picture you see with the whale shark was one of about 10K that were taken by everyone. This particular shark hung out with us for - I kid you not - 20 minutes. The guides said they like to rub against the pangas to scratch an itch. Eric - don’t hide your pictures of him/her going vertical… it’s a must see. Great diving with you again! Matt

10. posted by owen on Sun, October 15, 2006 @ 8:21 pm

    where are the shark photos?

11. posted by echeng on Sun, October 15, 2006 @ 11:44 pm

    Hey, owen — the shark photos are right above your comment!

12. posted by Andrew on Mon, October 23, 2006 @ 5:01 am

    Looks like you had a great time!

    I was in Galapagos in 2004 and was fortunate to see scenes like the above, and I even felt the blast of the whale shark’s propulsion as it slowly moved into the murky depths.

    Were you at Darwin’s Arch to get the whale shark photos? We anchored there for five days and everday, every dive, was a whale shark experience at the Theatre, where you would try to sit on the barncale-ridden and moray-full reef (difficult to do in the massive currents). There, we would sit and pick out a whale shark doing a “drive by” from distance then follow it, to be picked up by the pangas (by then we been been carried hundreds of metres into open ocean).

    I was at Cocos in 2005, and I must say even though Cocos wins hands down in terms of sheer quantity of biomass (larger shoals of fish and in greater variety), it was lacking the “big” creature groups. Although there were lots of Silver Tips in Cocos, which I had never seen before.

    Galapagos is still the place to go a) whale sharks and b) schooling sharks. Just a little cold (warmer above the eqautor and Darwin and Wolf islands), but who cares when you’re seeing this, eh?!

13. posted by Ridgebacklover on Mon, October 23, 2006 @ 9:40 am

    Wow - same schools we saw in April - but with clear water, fabulous photos! Must not have had 7 knots current eh?

14. posted by echeng on Thu, November 22, 2007 @ 8:56 pm

    Actually, I find that strong currents are the only way to get close to schooling hammerheads (on open circuit). The current was so strong that it was blowing our bubbles horizontally — away from the school above me. Steve Rosenberg and I were apart from the rest of the group and were hiding behind a boulder (from the current) on the “theater” at Darwin.

    Remember that UW photos are always taken with really wide angle lenses. The animals are always much closer that you think they are. :)

15. posted by jeff joel on Sat, February 02, 2008 @ 1:51 pm

    How is the water temp. and clarity at darwin and wolf in late May and early June….does anyone know??

    Thank You!

16. posted by Wyl-Ellen on Sat, May 10, 2008 @ 9:36 am

    .. ..if only its’ friendly (which is impossible)…. i am sure ppl would love to hug such a big fish …. unique

17. posted by Ramonez on Wed, May 21, 2008 @ 7:53 am

    Awesome. Thank you.

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