June 9, 2004 - Darwin (Dives 6,7)

Between Wolf and Darwin we were escorted by a large pod of bottlenose dolphins, many of whom performed fantastic aerial feats just off of the bow, leaping and spinning in the air before splashing back into the ocean. We heard the clicking chatter of dolphins while in the water at Wolf, but did not have any underwater sightings. And strangely enough, I have yet to see Scar, Darwin's resident bottlenose dolphin. Today marked my first dive at Darwin without having him buzz by at least once.

So far, we're averaging multiple whale shark encounters per dive, and like last time I am amazed at the stealth of an animal that is often larger than a school bus. Quite often we don't even see a whale shark until it is almost literally upon us.

June 10, 2004 - Darwin (Dives 8,9,10)

The seas have picked up a bit and there are some unusually large swells around Darwin's Arch -- which makes panga trips out to our drop point pretty interesting. Good thing we're in SCUBA gear. :) The current is also running clockwise around the front of the arch instead of following its usual counterclockwise route. Antonio says that the reverse current is rare, but it has been like this all three times I've been to Darwin! The current is not only running backwards, but it is extremely strong. I could barely hold on on the rocks as the swell pushed us up and down the boulder slope. And when we were off into the blue, there were some nasty down currents that sucked the multitute of tiny bubbles in our exhalation down below us as we kicked upward. I actually like diving in down currents because it's novel to have the air you exhale shoot downward. :)

Many bottlenose dolphin are also in the area, and we're both hearing and seeing them on virtually every dive. We're also still getting many whale shark encounters, and at the end of the third dive today we ran into an enormous wall of hammerheads. Unfortunately, they were below us in the darkness so I wasn't able to snap any decent photographs of them.

June 11, 2004 - Darwin (Dives 11,12)

Just another morning of whale sharks, hammerheads, tuna, etc. in the morning at Darwin. :) I finally was able to get directly in front of a whale shark with my 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it was quite dark down there at depth, but the photos still turned out pretty well, I think.

During the first dive, John Boll and I split off from the rest of the group and floated off for our safety stop. I had already packed up my camera to begin the ascent from 20' to the surface when a silky shark streaked toward the two of us and circled around. I turned my strobes back on and struggled frantically to remove the bra from the front of my dome port, when I noticed three more of them circling quickly just behind John (who was busy filming the first one, which was now in front of him). After much high-pitched shrieking from me, John turned around, and the silkies moved off a bit before darting away into the murky blue. A close encounter with silkies! That totally made my day.