|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
At last we hit the Northern Islands, full of anticipation and hope. At Wolf we found some very big Galapagos sharks. We continued to be teased by hammerhead sightings, but found them to be noticeably far offshore, in the open water. This meant we couldn't stay hidden within the large rocks of the sloping reef, holding our breath as the schools approached, only to emerge at the last possible moment for a clear shot. In the open water, there is no place to stay hidden, and the sharks can see you coming from a mile away. So while we knew the hammerheads were out there, and we knew the numbers were big, getting close was a problem under these conditions. Complicating the dilemma was the fact that on average, the schools were deeper than normal. 80 ft. to 120 ft. seemed to be common, and while that isn't extreme in itself, it did rather limit the time we could spend with them. |
|
|
|
|
|
From our experiences on trip #1 of this season, we were able to get a better fix on where the action was to be found. When we began our second tour, we wasted little time migrating to the areas of greatest probability. A few stops in the Central Islands to take advantage of schooling eagle rays, abundant mantas, and dizzying schools of big-eyed jacks also produced several decent hammerhead and Galapagos shark encounters, enough to thoroughly whet our appetites for bigger things to come. Still, we tempered our expectations. After all, this was an El Niño year. |
|
|
|
|
|
The word for each day was ``blue". Blue water. The void. And there we went. Scattering excitedly like flushed quail, we began exploring a realm with no landmarks, no signposts, only liquid blue space punctuated by drifting galaxies of densely packed life, or the random solitary voyagers. |
|||
|
We grew bolder in our excursions, swimming straight out to sea only to be gathered by the currents and carried away by a will not our own. Somehow the inflatable boat drivers would find us at the end of each dive, though we were sprinkled over countless acres of the ocean's surface. |
|||
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Silky sharks, not common Galapagos visitors in normal times, were sighted with regularity. We also began having exceptional luck with Galapagos sharks closer to the reef. Dolphin were everywhere, and on one memorable dive, several in our group had a dozen or more bottlenose dolphin spend over 20 minutes cavorting all around them. Reports of a whale shark at Darwin Island began filtering in, but no sooner than the whale shark itself. While not everybody saw it (including me), a number of our guests became the chosen ones. The schools of yellowfin tuna were as exciting to me as anything. Never before anywhere I have seen so many, so often. One hundred pounds each to over twice that figure, of solid muscle, speed, and determination, their yellow dorsal and anal fins flowing gracefully back as they speed through the blue, perhaps the fastest fish in all the seas. A school of smaller bonito would rotate slowly around and beneath us forming a mirrored parabolic bowl, as if we were the centerpiece of a trophy, then peel off in an undulating silver ribbon. One sensed, as the days progressed, that there was a rising energy, that the natural forces molding the character of the ocean were flexing and stretching, gathering strength. |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
2000? What happened to 1999? You've got us psyched up, and now we have to wait `till 2000 to go with you? Besides, isn't 2000 the end of the world or something? And what is a Photo Pro Tour? |
|
|
|
Okay, settle down. Let me explain. Firstly, 1999 will mark the first year of our ``downsizing", our new reduced tour schedule announced in our last newsletter. That means we can't do every program in consecutive years, so we will not return to Galapagos until 2000 as a result. As for the end of the world, I know nothing about it. My only hope for is that the IRS loses our file when the computers melt down! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A pro knows only too well that great pictures are not consistently made by taking one or two rolls of a subject, waltzing in one day and leaving the next. Great shots, particularly when dealing with natural subjects, result from exceptional patience and perseverance. A few dives are not enough to assure the perfect image. Indeed, the great nature photographers may spend weeks, months or years in the field to get those legendary photos. Additionally, when the action is happening at one location, it makes little sense from the serious photographer's point of view to leave for another dive spot, just for a change in scenery or because an itinerary calls for a new island. Our Photo Pro Tours will be structured for the sole purpose of obtaining the best possible photo results under the prevailing conditions as we find them, without regard to covering the most extensive itinerary or necessarily offering the most variety. If we have great pelagic action at a given spot for instance, we will stay there not one or two days, but possibly many days at a time. Perhaps the whole trip, who knows. Simply put, this is how it is done. This is how the great photos are made. The pros know this, and this is what often separates the pros from amateurs: the patience and dedication to get it right. |
|||
|
As it turns out, our experience in Galapagos is very extensive, spanning some 18 years. This gives us a body of knowledge and experience matched by very, very few. While every itinerary decision we make will not necessarily be successful, as nature can't be absolutely predicted, our decisions are at least based on well educated guesses. In short, good decisions can have poor results, and often do, but that does not mean the decision was bad. Conversely, bad decisions can have good results, for that is the nature of luck. But like a tourist in Las Vegas making wild and foolish bets, every now and then they will win big, but over the long run they will go broke. Whereas, an educated gambler will play the odds wisely, and are far more likely to come out ahead over the long stretch. |
|||
|
What am I getting at? Simply this: our Photo Pro Tours will have a flexible itinerary that will be decided upon solely by us, based on our professional estimate of the best photo opportunities and 18 years of experience diving these waters. As guests are quite unlikely to have a similar degree of experience in the Galapagos, their ability to make equally educated decisions must be assumed to be less. Usually much less. Therefore, no future itinerary decisions will be the result of a popular vote. If you choose to sign up for one of these Photo Pro Tours, be prepared to participate in a program designed to produce the best photographic results feasible, working the way the pros do, at the possible expense of the most diverse itinerary. We still intend to include some land tours, but may skip them altogether if the diving warrants. We will visit a wide variety of dive sites, but will not hesitate to spend extensive amounts of time whenever and wherever we feel we have found ourselves in unique situation. |
|||
|
|
|
This new approach is not to be critical of those who wish to cover as much territory as possible, or who get bored even with hoards of hammerheads and Galapagos sharks. Those interests just happen to be at odds with the goals of the serious nature photographer, so the Photo Pro Tours are simply a way to clarify up front what our priorities will be. Get the picture? Well, you will if you sign up for one of these tours! |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
