For one magic stretch of four days in the Galapagos, we had what certainly must be the greatest congregation of carnivores this side of a Texas barbecue. We were probably witness to the most astounding aggregation of hammerhead sharks ever seen. We had a surging river of hammerheads extending from around 30 ft. deep to often over 170 ft. deep. That's a wall of sharks 140 ft. high! And this school was over 300 yards wide, as reported by one snorkeling guest who was free-diving into the school, able to touch the hammerheads as they swept past. He snorkeled over them, estimating the width of the school, and later stressed that he used to be a competitive swimmer and is keenly aware of exactly how far 300 yards is. A fifth of a mile. A school of sharks a fifth of a mile wide!

 And this swarming mass of hammerheads at times seemed to have no beginning and no end. Another guest, famed video wench Consie von Gontard, recorded a 10 minute continuous video sequence of this passing wall of sharks, with nary a single break in the school. Pausing the tape as we all watched later on, we were able to count as many as 118 sharks on the screen at one time! But this was just a brief video snapshot, a mere frozen second from this sizzling hot 10 minute roll of the tape. Multiply this out. And weep if you weren't there!

And yet another guest, known to have a certain death wish, launched off the reef and drifted through the blue water for 20 minutes, engulfed by the school the entire time. We dredged her out of the water miles away, as she babbled deliriously about the numbers of sharks she just saw. It became intimidatingly clear that those of us on the reef were just seeing the very inside edge of this tidal wave of sharks. It extended far beyond sight, beyond rational belief, and far beyond anything we had ever dreamed of.

Guest John Tresemer's reflections were of particular interest, as John lives in Costa Rica, and is a veteran of numerous pelagic specialty tours, including 7 Cocos trips and a trip to Malpelo, among others. Here is what John said about his first Galapagos experience: "I thought that in a place with penguins and sea lions I would need a drysuit and a lot of Vitamin C. I worried about the water being cold, green, and too nutrient rich. I suspected there would be some sharks, but not nearly as abundant as Cocos, where I've dived contentedly many times, or Malpelo where I've also dived (but no so contentedly.) I figured the diving would be good but not spectacular, and that was fine with me. I was going more as a camera-less free-diver, marine ecologist / environmentalist type more than anything else. I wanted to go with Chris and Birgitte because they'd previously scored big with me in these categories in other parts of the world.

"So, diving for two weeks, warm in my 3/16" and 1/4" inch wetsuits in classic 75ö to 82ö Pacific blue water, touching distance among dozens or hundreds or thousands of dolphins, plus sea lions, mobula rays, eagle rays, a manta, wahoos, jacks, barracuda, rainbow runners, hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, white tip sharks, turtles -- amidst brilliant masses of steel pompanos, Creole fish, wrasses, parrotfish, salema fish, surgeonfish, chubs, eels, lobsters, plus wild endemic species including penguins PLUS guided islands walks among hot pink flamingos, elegant albatross, frigate birds, iguanas -- trying not to trip over all these amazing life forms all over the place; plus a good boat, great captain and crew, good food (rare, I've found, at sea) -- all this made the trip a blast, a real humdinger, besides being a wonderful celebration of creation in some of its finest attire.

"I'll not forget my best dive, a snorkel dive which I did a lot of in addition to scuba. The divers in the panga no longer smirked at me as many scuba addicts do to free-divers. They knew by then how superb Galapagos could be on all levels.

"We'd been ecstatic the previous day, the sharks thick and in incredibly large gatherings,-- seemingly endless, more than I'd ever seen at Cocos or Malpelo. I'd been getting into the massive schools consistently, breath-holding to 50 feet and hanging out as the remarkably docile hammerheads paraded slowly by with a gracefulness unique to their kind.

"This day, though, the hammerheads were accompanied by hundreds of (what I think were) silky sharks, fairly solid from 150 feet up to 40 and occasionally 20 feet. I got some good air and finned down deep, headed into the current like the sharks and as I entered the midst of the school, turned around to face the oncoming extravaganza -- hammerheads, silkies, big wahoos and rainbow runners all casually cruising toward me and by me, up, down, all around so close, so nice.

"Instinctively I slowly extended my un-gloved hand and slightly brushed the tail fin of a passing hammerhead, just to confirm my proximity (and sanity!) It bolted away, but all others else held their ongoing formation. Clear, warm, sunny Pacific water filled with such spectacular human-accepting life forms. I felt intense joy and gratitude as I slowly ascended, the imprint settling peacefully in my soul. I was fortunate to be able to experience the same again, and again, and again, until I was too exhausted and flabbergasted to continue.

"Rufino, our guardian angel-like Ecuadorian panga driver picked me up and smiled at my expressions of contentedness. Mucho tiburon!"

The highlight reel from this season must include a few clips from Darwin. Disappointing overall, Darwin still produced a school of some 50 mobula rays on one dive, and a couple of marlin during a safety stop on another. The dolphin in Galapagos seem to be getting more numerous and increasingly friendly. At Darwin, while on scuba (the bubbles from which normally frighten dolphin away) one guest and I had 20 to 25 dolphin swarm around us. In fact, throughout the entire season, guests reveled in dolphin experiences, coming back with superb video footage, or roll after roll of stills. Birgitte shot 5 rolls of nothing but dolphin in under an hour of snorkeling. A school of well over 1000 spent half a day around us at one island, and free diving among them appeared to give the dolphins as much entertainment as it did to us.

 Contrasting the calm passage of the sharks, rambunctious sea lions would periodically dive-bomb the salemas, scattering them wildly in their path, racing this way and that, delighting in the panic they incited as they looped and spiraled through the school, finally exploding out the sides or top.

Those disseminating the current horror stories are not bad people, they are just extremely concerned, and have chosen this tactic to try and ignite international action. Perhaps they are merely prophets of a sad future. Some suggest boycotting Galapagos, to make Ecuador suffer economically for their lack of aggressive action against illegal fishing. But this is akin to declaring victory for the fishing interests. Reducing the economic power of the tourist industry, and the economic contribution tourists make to the local economies, will only weaken the argument that tourist dollars are the only reliable, long-term source of income. And preserving the natural treasures of the Galapagos is the only way to assure continued support by tourists. We are firm believers of this school of thought, and will continue to schedule tours to Galapagos as long as the diving there remains as spectacular as it presently is today -- the greatest show on earth!