“Dutchie and I joined a scuba diving liveaboard (diving cruise) for 7N/8D.
The itinerary included seven days of scuba diving across the Galapagos archipelago (Ecuador): Punta Carrion, Wolf Island, Darwin’s Arch & Island and Cousins Rock” 

After two days scuba diving in Wolf Island (Galapagos, Ecuador), our diving boat sailed to Darwin’s Arch and Island. The second “holy grail” in Galapagos Islands for scuba divers.

Darwin Arch is in the background and these boobies birds are hitchhiking our boat 😀

Our last dive in Darwin’s Arch and here I am, at 20 something meters deep, laying on the sea plateau before a drop-off, between the rocks and hard corals. It is uncomfortable, especially knowing a Moray eel is hiding in the rocks behind me. I try my best not to disturb Madam Moray eel, my short time neighbor.

Hello, Madam Moray eel!

The problem is, I don’t have any choice of places to lay down. After six dives in Darwin Arch and Darwin Island, I observe that there are large numbers of Moray eels hidden or hanging around on the rocks and hard corals. And they are huge. I am not kidding. Judging by their size, they can easily swallow an Asian female body of 160 cm length. Okay, I know they won’t swallow me, Moray eel is one of the gentle marine animals I have ever seen. They will not bother you unless if you harras them. I hope the laying down in front their home does not fall into a harassment category. I spot between 15 to 30 Moray eels on each dive. Incredible, heh?

Moray eel

Moray eel

Moray eel

The incredible marine life of Galapagos does not stop at the abundant numbers of Moray eel. The main reason I have to lay down on the sea plateau (as instructed by our dive masters) is to watch the hammerhead sharks ‘passing by’. It is the greatest show during our dives, as it’s not only the show of schooling of hammerhead sharks but also the passing by turtles, Galapagos sharks, eagle rays, the schooling of yellowfin tuna, jackfish and many more fishes. It’s like millions of fishes showing up at the show, and we, the scuba divers, are looking at them in amaze. Clicking our cameras just like the paparazzi do. This time our celebrities are the marine life who are the masters of the ocean.

Darwin Arch/Island – Galapagos

Darwin Arch/Island – Galapagos

Darwin Arch/Island – Galapagos

Darwin Arch/Island – Galapagos

Darwin Arch/Island – Galapagos

For images and video of the hammerhead sharks in Galapagos, please visit my previous post: Hammerhead Sharks in Galapagos

The last time I have seen the abundant fishes like this were in Raja Ampat (West Papua, Indonesia) where we could not even see the reef and the surface due to crazy abundant marine life. Rare and unique places on earth that give us hope to continue saving this planet from the fishes extinction and dying ocean.

My favorite finding: two lobsters and a Moray eel (there had been two Moray eel but the other one went hiding)

Starting on March 2018, I will include images in the blog post that are available for sale. Please refer to About Page for the reason behind this and how to use the watermarked images in my blog.

Thank you so much.

Some images in this blog post are for sale in a larger size (4608×3456) (<5MB) without watermark. These images are free for commercial use and editing. The digital file (.JPG) will be sent via email after the order received. Please contact me if you have a problem with processing the order. No refund after the JPG file sent.

P1012419 – Moray eel

$5.00

P1012436 – two Lobsters & Moray eel

$5.00

P1012482 – Moray eel in between corals

$5.00

P1012426 – Angelfish Galapagos

$5.00