Galápagos Islands – Day 4: The Sharkiest Day
GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS
Day 4: The Sharkiest Day
October 25, 2025
PART I
With four dives planned for the day, we had to wake up before sunrise yet again. After an 18-hour journey across the archipelago, we had finally arrived at Wolf Island.
Located in the remote north of the Galápagos, Wolf Island is home to some of the most legendary diving in the world. Named after the German geologist Theodor Wolf, it is an uninhabited island with no tourist landing sites, accessible to visitors only through the liveaboards that dive its surrounding waters. With strong currents, deep water and blue-water ascents, the sites are generally best suited to experienced divers.
Along with nearby Darwin Island, Wolf is often regarded as the pinnacle of diving in the Galápagos – and we’d have an entire day to explore it!
Shark Soup at Shark Bay
Our first two dives would take place at Shark Bay. As its name suggests, the site is renowned for enormous schools of scalloped hammerheads and patrolling Galápagos sharks, with the occasional whale shark also passing through.
The moment we began our descent, we saw sea lions plunging into the water beside us, seemingly viewing our arrival as a source of entertainment. After spending some time playing with them, we made our way towards a steep wall covered in boulders, corals and sponges. Here, we found a comfortable position among the bare rocks where we could shelter from the current and admire the marine life passing through the blue. The funky red gloves Juan had given me proved incredibly useful as I steadied myself against the boulders.
First came a solitary Galápagos shark. Then a scalloped hammerhead. And then what looked like a hundred more, all parading right in front of us. It was like being submerged in shark soup, served with barracudas and hawksbill turtles on the side!
Rays at the Landslide
After an incredible start to the day, it was back to our increasingly familiar routine – a hot shower, snacks, charging my GoPro, uploading the footage and preparing for the next dive. Every now and then, there was even time for a quick dip in the hot tub.
Our final two dives would take place at The Landslide, or El Derrumbe, a sloping underwater terrain strewn with fallen boulders and rocky ledges. The rubble provided shelter for moray eels, sea stars, urchins and colourful reef fish, while hammerheads, tuna and enormous schools of jacks patrolled the currents beyond it. The stars of these dives, however, were the rays. Large groups of golden cownose rays, mobulas and spotted eagle rays kept us entertained throughout, with an enormous two-metre spotted eagle ray eventually stealing the spotlight.
Watching some of the smaller rays work against the current made me think of giant mantas, which always seemed to glide through even the roughest waters without the slightest effort. They’re simply so elegant and graceful!
Here, we also stumbled upon a rowdy bunch of Galápagos sea lions who seemed just as excited to see us as we were to see them. They darted, twisted and somersaulted around us, repeatedly racing towards our masks before veering away at the very last second. For those few chaotic minutes, we forgot all about the sharks and simply had the time of our lives playing with them. They’re definitely the most fun-loving sea creatures I’d ever encountered!
Vampires Above the Water
Back on the surface, the show wasn’t quite over yet. As we sunbathed on the ship’s sundeck, we could admire the rocky and barren cliffs of Wolf Island which support enormous colonies of seabirds, including Nazca boobies, frigatebirds and swallow-tailed gulls.
Apparently, these birds use the strong updraughts to soar around the volcanic cliffs and search for food in the surrounding waters. Although my binos were too low-powered to appreciate them properly from that distance, several eventually flew close enough to hover directly above the Calipso.
That said, one of Wolf’s most fascinating residents was a bird I didn’t get to see: the vampire finch. Found only on Wolf and Darwin islands, Jimmy told us that this small, sharp-beaked bird occasionally pecks at the skin around the feathers of larger seabirds, particularly Nazca and red-footed boobies, and drinks their blood. The blood-feeding itself is best described as parasitic, although one leading theory suggests that it evolved from a mutually beneficial habit in which the finches removed parasites from the boobies’ feathers. Over time, their pecking may have begun drawing blood, providing another source of nourishment when seeds, insects and freshwater became scarce during the dry season. Cool, cool.
PART II
Couples Who Dive Together
After finally getting to enjoy a divine sunset with Wolf Island in the background, we gathered on the upper deck for a barbecue.
We downed a few shots of aguardiente and some French booze that Belle and Jean had brought with them while recounting all kinds of diving tales and life stories. Turns out, they had been together for around 38 years and had been diving since 1993. They have two children, the eldest a marine biologist and the younger a 3D graphics designer.
As they both went on about their kids and how they raised them, Belle and I compared the different parenting styles we had encountered across northern and southern Europe, with southern European children often being kept closer to home and protected for longer. My upbringing, I admitted, was a prime example of this – having grown up sheltered and always kept far from harm’s way. While Belle and Jean always encouraged their kids to go out and live their full lives, they also worked hard to ensure a good and secure future for them. What an inspirational couple!
We chatted for hours on end, and, once I was tipsy enough, I finally kept my promise to Brook and told her all about how I had earned the title of ‘The Dropper’, including the infamous Tank Incident with Noah, as well as how I had somehow become Baby Jesus back in Utila. We talked and recounted all sorts of experiences – until the lights suddenly went out, that is. That’s when the chef appeared carrying a cake – it was Brook and Craig’s first wedding anniversary!
Having gotten to know them over the previous few days, I couldn’t help but think that they would become the next generation of Belle and Phil. After all, couples who dive together stay together!
A Warning Before Darwin
Then came another seemingly endless briefing. While Team Whale Shark had enjoyed a spectacular day, Team Mola Mola had not been quite so fortunate.
Apparently, one of their divers had become separated from the group and found himself alone in the open water, forcing him to pull out his Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS. Luckily, the Zodiac driver eventually spotted him and brought him back safely before we had finished our dives. Although it had been an isolated incident, the entire boat was told off during the briefing. Jimmy once again emphasised the importance of staying together and not wandering away from the guides. He also told us that the diver’s distress signal had never transmitted and that the Zodiac driver had spotted him largely by chance. It later emerged that the diver had not properly activated the device as instructed – perhaps unsurprisingly, given that he had apparently spent much of the original safety briefing looking at his phone.
To ensure that everyone understood the procedure, we had to repeat the entire safety briefing, particularly because the currents and conditions at Darwin Island the following day were expected to be even more challenging. Jimmy described what seemed like a million different ways we could become injured, swept away or killed if we failed to follow the guides’ instructions. If the purpose of the briefing was to frighten us, I can safely say that it worked wonders.
I had dived in challenging conditions before, but the more he spoke, the more every certification and logged dive I had accumulated seemed to shrink. I knew that I had come a long way since my early days in Utila, yet experience didn’t make me invincible. If anything, it made me more aware of how quickly everything could go wrong. Once again, I found myself genuinely wondering whether I was ready for what came next.