First Encounter With Hammer Head Sharks

On our forth day of diving in the GalapagosAbout fifty feet deep we stopped to see a
Islands we traveled to a dive site called Gordon'smoray eel hiding in a crevice in the rocks. After a
Rock. It is a small volcanic mount that jettisonsfew minutes of exploring the underwater wall of
out of the water. Gordon's Rock is located nearGordon's rock we swam in the open water about
the north east corner of Santa Cruz Island.fifteen minutes with no structure at all to get our
As we donned our dive equipment we watchedbearings.
the rough seas crashing against the jagged rocksIt was spooky, especially with a strong current,
less than thirty feet from our boat wondering tobut we had trust in our guide. Out of the misty
ourselves about the sanity of diving in thishaze we saw a dozen or more five to six foot
untamed area. But, exhilaration and anticipationlong hammerhead sharks swimming gracefully
subdued our concerns.below us.
Once in position, Macarron (our dive master) gaveThey are strange, but beautiful creatures with a
us the signal and we all flipped off of the side offish like body and a T shaped head with eyes on
the boat starting our decent near the vertical wallthe end of the T. Thoughts raced though my
of Gordon's rock.head. It is one thing to watch hammer head
Into the abyss we went, confident that oursharks on the discovery channel. It is another
experienced guide would keep us out of harmsthing to see them live!
way. The current was about one to two knotsEpilogue
and hour. Along with the strong current thereIf you are a diver, the Galapagos Islands is an
were some serious surges as deep as forty toamazing place to go. Having significant dives under
fifty feet.ones belt is important as the currents and cold
The swells pulled us upwards about four to fivewater are challenging.
feet and then shoved us back down the sameThe undersea world is prehistoric, wild and
amount a few seconds later. We were beingunbelievably beautiful. The trip to the Galapagos
tossed around the seas like leaves in the wind.Islands surpassed every one of our expectations.
We tried to relax and navigate as best as possibleThe memories from this trip last a lifetime.
through the current and surges.