[Jules]

Our itinary included 5 days at Darwin and wolf but this was actually on alternate days so wolf then Darwin then wolf then Darwin then wolf. This meant about 2-3 hours sailing between , sometimes in fairly choppy waters.

The site we mostly dived at wolf starts at a place called “The landslide” Always negative entry and straight down, unless your buddy has floaty issues in which case it’s negative entry, grab buddy’s ankle and descend a meter.

At 10 meters you see some huge boulders and quiet on the surface does not mean there won’t be currents at depth. In the 8 dives we did at wolf we had everything from eerily calm to ripping currents that would take your mask off.

The technique you adopt is to get down onto the ledge at 20m find your rock, befriend it and give it a cuddle and then hang on and watch into the blue for the show to start.

Oh My God! What a show it is. It’s sensational diving. Totally mind blowing in fact! There you are in the water hanging onto your rock, the surge changes and you are flung off that one and onto another one but meanwhile a hundred hammerhead sharks breeze over the top of you,



and then a turtle mooches past.

You take a picture of that but then look up and notice a squadron of spotted eagle rays swimming overhead – Backwards! They are swimming forward but the current is so strong that they are actually gliding backwards relative to you and the little rock, that has become your new best friend. So you shoot off a few pictures of the rays, wishing that all the fish would get out of the way because they are spoiling the silhouette effect.


Then you realise that your buddy is screaming into her reg for you to turn around and when you do you squeak because you are being stalked by two silky sharks and they are less than a metre from you. You fight them off (metaphorically) by exhaling and blowing bubbles which go sideways towards them in the current, they turn and go sneak up on someone else. All the while you can hear the distinctive whistling of dolphins, and at least twice in the dive you get buzzed by pod or an individual just checking you out.

At Darwin’s Arch to add to all of this, the frenetic rattling of the guide’s rattle indicates that he has spotted a whaleshark and it’s time to do the 100 metre dash out into the blue to take a look. When you do catch the sight of a whaleshark it’s just breath taking. They are huge. The size of a bus, but in the form of a gentle yet powerful creature, that gracefully, yet deceptively quickly, moves through the water. It’s an experience which leaves you struggling for vocabulary; AWESOME just doesn’t even come close. Everyone should get to see a whaleshark some time in their life! Even the baby we saw was colossal.

Posting a video link here so I hope it works






On every dive here at Darwin and Wolf we saw Galapagos sharks, Hammerheads, Silky Sharks, Turtles, Dolphins, Morays by the hundred (not poking out of holes but free swimming along the rocks). On many we have seen Mobula rays, Spotted eagle rays, Marble rays. You get some overwhelmed by the big stuff that you forget to look at the little stuff but when you do you realise there are so many different fish, and as for the dolphins?? By the truck load! They chase the Ribs back to deep blue and when you are moored up in the evening they are swimming past for hours at a time. The sheer profusion of sea life is simply incredible.

I don’t have time to go through the Darwin and wolf experience dive by dive as to some extent it all merges into one big WOW.

Some memorable moments were…

On day one dive two at Wolf Super and I ended up way behind the crowd because there was the equivalent of the M25’s worth of hammerheads swimming over us and in front of us. We just stayed put in awe and wonder. When gas got low we swam out into the blue for our safety stop and eventually surfaced in a 4 meter swell. At this point we couldn’t see the boat or either of the pangas or anyone else’s SMBs. We were there a while and starting to consider the fact that the current would eventually take us to Australia. We sounded our air horns. 6 long squirts that resounded off the cliffs above us.

Nothing.

We decided to swim out further to get a look round the corner and at this point a panga came around the corner. Disappearing for 20 seconds and appearing for 2 in the swell. I held my SMB above my head and waved it. Relief isn’t the word for it! The rest of the group had travelled with a the current round the corner but we hadn’t. Jason had spotted my SMB and kept it in sight as it disappeared and reappeared in the swell. I love my SMB!

On another dive at Darwin , exhausted from chasing about in the blue after whalesharks we had retreated to the rocks. On these dives when someone points you had better look where they are pointing. I followed Jason’s finger and nearly spat my reg as a huge whaleshark cruised over the top of us. And later on the our safety stop I looked between my fins to see another animal the size of bus cruise below me. :o)

At this point I ought to pay homage to the queen of the Whaleshark Chasers Jane. On every video clip of whale sharks there she is keeping up with them and being first there.


On our last dive at Wolf, Super and I again lagged behind the group due to be entranced by all the action around us. As usually we drifted out into the blue and deployed my SMB hanging at 6 m we were surrounded by a baitball of hundreds of swirling fish being circled by about 7 silkies. At this point my memory of being told not to ascend on your own because of the silkies was recalled but to be honest I wasn’t scared, enthralled, I think is the word. But so much adrenaline flowed through me that I didn’t even think to turn my camera on and record it. I just hang there soaking up the image of being circled by these powerful and beautiful animals.

To be continued