David was up early and out the door to be at the dive shop for 7am. Xavier was already at the shop when David arrived, trying on his wetsuit. Within minutes, David had all his gear handed to him and was trying it out for size.

Soon after, a girl came into the shop who had booked the previous day for the dive but asked if we would be doing an easy dive. This immediately seemed strange because Gordon Rocks is one of the most difficult dives in Galapagos with a combination of prolonged depth and strong currents and surges. She was a qualified Advanced Diver but hadn't dived for over 5 years - this was not the dive to rediscover the underwater world. After a bit more information from the divemaster she decided against the dive and left the shop.

In the end, there was going to be four of us diving Gordon Rocks and another girl doing a Discovery Dive during our surface interval. Our gear was loaded into a pick up truck and we were driven back across the island to the channel where we got on the dive boat. After the hour's drive, it was another hour to get to the dive site.

Maria meanwhile was up on the hotel's terrace getting up to date with everything on internet. Puerto Ayora's weather for some reason is not as good as the other areas of Galápagos we visited, there was a bit of rain and it was not as warm as we were used to.

Maria went for a walk in the centre of town - there were lots of school kids, a Mercado Municipal and lots of lunch restaurants. It was however impossible to find a coffee or even cold coke in shops, many places were closed either for lunch or because of being Monday. The fishing port was open but only occupied with sea lions and pelicans, the fishermen wouldn't bring their catch back until late afternoon.

Back out at sea, the boat made a quick pass of Gordon Rocks to show the divers the layout and give a briefing of the actual dive. It was immediately obvious that the conditions on the surface and below were going to be challenging. With a big swell crashing against the rocks, a strong current and only 10-15m visibility, everyone had to get in the water together and descend immediately to ensure we at least remained as a group.

The boat sailed back to the shelter of the nearby mainland to allow everyone to carry out a weight check. The German had dived previously so he didn't need to and David and Xavier completed their check within seconds. The other guy spent ages under water though and this was unusual, especially on this dive when air consumption was a major factor.

Weight checks complete, we were soon back at the dive site waiting for the captain's shout for entry. He put us over the right spot and we all rolled off the boat into the turbulent water for a 'negative entry'. What this means is that a diver is negatively buoyant and will immediately sink rather than float on the surface - in practice, it's not as simple as it seems. When rolling backwards off a boat you tend to land on your back and there is a lot water resistance before you sink, you are simply not streamlined to sink, never mind having a lungful of air keeping you afloat.

David, being aware of this type of entry, quickly span round in the water and dived down. In the limited visibility he saw the 3 from the far side of the boat start to swim down and away towards to rocks. Our meeting point was 10 metres down on the rocks, clinging on to keep from being swept away by the current. Three of us and the divemaster all congregated on the rocks and waited 5 minutes for the German but he never arrived. David was buddied with Xavier and the divemaster was there... bring on the sharks!!

It was like a washing machine, apart from a strong current pushing through, there was a backward and forward surge against the rocks as well as the occasional upwelling. We gave up on the German diver and descended down to 20 metres to a point where we could see the sea floor inside the old volcanic cone. We were being buffeted around like crazy and clinging onto the rock like a limpet while we waited for the anticipated hammerheads to show up.

There were 1000's of fish round about us but we were trying to look past them, waiting for the big pelagics. A big green sea turtle floated past us and almost immediately a Galápagos shark cruised past. While nothing can be guaranteed in nature, there was still the hope and expectation that the hammerheads would turn up. There was nothing, we were being buffeted around watching the same thing happening to the smaller fish. No sooner had we noticed 3 turtles swim through on the floor of the old volcanic cone, did a hammerhead shark start swimming towards us, up above.

As we adjusted our eyesight towards the approaching shark, it soon became clear that it was not on its own, there were another 5 hammerheads behind it. Awesome!!

It was only 20 minutes into the dive and the guy who took ages on his weight check was low on air. We still had two thirds of our tanks left so he was told to go to the surface while we continued our dive. The sharks didn't return but there was still plenty of marine life to look at.

We went back to the sheltered bay for our surface interval and the guy who finished his dive early decided he would use his second tank watching his wife do her Discovery Dive - the second strange decision of the day the guy had made. Turns out it was actually his third, his second was during the earlier dive at Gordon Rocks when he decided to take his $700 video camera down to 20m when it was only waterproof to 5m. To compound his problems, when the camera was opened to let the water pour out, the memory card popped out at high speed and arced over the side of the boat into the sea.

The German managed to get with us on the second dive but it wasn't as lucky a dive. There were no sharks to be seen anywhere, only a couple of turtles and the water conditions were a lot more turbulent. We moved directly into the main channel to see if things would improve but the current only got stronger, it was like being in a super powerful wind tunnel.


Xavier let David know he was getting low on air and as buddy pairs, they agreed to surface. Xavier went forward to let the divemaster know we were going up when suddenly the German grabbed Xavier's air - the German had let his tank run out completely. The divemaster swapped him onto his secondary air and we all ascended for a safety stop. As we went up,the current pushed us round the rock into the path of two enormous Sunfish so we at least saw something new on this dive.

The turbulent conditions had taken it's toll on David though, no sooner was he back on the boat, he was seasick. Even some lunch wouldn't settle his stomach, it was immediately converted to burley, much to the delight of the fish and seabirds.

It was 5pm before David got back to the hotel and after a quick shower, we met up with Xavier in the Happy Hour sushi bar. The drinks might have been cheap but the sushi was so expensive that we decided only to have one roll before dinner.

Maria took us to a street she had found earlier in the day for dinner. The whole street was closed so that tables and chairs could be set out. The menus were all quite similar and basic so we opted for the 'menu del diá' - shrimp soup, fried fish, rice, salad and a lemonade, all for $4. It was a bit bland but it was definitely filling.