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travel Socorro Islands

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Whitetip sharks at Roca Partida;
starfish; lobster at Socorro Island; goby at Roca Partida

taken on a gray-coloured glacial look. find a multitude of colourful fish and equipped with a wide angle lens for
Very little life grows upon these ridges hard corals on a stair-stepping terrain. my digital underwater camera system.
however, leaving scant quantities of During a recent visit in January and For a while we all sat like spectators,
green vegetation to be found on the February of 2007, I was able to dive patiently waiting for something to pass
northern half of the island. Both dive this location at a place called the by. The blue abyss was the only thing I
boats like to anchor on the more pro- “Canyon”. Like all of the other divers could see.
tected “ash” side of this island, using who jumped into the water for their A large school of yellow fish with
the smaller boats for quick access to first dive of the trip, I eagerly followed blue stripes formed a tight circle and
trickier sites requiring maneuverability. the dive guide over to a fingering reef hovered near the reef to one side of
Stretching outward to the sea are and headed out towards open ocean. us. Thinking nothing of this I turned
the jagged remains of a lava flow—its As the depth increased, the water to see what I could find on the reef
violent epic forever frozen in time. grew cooler. Sounds from the reef behind us. Several others also became
Brown-footed boobies are one of the below and passing fish became more curious and began exploring the reef.
several sea birds utilizing the cliffs. evident. At 27 meters (90 feet), I could Several small Socorro lobsters under
From high above, they peer down with clearly see the other divers and every- a rocky ledge peered out, but did
goofy expressions when the smaller thing anoth- er not seem afraid. To the left of the lob-
boats motor over for closer looks. 9 meters sters, a small brown and black mottled
These noisy birds have even been (30 feet) octopus stood stretched up on
known to land on visiting boats and be below its legs, as if trying to
coaxed onto a human arm or head! me. see what it was
Underwater the lava flow contin- Expecting the divers
ues to stretch out even more, offering to see ham- were
a deep platform for divers to sit and merhead, silky watch-
wait for passing sharks and other large and Galapagos ing
pelagics. Closer to shore, divers will sharks, I came

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