Xavier’s Editorial – October

Two weeks ago, I returned from an amazing trip to the Galapagos, and yes, the bucket list got a tick in the box!

Anyone who follows us on FACEBOOK will have been amazed at some of the footage posted on the site, I’m still pinching myself at the memories of the encounters I had with some of the most magnificent creatures to grace our planet.

Prior to departure I had some expectations but I must say that everything about the Galapagos exceeded my expectations by miles.

It was very pleasing to see that there are still areas of the planet that we, as a human race haven’t trashed!

Having said that, it was also very disappointing to see that although the Galapagos are a sanctuary, poaching of sharks by drift long lining practices still happens with several sightings of hammerhead sharks with hooks and lines embedded in and hanging from their mouths.

Aside from that, there are whale sharks and there are WHALE SHARKS!  The specimens encountered in the Galapagos have to be the biggest I have ever seen by several metres, these guys resembled underwater buses, again, the footage is testament to our encounters.

We also had encounters with turtles, Spotted Eagle rays, a Mola Mola (Sunfish), Galapagos sharks, Silky sharks, White Tip Reef sharks, Fur seals, Stonefish, Crayfish, Moray eels, Big Eye Jacks, Barracuda, the biggest school of Yellow-fin Tuna I have ever seen (John West would feel secure about the prospects of future business) and literally tens of millions of fish of all shapes, sizes and species, so much so that they became an annoyance getting in the way of footage being taken.

And just in case you missed out and are keen to go, we have re-booked the Humboldt Explorer for the very same timeslot in 2016 (this is the earliest date that we could secure it for!)