Diving Malpelo in January: Kinburn, this is your fault!

I had a request from a friend and former guest to go diving in Malpelo in January. I had not planned on it, but I decided to do the trip because I wanted to see Kinburn again after so many years. It was also a nice change from the Malpelo summer trips that I normally do.

Malpelo in January Means Hammerheads and More hammerheads

In general, the visibility is lower and the temperature is colder, but there were more hammerheads.

We started off as we usually do, with the first dive at Altar de Virginia. At the drop we already had a lot of hammerheads, and they kept on coming from above, under, behind, and in front of us. This continued at Cara de la Fantasma; sharks were just coming and coming and coming…

It was the same at El Monstruo, which Ferox was named after, for the sand tiger shark that sometimes comes in there. I haven’t seen it even if I have done more than 50 trips here.

Hammerhead sharks filled all this area the whole week.

El Bajón and the South

We did our drop at David and then swam over to El Bajon. Down at 30+ meters (98+ feet), the temperature was down to 17 C (63 F), so it was pretty fresh compared to 26 C (79 F) at the surface. There were big schools of hammerheads but due to less visibility, it was harder to see them. It was clearer in the cold water, but pretty dark.

La Nevera

We checked it out a few times on this trip and it was good. There were a lot of Galapagos sharks, eagle rays, and also hammerheads; but I canceled one dive because the viz was so poor. We went back to Cara de la Fantasma and had a great dive there.

D’Artagnan

It was fishy, but the viz was not great. We didn’t get in to the school of big-eye jacks this time.

Current and General Sea Conditions

We had from almost-no-current to times when it was ripping, which is so typical in this area. Rain and sunshine blended together this week. There were some strong swells and surge on the west side that made the diving a bit tougher. The thermocline was, as always, just not at one depth. It always changed from 20-22 meters (66-72 feet) up to 10 meters (33 feet). And temperatures that could be from 26 C (79 F) down to 18 C (64 F) on the same dive. The good things was that the hammerheads were often very high up in the water and it wasn’t necessary to go very deep. In the mix of warm and cold water, it was just like a soup. Either you go deeper and got clear-but-dark water, or stayed shallower where there was more light and more blue water.

We ended up diving mostly on the northeast side of Malpelo, where we had little current and better visibility. It was also where the animals were. Shark-wise, the hammerhead action was about the most intense I have ever seen. We constantly encountered hammerhead sharks on almost every dive. They were often swimming up to as shallow as 5 meters (16 feet) of depth.

Missing Some Dive Sites

On the minus side, many other dive sites were not accesible not only due to low visibility, but also because we didn’t find so many of the bigger animals. I felt a bit bad that I didn’t get the chance to show some of the other cool life that Malpelo can offer. Although, what we saw more than made up for the stuff that we missed. The craziness of the hammerhead encounters and groups of eagle rays of up to about 30 individuals. It was the biggest group I have seen here.

When Taking Photos, Come Up to Where I Am!

I don’t have many good images because I normally don’t bring my point-and-shoot camera with me on the first days. I want to focus on the reason I am here, which is to check on the divers and show the animals. Later on, I bring it with me and take some snapshots when it allows me to. It’s just that I am not going swimming after the animals to get my shot. I show and try to get the divers up in line with me or even a bit ahead so that they can get the better view. The difference of seeing 100 hammerheads or just 5-10 can be just 4-5 meters (13-16 feet).

So, if you dive with me in the future and I make the signal to come up to where I am, it’s because I see animals. And if I show go ahead of me, then go ahead. I prefer that you are not taking photos of, or filming my ass. I am here to guide you to the animals and for you to enjoy them without having images of my bubbles or my body parts… Sometimes I have some of my divers who are a bit shy. And, of course, there are those who are bolting away and scaring the crap out of the wild life. (But if that happen, I will for sure let you know. 😉)

Thank you!

This week was a crazy hammerhead week, probably the most that I have seen! As I said at the beginning of the trip, if it’s not good, then blame Kinburn because he made me book a January trip to Malpelo. Now I say, thank you Kinburn! Thank you as well to Susan, whom I finally met again after close to 10 years; Tracy and her sharp eyes; Anders was our boat and dive doctor, and one of the very few Swedes I had pleasure to meet and practice my mother tongue; and Andres again for a so-intense, energetic, and positive curiosity not only for the big animals, but also for the small stuff that he discovers in the ocean. It’s a pleasure to watch him grow on every trip I dive with him.

We had a great dive team! I hope I meet all these different characters again soon!

This year I’m doing a slightly longer trip with 7 diving days. Please get in touch if you would like to join me in July: via email or send me a message on my website. More information on the trip here: Malpelo Liveaboard Diving