The strong winds in the morning quickly subsided as we traveled around Espiritu Santo and arrived at El Bajo. We had mostly sunny conditions all day with warm breezes and mild seas.

At El Bajo, the water was the best I have seen it this year. Clear and clean, we could see the rock from the boat. Upon descending, we had hopes of seeing sharks, but these sightings are very rare. We did two long swims into the blue looking for that famous hammer shape to appear out of the haze, but we were not lucky today. The rest of the dive was very rewarding though. The Moray condo is in full occupancy and the schools of feeding fish created a ceiling that separated us from the surface most of the dive. Our second dive we concentrated on the rock a bit more. We searched out the special creatures that live in the cracks and crevasses of the giant rock. Having good visibility was a treat and we took full advantage of it. At the end of the dive, we once again headed into the blue for one last try, but to no avail. Perhaps next time we will see the big guys. As we motored toward out next dive site, the water was alive. A school of dolphins raced along the bow for a while. Later we saw a Finback whale diving and surfacing alongside the island and soon after that, a pod of Pilot whales surrounded us. All the while, we could see “popcorn” mantas, Mobulas, jumping around us. It was a tough decision to leave the area, but we had one more dive to get in before the sun set. Arriving at Salvatierra, the water was a bit green. As we descended, all of us realized that we would have to dive close together in order to remain together. The divers from the north felt strangely at home here, as the visibility was less than 5’. We managed a tour of the boat, but mostly concentrated on the ‘little guy’. Nudibranchs, eels, and the three Staghorn Coral crabs we found were the stars of the show.