Pacific Cocos Galápagos Malpelo Socorro Hawaii Palau E EASTERN PACIFICE

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The Wonders of the Pacific Cocos Galápagos Malpelo Socorro Hawaii Palau E EASTERN PACIFICE

BIG GAME DIVING

If you are looking for high-energy encounters with the big stars of the ocean, the Eastern Tropical Pacific is the place for you – rugged, unforgivingand, at times, terrifying

Words and photographs Douglas David Seifert A marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) on Isabella Island in the Galápagos E EASTERN PACIFICE

Above, oceanic Below, the manta Right, scalloped bottlenose dolphins rays of Socorro are hammerhead sharks returning from renowned for their gather around seamounts nocturnal hunting curiousity during the day

E EASTERN PACIFICE Jacks and a moray eel out hunting creolefish E EASTERN PACIFICE

Rock clefts are filled with long-spined sea urchins, home to eels and nocturnally active fish, as well as invertebrate and fish species that provide parasite removal cleaning stations. Spiny lobsters wave their antennae as if conducting symphonies while tucked back into recesses as deeply as they can wedge themselves. Guineafowl pufferfish and hogfish meander from crevice to crevice seeking unwary crustaceans caught out in the open. hen the topic turns to the Colonies of pale purple barnacles by the thousand ultimate in adventures underwater, one geographical have affixed themselves to the rocks as best their location springs to mind: the Eastern Tropical Pacific biological adhesive allows. Tiny blennies stare out from WOcean. Here, around the isolated and far-flung abandoned barnacle shells and cracks in the rocks. islands of the Galápagos, Malpelo, Cocos and the Floating in the midwater are swarms of creolefish, Revillagigedos, virtually anything imaginable involving picking plankton from the water column and moving the big animals of the sea is not only possible, but is rapidly, en masse, to safety whenever a predatory often routine! It is the one locale where witnessing snapper or hunting pack of jacks enter the area. In mind-blowing phenomena and being a participant in addition to the fish that are found in other parts of the extraordinary encounters beyond the imagination has Pacific, there are, in the entirety of the Eastern Tropical a very high probability. Pacific, 1,200 endemic fish species. This call to adventure is answered in the waters Perhaps because the setting is so similar, and adjacent to a select few islands – 26 in total (three repetitive, and, after a time, even monotonous, it is solitary islands and two archipelagos)scattered across the sudden appearance of a big animal or animals that an enormous seascape. This vast expanse of ocean is in transforms a lacklustre seascape into an amphitheatre a perpetual state of turbulence from competing current of the fantastic. Just as an empty stage helps an audience flows and wind-driven waves travelling vast distances. focus upon a main character in a performance, so too The waves unleash their accumulated energies with an does the sudden appearance of a giant oceanic manta explosive power upon these island specks – the first ray – or a school of hammerhead sharks, for example terrestrial obstacles they encounter. – relegate the dull and austere surroundings to a The topography is not pretty in a classical sense. The background role which enhances the star attraction. underwater vista lacks the multitude of colour and variety of living structures of a healthy Indo-Pacific THE MARINE CAST LIST coral reef. There is, in fact, relatively little coral – a few The roll call of animals that are often encountered species of stony coral rather weathered in appearance. during a week’s scuba diving here ticks a good many boxes for those driven by bucket list aspirations: ‘It is the sudden appearance of a big animal scalloped hammerhead sharks in sizeable schools; enormous oceanic manta rays; bottlenose dolphins; or animals that transforms a lacklustre sea- schools of bigeye jacks; silky and Galápagos sharks; scape into an amphitheatre of the fantastic’ moray eels; sailfish; hawksbill and green sea turtles; balls of baitfish attacked on all sides by opportunist It is a forlorn, stark, and primeval backdrop: massive predators; whale shark appearances; fast-moving tuna stone formations the size of houses or city blocks; sheer on the hunt… cliff faces extending above sea level and descending The islands of the Eastern Tropical Pacific are the into the depths; escarpments and ledges, overhangs Revillagigedo Archipelago of Mexico; Cocos Island, and undercuts; gargantuan rocks and massive boulders Costa Rica; Malpelo Island, Colombia; and the dominate the subsea terrain. The colour palette below Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador. (There is also one the surface is limited to a pale khaki to chalky-white in distant island atoll at the western frontier of the Eastern places, with fissures and gouges of black, otherwise it Tropical Pacific, namely Clipperton Island, claimed as is a universe of greys from light to dark. The stark French Overseas Territory, which is the most remote contrast between the scale of the formations and the of them all. The limited number of expeditions visiting absence of distracting or pleasing colour makes for a Clipperton have failed to find anything approximating very dramatic but uneasy arena. the impressive marine biodiversity found at the other To be sure, the seascape has a handsomeness – the two islands and two archipelagos.) word people use when they mean strong-featured but Each of these remote, remarkable islands shares not soothing or serene – and a rugged kind of beauty of a common trait: they are the terrestrial-protruding naked geological formations and structures well-worn outcrops of underwater mountains, all of which rise over time. The rock faces are minimalist in the extreme precipitously from the surrounding sea-floor plateau and austere, not featureless, but scarred with crevices. 350–1,000m (or more, in the case of Malpelo). These

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Right, the unforgettable visage of a red- lipped batfish E EASTERN PACIFICE

mountain-peaks-cum-oceanic islands are the uppermost formation of rock ridges made up of crags and seamounts (underwater volcanic mountain remnants) They are incrementally (on the order of two inches or so per year), moving along their respective oceanic plates (the Cocos Plate, Nazca Plate, and Pacific Plate) through the action of plate tectonics. These massifs are geological formations characterised by sheer profiles that deflect deep-water undercurrent flows. This creates upwellings of nutrient-rich water from colder, deep-water currents and down-wellings of warmer surface waters. The warmer waters have a greater concentration of dissolved oxygen which is transported to depths that would otherwise be cooler and oxygen- deficient. This dynamic dramatically expands the range of habitable environments for many species. Such vast natural forces create an area of high productivity, which concentrates and retains every component of the ocean’s trophic level, from the primary producers (phytoplankton) to primary consumers (zooplankton), to secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and apex predators. This concentrating effect is crucial, for although the Eastern Tropical Pacific has the richest biomass of sea life per square kilometre than any other region of the world, it is also immensely large and spread out. Multitudinous organisms are scattered far and wide, except at these island way stations at the oceanographic confluence of geology and currents.

THE CHALLENGE OF SURGE AND CURRENTS For those seeking to experience the Eastern Tropical Pacific, it has to be said that the conditions can involve some of the most difficult diving and most uncomfortable diving you can contend with, not to mention the factor of a very real possibility of physical danger. To dive the islands of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, one will often be faced with strong currents, to either ride along with as part of a dive plan, or to scrupulously avoid, as part of dive survival. Sometimes a combination of both strategies is required to maximise the opportunities to encounter big marine animals that themselves do not fear currents but effortlessly utilise them. There are currents so strong, so intense and powerful that humans cannot make headway against them and any resistance is futile. Currents that can take the unwary great distances out to sea and away from the reference of the island; or worse, downcurrents that can seize a diver and pull him or her down into the abyss rapidly, forcefully, one hundred metres or more – and beyond the diver’s ability to reach the surface alive. It is a place for caution and respect – the foolhardy and the reckless are rarely seen again. From February to April, Just as vexing as currents is the frequent occurrence humpback whales migrate to the of surge. Surge is the massive, rhythmic, displacement Revillagigedos Islands to breed movement of an area of water. Large wave swells and nurse their young pulse across the Pacific then abruptly encounter a

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stationary obstacle, such as a remote island in their home to as much as 50 per cent of the world’s oceans path. With surge, a diver is lifted towards the surface, biological production, with the Humboldt Current uncontrollably and rapidly, and then pushed downward alone accounting for 20 per cent of the planet’s total just as quickly and unpredictably with every pulse of fish landings, primarily in unimaginable quantities of waves. Sometimes the peak and trough can separated sardines, mackerel and anchovies. by as much as ten metres. The change in pressure of ten The Humboldt Current bathes the Galápagos metres in a matter of seconds can be very difficult for Archipelago with a profusion of life and the fuel many divers and can cause barotrauma to the ears. required to drive the entire spectrum of the oceanic Once one is resigned to strong currents and surge, food web. Its counterpart at the northern extent of the there are thermoclines of cold water intruding Eastern Tropical Pacific is the California Current. The unpredictably into a tropical dive venue to deal California Current fulfils the same role as the Humboldt with, plus occasional diminished visibility and then as it flows southward along the coast of North America, the presence of large marine predators. Only when with its origins off the coast of British Columbia, comfortable with all of that, can one competently Canada. It brings nutrient-rich water down the western consider diving in a place where anything is possible. seaboard of the United States to terminate at Baja As a distinct body of water, the Eastern Tropical California and brings its superabundant productivity to Pacific seascape comprises an area of 21 million sq the Revillagigidos Archipelago. km – roughly, an area greater than the size of three The dynamic marine environment found at these Australias or two Europes – and geopolitically includes oceanic islands is reliant upon the perpetual interplay the sovereign waters of 12 nations. Its terrestrial border of competing currents vying for dominance seasonally. is the west coast of the American continent, straddling Current is life, and currents drive the seasons in the sea both hemispheres and extending south to north – from in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Cabo Blanco, on the coast of Peru, South America, Cocos Island, 550km from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and Malpelo Island, 500km from Buenaventura, ‘Malpelo offers up the stuff of interminable Colombia, are separated from each other by 627km of open ocean, yet their seascape is defined by their shared bragging rights… enormous schools of silky current influences – the Panama Current, the North and sharks numbering in the high hundreds‘ South Equatorial Countercurrents, and the Colombian Current. To humans, the distances between the two moving northwards up through Ecuador and transiting islands are vast, but to the marine life, they are, to a the equator to include Colombia. It continues degree, interconnected. A recent study of hammerhead onwards, along the coasts of the Central American shark migratory movements documented connectivity countries of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, between Malpelo and Cocos Islands, as well as El Salvador, and Guatemala, and continuing on into connectivity with the northernmost of the Galápagos Mexico, following the coast, incorporating both the Islands, 1,200km distant from Malpelo. shoreline of the Sea of Cortez and its waters, continuing around the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula MALPELO ISLAND and north again to Bahia Magdalena on Baja’s west On its best days, Malpelo offers up the stuff of coast. From Bahia Magdalena, the boundary extends, interminable bragging rights: a place where, at the in a southwesterly direction, far offshore out into the right season and with good luck, one may encounter Pacific. The westernmost boundary is considered to be enormous schools of silky sharks numbering in the 150 degrees West longitude, where it merges with the high hundreds. Whale shark sightings are the North and South Equatorial Currents and they commonplace. Schools of hammerhead sharks provide coalesce into the Eastern Pacific Barrier – a 5,000km- a focus to many of the dive sites and often in relatively stretch of water without landfall until the Kiribati shallow water. Malpelo is renowned for its unique (Christmas) Islands. The northwest and southwest aggregation of fine-spotted moray eels (Gymnothorax margins are where cold-water currents moving from dovii) that may be found by the dozen or more, higher latitudes to lower latitudes deflect westward cohabiting on the current-swept, barnacle-encrusted – Humboldt Current in the south and the California boulders of the rocky undersea topography of a site Current in the north. called Altar of the Virgin. If one descends to 65m, The Humboldt Current, also known as the Peru at the dive site called Bajo del Monstruo, there is a Current, fuelled by winds and the South Pacific Gyre, possibility of seeing the rare, 4m-long, smalltoothed is the largest upwelling system in the world, bringing sand tiger shark (Odontaspis ferox). cold, nutrient-laden waters from the far south of At many locales, schools of bigeye jacks move with Chile into the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Although the surge as waves move volumes of water up and this seascape represents less than one per cent of down the rock faces of the island, the energy that has the global ocean surface, it is estimated that it is travelled across kilometres of open ocean releasing itself Left, Malpelo is home to unique aggregations of fine- spotted moray eels

Below, the schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks in the area have survived years of overfishing

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in an explosion of froth and crashing sea. The island itself is home to a small contingent of Colombian Navy personnel, stationed at the top of Cerro de la Mona, 100m above the wave-crashed boulders that ring the large rock that makes up the majority of the island. There are no beaches or landings, it is simply an isolated rock with a few pinnacles arrayed around its base. Masked boobies tend to nests among the crevices in the massive rock face and the walls are streaked with guano, as they have been since time immemorial. Malpelo appears fairly lifeless, but is home to a few endemic lizards and an endemic crab. It has no discernible vegetation, save lichen, and it calls to mind the phrase ‘godforsaken rock’, to which no doubt the naval officers stationed upon Malpelo for long periods of time might agree. But when the action is on, the sealife is abundant and conditions manageable, the phrase ‘godblessed’ may come to mind as well. Above, yellowfin Below ,whitetip reef In 1995, the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary tuna on the prowl sharks at Roca Patida was created to advance conservation measures, however, illegal fishing regularly occurred. In 2005, the government extended the sanctuary from 65,450 to 857,500 hectares. In 2006 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Yet, in spite of being 500km from shore and surrounded by deep water, adjacent to a 4,000m-deep trench, Malpelo can at times, also offer… nothing. There are times when the water clarity is reduced to a green soup with less than 10m visibility. There are also times when the hammerhead sharks are few and far between. Usually, it is when there are no dominant currents bringing their magic to this isolated collection of rocks. The water may be too warm, or it may be too cold, or, for whatever reason, the circumstances work against concentrating sea life near the rocks and diveable depths and the trip is a bust. It is one of the biggest gambles for the traveller seeking the adrenalin rush of big-animal action. Sometimes, it just doesn’t Clarion work out at all. And there is rarely a rhyme or reason, angelfish only opinion and some superstition about luck.

COCOS ISLAND Isla de Coco, to give its Spanish name, is high-peaked, with four mountains and 100m cliffs on all sides; 8km by 3km in size; a lush, green island, which receives 7,000mm of rainfall annually, and boasts as many as 200 waterfalls. It has two major bays with beaches, and many substantial islets adjacent to the central island. It is located 550km from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and has held a great fascination for many of its visitors over the centuries, serving as the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, as well as the original film of King Kong. It has been a Costa Rican National Park since 1978 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Its offshore dive sites Alcyone and Dirty Rock are world-renowned for consistent schooling hammerhead Left, shoaling salemas overwhelm a predator’s ability to target an individual fish

Below ,whitetip reef sharks at Roca Patida

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reef sharks that cooperatively hunt in packs in the late afternoon and especially at night. In recent years, a number of tiger sharks have taken up residence at Cocos and are most frequently seen around Manuelita Island. Though not predictable, whale sharks and manta rays often make surprise appearances to divers at various Cocos Island dive sites. At 30m, on the sand and rubble slope of Lobster Rock, the odd-shaped and bottom- dwelling rosy-lipped batfish, (Ogcocephalus porrectus) (uncharitably described by one prominent writer as having ‘the face of a mummified hooker’) can sometimes be found. It perches upon its fins, as if on tippy toes, searching the rubble for tasty crustaceans, and holds itself motionless to avoid attracting any predators. At certain times of the year, large schools of small fish pass through the area, where they hunted are relentlessly by yellowfin tuna and bottlenose dolphins, wahoo and rainbow runners, silky and Galápagos sharks, and seabirds. These small fish form polarised schools in an effort at defense through overwhelming numbers but predators opportunistically hunting together can reduce these vast schools into bait balls and ultimately into a fine rain of fish scales drifting into the depths in a matter of days.

THE REVILLAGIGEDOS ARCHIPELAGO This is called Mexico’s ‘Little Galápagos’ due to its isolation and unique endemic species on land. The islands have recently become well-known for their spectacular marine life. The four Revillagigedo islands are located southwest of Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of Baja California. The ‘closest’ island to the mainland is San Benedicto, 390km offshore. San Benedicto has become famous to divers around the world for a dive site called El Boiler, so named because the top of it rises so close to the surface that in rough seas, or at low tide, the waters above it appear to boil. It is a small guyot, roughly oval-shaped, more or less the size and shape of a football field, that rises from the bottom 35m below and reaches to just below the surface on the northwest coast of the island. It is covered in patches of coral and is home to lobsters, octopus, and reef fish. The sides of the pinnacle are patrolled by jacks and silky sharks. And mantas. Lots of mantas. El Boiler is the most reliable location known for encounters with large, tolerant and even inquisitive oceanic manta rays (Manta birostris). It is not uncommon to have eight manta rays soaring the currents around El Boiler and visiting cleaning stations where clarion angelfish (Holacanthus clarionensis) flock to them and begin a service of pecking parasites from the surfaces of their bodies. The manta rays also carry hitch-hiking sharksuckers (Echeneis naucrates) and remoras (Remora remora). The later are often infested with parasites, making for an angelfish feast. Sharks and other predators For reasons unknown, the manta rays at San Benedicto surround a dense bait ball appear to enjoy limited interaction with scuba divers,

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Both hawksbill and green turtles abound

Roca Partida, 120km to the west of Socorro

slowing to an unhurried speed and stalling above the A further 315km to the west of Socorro is the bubbles exhaled from the divers’ regulators, bathing infrequently visited Clarion Island. Not much is known in the expanding bubbles as they burst and dance about Clarion other than it is still relatively unexplored. along the mantas’ undersides. It is believed the mantas At 120km to the west of Socorro lies a lonely pinnacle, enjoy the sensation in the way that humans respond to Roca Partida. It is situated upon a broad, flat-topped tickling. There is a strict no-touching (and especially seamount, or guyot, in 80m of water, 30m jutting from a no-manta-ray-riding) policy enforced by all boats the sea and 100m wide. Roca Partida is a magnet for sea that allows the manta rays to control their level of life in the area: yellowfin tuna frequently race past the interaction with the divers rather than being molested rock looking for unwary prey, while shoals of Pacific by thoughtless and ill-mannered divers. Manta rays creolefish (Paranthias colonus) that form thick clouds are also, often, commonly seen at the anchorage on the in the upper water column disappear with an audible opposite side of the island. whoosh at the arrival of the hungry tuna. Silvertip Nearly 50km to the south of San Benedicto lies sharks can be seen at 30m or deeper. Whitetip reef Socorro Island. Socorro also has manta ray cleaning sharks lazily coast on currents next to the rock face, they stations, as well as some pinnacles where schools of also form languid pile-ups on the few ledges that are hammerhead sharks are often seen. Bottlenose dolphins large enough to support them and keep the current and visit sites, such as Cabo Pierce, almost daily ,and long surge from unceremoniously evicting them from their encounters are a frequent occurrence. perches and flinging them into the surrounding open Left, El Boiler is the most reliable location known for encounters with large, tolerant and even inquisitive oceanic manta rays

waters. Manta rays frequently pass by, as do bottlenose Protected Area, with a complete ban on fishing within dolphins, whale sharks and Galápagos sharks. 12km of each island. Unfortunately, enforcement has From February to April, humpback whales migrate been inconsistent at best, and sometimes non-existent. from their high-latitude feeding grounds to utilise Few other places can offer visiting divers reliable the Revillagigedo Islands as a breeding ground and encounters with giant manta rays, whale sharks, for delivering and nursing their offspring. In recent dolphins, humpback whales, tuna, pelagic fish and many years, there have been many documented encounters shark species. It is of vital importance for the islands between divers and humpback whales at Roca Partida in to be protected as a national priority for the future of particular, where whales have shown an extraordinary the people of Mexico and for the biological heritage tolerance towards scuba-diving interlopers, allowing of the entire world. This summer issues around the close approaches and photography from mere metres policing of illegal fishing have been improved and the away from these 14m-long giants. Revillagigedos Archipelago joined the United Nations For decades, fishermen have made the long and World Heritage List. turbulent crossing from the mainland to reap the marine riches of the Revillagigedos, often to the extent THE GALÁPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO of virtually strip-mining the region of all fish, sharks in To the far south of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, particular. Fortunately, the Mexican government has straddling the equator at 970km west of Ecuador, are declared the islands a Biosphere Reserve and a Marine Las Encantadas – the Enchanted Islands – known as E EASTERN PACIFICE A diver surrounded by a school of jacks E EASTERN PACIFICE

Galápagos. The 19 islands of the archipelago are spread out across 45,000 sq km of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Due to nearly two centuries of research, beginning with shore visits and specimen collection during the first geographical and zoological survey of the islands by the HMS Beagle and its young naturalist Charles Darwin in 1835, through years of dedicated research by scientists affiliated with the leading centres of learning from around the world, the islands are internationally renowned as the tangible, natural showcase for endemism and the living exposition of both the theory of evolution via natural selection and the hypothesis of island biogeography. In these isolated islands, terrestrial and avian animals evolved so suited to the intricacies of their immediate island environment that they live nowhere else, such as the various subspecies of Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra); the various subspecies of finches and mocking birds; the marine iguana and Galápagos penguin, as well as many others. The warm surface waters delivered by the south- westward flowing Panama Current maintain a tropical boundary current for the northeastern Galápagos. Its influence manifests itself with warmer surface sea temperatures at the two northernmost islands of Darwin and Wolf. From January to May, the northeast trade winds dominate and the Panama Current influences the Central Galápagos with warmer surface temperatures as well, displacing the influence of the cold-water Humboldt Current that dominates from June to December. Darwin and Wolf Islands offer essentially tropical diving, albeit with a cooler water thermocline – a crucial element that makes the area so appealing to scalloped hammerhead sharks. Darwin and Wolf Islands together are considered to be one of the best locales in the world to predictably see schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, Galápagos sharks and, in season, whale sharks. Recent research has determined that as many as 695 pregnant female whale sharks may visit Darwin Island might make their energy requirements less demanding, annually as a rest stop on a migration route to pupping as ectothermic animals, they would in effect starve grounds estimated to be somewhere in the northwest to death. In times of elevated sea temperatures, such part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific. as El Niňo Southern Oscillation events, the algae The Cromwell Current, also known as the Equatorial has a swift die-off and the marine iguanas starve and Undercurrent, flows eastward at depth bringing colder their population numbers crash. On several islands water and further nutrients and oxygen-rich waters. It dominated by colder waters and host to profusions creates an upwelling to the west of Isabella Island, which of small species of schooling fish, the world’s only accounts for the presence of numerous whale species tropical penguin, the Galápagos penguin, (Spheniscus and fuels the massive schools of small fish that are mendiculus), can be encountered. the main prey of sea lions, sharks and other piscivore The continual battle for dominance of the competing predators such as penguins. sea currents regulates the sea temperatures which in On the west coast of Isabella Island lives the world’s turn determine which animals will live and thrive in the only marine lizard, the wholly vegetarian marine Galápagos Islands, with the patchwork of cold-water iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). The cold waters are and warm-water environments offering specific niches. the perfect habitat for the type of macrophytic algae There is nowhere else in the world like the Galápagos they eat – warmer waters have other marine plants Islands and since 1986 the islands have been declared a dominating that are not suitable food for the iguanas Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, which was extended to and thus, although the warmer water temperature include the marine element in 2001. Left, hundreds of pregnant female whale sharks visit Darwin Island annually as a rest stop on a migration route to pupping grounds, estimated to be somewhere in the northwest part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific

THE BEST OF DIVES, THE WORST OF DIVES However, this description of the delights of this In order to experience the best diving sites of the special region sounds irresistible, too good to be Eastern Tropical Pacific, one must not only make a true… Beware: it is. A visit can really be either as substantial financial commitment but also have to good as the description suggests – and, occasionally, tolerate a plane journey to the host country, and upon even better – or the converse occurs, with almost no arrival, an overnight stay, and then undergo a tedious, middle ground. The Eastern Tropical Pacific is also, long and frequently uncomfortable boat journey, of enigmatically, a place where one can be confronted 24 hours or more, each way, across a vast expanse of with almost nothing interesting or out of the ordinary open ocean to arrive at the particular island chosen – and without appreciable cause, without pattern, that serves as the dive destination. The amount of time without warning. And so, to seasoned divers, it is a required to reach these crown jewels of the Eastern port of call alternately exhilarating and frustrating, Tropical Pacific can be a soul-destroying barrier to entry dogged by luck, bad and good, and a destination that for many divers, but for those who endure, the rewards requires determination and stamina to visit, because can be out of this world. it is a place where adventures with big animals can It truly is the only place where the big animals of the and do happen. The Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean sea – schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, whale is a place that can take your breath away, or bore sharks, manta rays, dolphins, shoals of fish, whales, you to tears. It can be the best of dives; the worst of sea turtles, and more – may be encountered in great dives… But you would be a fool not to experience it numbers, or all at once. for yourself. n

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Shall we dance? Douglas David Seifert joins the nightly pavane of reef manta rays off the island of Hawai’i

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ust offshore of the Kailua-Kona International Airport runway in Hawai’i is Makako Bay and most nights it is a scene of curious human activity: a flotilla of up to two dozen boats are rafted to one another, bow to stern, as they crowd Jseven permanent moorings. Their navigational lights and deck lights twinkle in the dark. Surrounding the boats in an area roughly the size of two tennis courts, dozens and dozens of snorkellers cling to floatation boards, their faces directed downwards. Heads pop up frequently and you can hear gurgling shrieks of delight and screams of excitement. The flotation boards have powerful, built-in underwater lights directed downward. Directly below the snorkellers are scuba divers, a lot of scuba divers – fifty or more, depending upon the night – kneeling upon the sand and rock bottom, at a depth of ten metres, and forming a large circle. They, too, have underwater torches. However, their powerful beams of light are directed upwards, as are their attentions. At the centre of this circle of genuflecting divers are several plastic crates filled with dive torches switched to maximum power. From a distance, the scene looks very much like an underwater campfire, as it is so fittingly referred to by the operators. The lights attract a dense concentration of tiny planktonic animals, primarily copepods, which emerge and gather at night to feed upon phytoplankton. The copepods congregate in swarms often profuse enough to form a palpable, opaque cloud and thus attract the true star attraction of this spectacle, the reef manta ray (Manta alfredi). The scene is a three-dimensional carnival: snorkellers at the surface, divers kneeling on the bottom encircling the campfire light boxes and, in between, dozens of manta rays swimming the blackness of the mid-water. The mantas’ white underbellies catch the light, illuminating their otherworldly diamond- shaped bodies and horn-like cephalic fins flanking their mouths, as they swoop and bank. They approach the plankton clouds swirling in the light beams and ▶

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The horn-like cephalic fins help channel the plankton into the manta ray’s gaping mouth

26 The lights encourage the plankton to gather together in dense concentrations

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28 Mantas rays consume two per cent of their body weight in food each day

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▶loom so close that one can have a detailed look into something to do with manta rays appearing and it was their unblinking eyes as they pass. quickly surmised that the lights attracted the plankton The scene is mesmerising, unlike anything but the mantas fed upon. Dive operator Jim Robinson at dreams and Hollywood fantasies – but oh-so- Kona Coast Divers first began to experiment with manta much better because it is really happening. Being night dives in the slightly deeper waters further offshore underwater at night, with its attendant weightlessness from the hotel, in 1991. He had special, powerful, and the insulation from distractions of scent and underwater lights constructed and gradually mantas sound and ability to speak, heightens the alien-ness of began to feed in their glow. Over time, the manta rays the experience and adds its own particular spice. became accustomed to the artificial lights that attracted Manta rays are cartilaginous fish, essentially large, the copepods and a once-a-week manta ray dive was flattened sharks, and like all members of the shark conducted. Word about this unique encounter began and ray family, do not possess a swim bladder to aid to spread among the scuba diving fraternity. Soon, buoyancy. Accordingly, they must swim constantly twice-weekly dives were conducted, then thrice-weekly throughout their lives. In order to do so, a manta ray – multiple operators began to run trips and ultimately must continuously feed to fulfil the caloric demands the manta ray night dive became a nightly excursion. of a metabolism ceaselessly on the move. They do Eventually, the Kona Surf Hotel went out of business not have the ability to swim backwards, so all of and its lights were extinguished. The mantas moved on. their lives are spent moving forward, with their A new location was established at Garden Eel Cove in mouths leading them on a search of food. They are Makoko Bay near a manta ray cleaning station visited by filter-feeding planktivores and have a modified pair the dive operators. A tentative night dive was conducted of fins flanking their mouths, called cephalic fins. with underwater lights and from the first effort, manta The fins, which can furl into a hydrodynamic cone rays appeared and began feeding. The dive operators shape when travelling and not eating, are spread wide had found a location where the manta rays’ food was and outward, functioning as paddles to funnel the occurring naturally and in quantities that attracted flow of water – and the plankton suspended within mantas that were in the area, the divers’ lights ‘merely’ – into their cavernous mouths when feeding. The concentrated that prey. plankton are trapped and collect upon gill rakers as Some manta ray individuals began to habituate the water passes through the mouth and out through area beyond their daylight cleaning station visits. the gill slits, also providing respiration. When ample One manta ray, named Lefty, for its damaged cephalic plankton are congregated on the gill rakers, the manta fin, was first observed by a diver in 1979, some 37 ray closes its mouth and swallows, then continues years ago. From nightly observations, the Manta until the food is depleted. Manta rays (as observed Pacific Research Foundation has created a photo- in captivity) consume two per cent of their weight in identification database that currently has more than food per day and the reef manta rays in Hawai’i vary 250 named manta rays. An alarmingly high number of in size and weight, with a range of 180–600kg. the manta rays have deformities caused by humans – The most efficient way for a three or four metre absent cephalic fins (sliced off during entanglements), manta ray to capture the maximum number of broken cephalic fins, fishing tackle embedded, scars copepods that are themselves each less than 2mm in from collisions with mooring lines and ropes… It length, is by ram filter feeding or barrel-roll feeding makes one ponder how many manta ray deaths caused through the densest concentration of copepods. by human impacts go unseen. While in the near-trance of binge foraging, manta How many manta rays appear on any given night is a rays exhibit remarkable spatial awareness – even in mystery that has everything to do with the abundance the dark, a manta ray can seemingly detect a GoPro of copepods, and their life cycle, whether manta rays held at arm’s length from a kneeling diver and pass have an abundant food source in another location, and close to it without collision, often within millimetres. factors known only to manta rays. Some nights may Kona’s manta rays were first observed feeding in have two or three manta rays; other nights may have a the shallows near the Kona Surf Hotel (now the dozen to several dozen. On one magic night in 2014, 46 site of the Sheraton Kona Resort at Keauhou Bay) individually identified mantas were seen at Garden Eel in the late 1980s. The hotel’s lights seemed to have Cove, and, up the coast, a further five mantas at ▶

30 More than 250 individual manta rays have been identified around Makoko Bay

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On a single night 46 individual mantas were recorded

32 Many of the mantas have been injured

▶the Sheraton’s Manta Village dive. Other infrequent Some veterans of manta dives over the years grumble visitors to the manta night dive are dolphins and that the number of mantas are declining. Honestly, no sometimes a semi-resident monk seal. one really knows. What is astounding is that no one Of more concern than how many manta rays show has been killed by a boat strike with all the boats with up, is the mind-boggling number of snorkellers and undiscerning propellers jockeying for position in the divers and the boats. It is a rare night that does not darkness. It is a testament to the operators that safety, have fewer than a dozen boats and more and, more though perhaps pushed to its limits, is still a prime frequently, twenty boats can be in the same small area, concern of the captains and crews. jockeying for position and moorings. On particularly One bright ray of hope that has sprung from manta crowded nights there may be as many as 300 snorkellers awareness in Hawai’i has been the passing of legislation and divers. In a gold rush mentality, new operators are making it is illegal for anyone to knowingly capture racing in to profit from the ever-increasing numbers of or kill a manta ray in Hawai’ian waters, thus setting a tourists. Snorkel boats are drawing mantas away from precedent and making Hawai’i the first state in the US the campfire by placing their floatation boards with to protect manta rays. powerful lighting wherever they please. The campfire is The manta ray night dive is an experience more than just a collection of underwater lights, it is a unparalleled, and for those fortunate enough to spend a coalition of like-minded operators working together to night or two beneath the waves off Kona and be a part maintain a high-quality and safe experience for guests of the spectacle of manta rays feeding, then it is truly and animals. Now the state authorities are planning ‘Such stuff as dreams are made on…’ n to step in to regulate the industry. The Manta Pacific Research Foundation estimated in 2004 that 10,000 •Douglas would like to thank Keller Laros of the Manta Pacific to 12,000 divers and snorkellers dived with the manta Research Foundation www.mantapacific.org and Jack’s Dive rays and brought in an estimated $2.4 million to local Locker www.jacksdivinglocker.com; Jesse Andrewartha, who economy. Currently – and no one can say precisely – it endured long hours in the planning and execution of the lighting now appears that 20,000 to 25,000 divers and snorkellers for the photographic shoot; Doug Perrine for continuing to inspire; are visiting the site annually and the economic benefit overworked and unpaid underwater assistants Brittany de la to operators and the local economy could be more than Valdene and Lauren Goddard and especially to my wife Emily for five or six million dollars. organising all the many details that made this expedition a success.

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THE GAT HERINGS Vast aggregations of reef fish gather in a mysterious cycle off Palau and put on some of the most stunning performances - feverish dancing, brutal head bashing, strange colour changes and finally mass spawning. Words and photographs by Richard Barnden As bumphead parrotfish start to gather, the first unusual thing you notice is that their bumps start to turn bright white

THE GAT HERINGS

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his is one of the most stupendous sights you will ever see underwater. A vast and mysterious gathering of fish that are normally solitary and rarely Tseen by divers – as many as 50,000 blue-lined sea bream coming together in a tight cloud, getting closer and closer, swirling as an agitated swarm just off the reef. These brightly coloured snapper, with undulating blue-and-orange stripes over a yellow body, have a somewhat mysterious life. It is thought they live alone, deep in the nooks and crannies of the reef or finding solitary shelter in the vast openness of the sandy lagoon. However, on a few occasions during the months of March and April, they do aggregate in prodigious numbers for a crucial moment in their life cycle. As the moment draws closer, the dense schools separate like curtains, as slowly moving bull sharks or lemon sharks cruise through them patiently, ready to pounce on any stragglers. The swarm gets even denser – gripped by what seems to be some sort of manic purpose, and suddenly a few break for the surface and a spray of white eggs cloud the water. Males quickly follow, fertilising the tiny buoyant eggs with their sperm. It is dramatic theatre. A grand moment on a ginormous scale. But it is over relatively quickly. You feel privileged and extremely lucky to have witnessed such a wonderful, elusive event. Yet in the waters around Palau, divers can now witness a number of these spawning aggregations. From bumphead parrotfish with glowing white heads, to camouflage grouper scrapping over establishing their stomping grounds. This is some of the most fascinating and little understood natural behaviour you can encounter underwater. Local fishermen around the world sometimes have a reasonable knowledge of the peculiar confluence of tides, moon cycles and currents which all help trigger such transient aggregations, and where they have fully cracked the code no doubt reap the bounty. Science is starting to catch up and researchers realise increasingly how complex yet crucial these gatherings are to fish stocks worldwide. Palau played a key role in our modern understanding of spawning aggregations. In the mid-Seventies Robert E Johannes, a tropical marine ecologist, came to the islands and pioneered the idea of integrating local The blue-lined bream get closer and closer together in vast, fast-moving schools as the spawning picks up pace PORTFOLIOSPAWNING In the final madness, twinspot snapper rub knowledge from fishermen, with western concepts against each other in a frenzy of management, and applying it directly to resource conservation and fisheries management. He went on to write Words of the Lagoon – a ground- breaking book on spawning aggregations, fish behaviour and local fishing practices in Palau. This led to the establishment of innovative conservation programmes with the active cooperation of local fishermen, where such spawning grounds were protected at key points of the year. These bans on fishing on key reefs during spawning, locally known as ‘Buls’, have played a vital part in today’s healthy fish populations around Palau. Other parts of the world haven’t fared as well. Aggressive commercial exploitation of known spawning aggregation sites has led to the devastation of fish populations. Researchers at Science and Conservation of Fish Aggregations (SCRFA), formed in 2000 to raise awareness of the vulnerability of such aggregations and the key role they play in the life of our oceans, warn that modern fishing capabilities are too destructive to be allowed to target the easy pickings of these gatherings.

CRACKING THE CODE I came to Palau in 2003 to work as a video and photo pro on a liveaboard. A few years later with Paul Collins, I founded Unique Dive Expeditions which would later become a part of Sam’s Tours – one of Palau’s leading dive operators – and we started to specialise in spawning aggregations. The idea that you could understand, even predict, when such events were going to take place was tremendously exciting. But the more we looked, the more complex it became. Palau is a special place for spawning aggregations. It has marine lakes, rock islands, mangroves and a large lagoon, making it the perfect place for young juveniles to grow and survive away from the dangers of bigger, reef-dwelling predators. And Palau’s southern lagoon dive sites are all in a relatively small area compared with other world-class diving destinations, where a liveaboard may cruise hundreds of miles in a single, week-long trip. As a dive guide this has its advantages. Diving the same sites day in, day out, month in, Philippines month out, you get to know each site extremely well. By keeping detailed logbooks each day and having an eye out for fish behaviour, we started to notice distinct patterns emerging and began to build up a database of Palau possible spawning events around moon cycles each year. For divers to witness such events, we needed to know Borneo exactly when they occurred, not just the month or even the point in the lunar cycle, but precisely when to be at the site, kitted up and ready to dive. After spending Sulawesi the past seven years studying these aggregations, we are now offering four regular types of spawning dives, and our knowledge is increasing each year. Each species of fish has specific spawning patterns and styles and follows its own reproductive calendar. Some aggregations, such as the twinspot snapper PORTFOLIOSPAWNING

A bull shark closes in during the final moments eager to pick off tiring fish

PORTFOLIOSPAWNING Clouds of gametes are released by the female snapper

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(Lutjanus bohar) and the bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometepon muricatum), will spawn every month. Other aggregations, such as the blue-lined sea bream (Symphorichthys spilurus) and camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion), will only spawn once or twice each year.

THE BLUE-LINED SEA BREAM During the months of March, April and sometimes May, these strange but beautiful-looking fish form one of Palau’s largest recorded spawning aggregations to date. A rarely seen fish on the reef, these normally solitary fish hide inside the lagoon or on deep, sandy drop-offs, feeding on crustaceans hidden in the sand and normally away from the eyes of divers. As their spawning season approaches, individuals start gathering in two main areas of Palau – one on the northwest side called Tailtop and one in the south, around the island of Peleliu. When the month, day, tide and time come together and the sea bream are ready to spawn, as many as 50,000 can gather. The school moves from its aggregation area into stronger currents that will whisk their gametes to safety. The aggregation can reach from depths of 60m up to 15m – a tight mass of yellow fish moving in unison. Bull sharks, blacktip sharks and, often, lemon sharks are seen slowly swimming sedately through the school, waiting to pick off a tired fish.

THE TWINSPOT SNAPPER Also found in Peleliu and on other outer promontories in Palau, these fish aggregate around the full moon. Between 5,000 and 10,000 fish, depending on the month, can be seen schooling and spawning. During the day the school stays in a relaxed, though tightly formed ball in mid-water. It looks like a dark cloud as you approach. However, the early mornings are different. Just as the sun rises above, underwater the reef is barely visible as the dark cloud of snapper appears in the distance. They move out into the current with bull sharks and blacktip sharks patrolling the perimeter of the school. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose as multiple females shoot to the surface, with the males close behind. Visibility quickly plummets from 30m to 3m near the surface, as the milky gametes are released into the water column. Hungry black snapper move in, feeding on the feast of eggs.

THE BUMPHEAD PARROTFISH The spawning aggregation of bumphead parrotfish is one of the most recent discoveries. Hidden on the west side of Palau lies a sandy slope which, thanks to Blue Marlin dive operation, we now know is the site for one of nature’s strangest sights. Thousands of bumphead parrotfish Thousands of these jolly green giants gather in the gather in the early-morning gloom early-morning gloom – they can weigh in at more than

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The male parrotfish quickly follow the females in an effort to fertilise their dispersing eggs Male camouflage grouper aggressively challenge each other to stake out key territories

45kg and be more than a metre in length. The males Again and again, spawning ‘rushes’ happen all around charge each other at full speed, bumping heads with a you. The fireworks can last as long as 30 minutes, after tremendous thwack. The bumps on their heads glow which the exhausted bumpheads start to slink away. bright white and bright bands of colour appear on their A thousand dwindles down to less than a hundred and bodies – this sexual dimorphism is the signal that the soon all is quiet. show is about to start. The huge school spills into the blue water and the fish begin schooling deeper and THE CAMOUFLAGE GROUPER swimming at a faster rate. The mating ritual begins with This is our favourite spawning. It took us more than males and females swimming backwards and forwards, five years to solve the puzzle of when and where – its white heads bobbing around in the deeper, bluish water. existence had been recorded in Dr Johannes’ book, but You wait patiently for the first female to make her for more than a decade no one had actually witnessed it. move. Once this happens, large groups will rise and This was down to a number of reasons – firstly, unlike a mass spawning will happen in front of your eyes. the twinspot snapper and the bumphead parrotfish, Another female will break off from the school and rise these fish do not spawn every month. Much like the closer to the surface, with eager males close behind. blue-lined sea bream, they are seasonal spawners, PORTFOLIOSPAWNING

It is thought that the male grouper fight for key spots on the reef, above which the females are expected to release their eggs PORTFOLIOSPAWNING

DIVE DATA For more information on land-based and liveaboard trips see: n Sam’s Tours Palau www.samstours.com n Siren Fleet sirenfleet.com See amazing footage of spawning on the Science and Conservation of Fish website n www.scrfa.org Check out more of Richard’s work on n www.richardbarnden.com PORTFOLIOSPAWNING

perhaps one, two or possibly a maximum of three times a year. So far we have found four spawning areas for this species, and I am sure there are a lot more. Like all these aggregations, cracking their mystery took considerable time in the water. Knowing roughly when and where the fish will aggregate was just the beginning. Early-morning dives, current, outgoing current, all had to be checked out. In 2015 I was aboard our dive boat with a gang of eager spawning-spotters checking out a likely channel. To my delight, the channel looked packed with hundreds of camouflage grouper. Could this be the time? I knew we had a great chance but nothing is 100-per-cent guaranteed in the ocean. I asked everyone to stay on board and prepare their equipment while I jumped in. I knew what tell-tale signs I was looking for. As soon as I jumped in, the channel was buzzing, some of the grouper were hanging in the channel and a school of black snapper was waiting nearby – things were looking promising. But showtime was still a few nerve-shredding hours away. Eventually, grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks and lemon sharks started to arrive. Moments later, the action began. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I thought was a spawning rush but couldn’t be sure. I swam in that direction, only to realise I was actually in the middle of a huge cloud of gametes. All around me, one after another, camouflage grouper began to rise out of the coral heads where they had been hiding and began desperately chasing each other to the surface, releasing more and more cloudy The females make gametes. The lemon sharks a dash for the frantically started to buzz around. surface, release Our air had run very low, and their eggs, then we had to make the call to ascend descend followed by the males in the midst of chaos. But what a discovery, what an experience. n