Galapagos Penguin

Photo: Serge Arias · CC BY-NC-SA

Banks Bay's mixing zone between cold Cromwell upwelling and warmer surface water concentrates small baitfish that Galapagos penguins exploit in targeted hunting forays from their rocky shoreline roost sites. Divers encounter them in the water column at all depths from the surface to 15 meters, their pursuit trajectories unpredictable and their speed astonishing. The combination of penguins, sea lions, and the possibility of a whale shark in the blue water at the bay entrance creates a site with an unusually high ceiling for extraordinary encounters.