Posted by el buzo viejo on April 11, 2002 at 11:27:27:
In Reply to: NEED INFO ON EL NINO FOR GALAPAGOS posted by DAVE on April 11, 2002 at 10:23:51:
Dave,
We were in the Galapagos Islands in January, 1998, at the peak of the big 97/98 el nino. Water temp at the surface was 84 degrees; the visibility was greater than 100 feet; and although the hammerheads at Darwin and Wolf were deeper than usual, we did see them as well as schools of rays, penguins, iguanas, etc.
The birds and sealions were not in good shape with many dieing from starvation because the bait fish had gone too deep or moved to cooler water away from the islands.
We are going back next month and conditions are more "normal", water temp in the mid seventies at the surface; visibility of less than 60 feet; and hard thermoclines at dive depths.
Jim