Julian Rocks’ subtropical location is near the southern extent of range for lots of warm-water species, including exotic tropical minibeasts like the ornate ghost pipefish and megabeasts like reef manta rays, and represents a northern holiday for cooler critters like grey nurse sharks.

The Galapagos is the best place to see truly gigantic adult whale sharks.

Frame-by-frame video analysis reveals the sharks’ strategy. They lunge forward, then use their big wide pectoral fins to hit the brakes. This stalls their whole body, allowing them to deliver an overhead tail-slap at measured speeds of over 20 meters per second (45 miles per hour). That’s so fast that the tip of the tail literally causes water to bubble.

After a few days on Isabela Island on a wildlife-watching trip (photos to come), we flew over to San Cristobal on a small plane. We wandered down to the “Hammerhead Pier” early the next afternoon and were met by one of the dive guides from the Humboldt Explorer and transferred out to the boat. It was great to see a few familiar faces from past trips, and lots of new ones!