← All sites

Darwin's Arch

Galápagos, Ecuador · 10–30m · advanced · exposed

Schooling hammerheads, and whale sharks in season, in strong open-ocean currents at the archipelago's remote northern outpost.

Conditions today

Retrieved · refreshed hourly

marginal

Marginal — 1.4m effective waves in the morning window.

Limiting factor: waves

Wave height
1.4–1.5m
Wave period
9.2–12.2s
Wind chop
0–0.5m
Sea temp
28.1–28.3°C

Ranges span today's hours. Wave height here is the raw sea state — the rating scales it for how exposed the site is. Exposed — open water with nothing to block the swell, so it is scored at full height.

Next few days

  • TodayMarginal — 1.4m effective waves in the morning window.marginal
  • FridayPoor — 1.5m effective waves in the morning window.poor
  • SaturdayMarginal — 1.5m effective waves in the morning window.marginal

Each day is scored over its morning dive window, the same as today's rating.

Dive briefing

AI-generated

This is an advanced-only site in strong open-ocean currents, with depths to 30 metres. Conditions today are marginal owing to wave state — the morning window showed 1.4m effective waves. Sea temperature sits at 28.1–28.3°C. You will be diving in exposed water, so current and surge remain factors; marginal rating means you should assess your readiness honestly and brief carefully with your guide.

Divers commonly log schooling scalloped hammerheads here, along with green sea turtles, king angelfish, fine-spotted morays, and guineafowl puffers. Mexican hogfish and Pacific creolefish are often recorded too. This site's appeal centres on large pelagic life in season, so manage your expectations around the marine life you'll actually encounter on the day.

Written by Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) from the rating, forecast, and sightings on this page — it has no other source and cannot look anything up. Treat it as a summary, not as local knowledge.

Commonly seen here

Most-recorded species near this site, ranked by research-grade iNaturalist sightings from divers, snorkelers, and naturalists.

Species come from iNaturalist — research-grade sightings logged by divers, snorkelers, and naturalists nearby. The ranking reflects what people photograph most, not guaranteed abundance. Ask a local operator what's actually being seen. Species names link to iNaturalist for range maps, seasonality and more photos. Photos by iNaturalist contributors under Creative Commons licences — individual credit on hover.