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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

poor

Poor — 1.6m effective waves in the morning window.

Limiting factor: waves

Wave height
1.5–1.6m
Wave period
11.2–12.3s
Wind chop
0–0.3m
Sea temp
28.8–29°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

  • TodayPoor — 1.6m effective waves in the morning window.poor
  • SundayMarginal — 1.5m effective waves in the morning window.marginal
  • MondayPoor — 1.6m effective waves made worse by local wind chop.poor

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

Dive briefing

AI-generated

This advanced site runs to 30 metres in open-ocean currents and is exposed to significant swell. Today's conditions are rated poor due to 1.6m effective waves in the morning window. Sea temperature sits at 28.8–29°C. The raw wave height is forecast at 1.5–1.6m with a period of 11.2–12.3 seconds, and minimal wind-wave contribution.

Divers commonly log scalloped hammerheads here, along with schooling species like Pacific creolefish and king angelfish. Green sea turtles and fine-spotted morays are often recorded. This is a remote and demanding location, and today's sea state will test your planning and seamanship. Check your exposure rating and current forecast carefully before committing to the water.

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.