When we think of penguins we picture the cold hard-packed snow and ice and the harsh temperatures of Antarctica. After all that’s where penguins live, right? Well, penguins do live in a few other places in the world, but there is only one place in the world where penguins not only live away from Antarctica, but live at the equator. This is the Galapagos Islands and it is here that Galapagos Penguins swim in the cool waters of the Humboldt Current and live an equatorial existence.
Penguins are cute birds. There is no denying it. At a height of 35 cm (14 inches), the Galapagos Penguin is one of the cutest and smallest penguins in the world and the only one that lives and breeds in the tropics. It is endemic to the Galapagos Islands in a few locations. For beginners and novice divers, diving with the penguins is best done in Academy Bay. For the more advanced diver, the experience can be had at Bartolome Island. Pinnacle Rock is the ideal place to snorkel and swim with the little water birds, so even those who don’t dive can enjoy being in the water with these amazing birds.
So what is it like swimming with the penguins? Well, first of all it is not every diving trip in the Galapagos Islands that people are lucky enough to share the water with these amazing birds. They simply are out and about each time a dive tour goes out. However, when you do get to dive with them you can watch them dive off the rocky shore and shoot through the water like a torpedo with a jet of bubbles marking their trail. While they are slow and clumsy on land, they are very adept in the water as they propel themselves by using their wings as flippers, zig zagging and flipping with incredible agility. As a diver, this is something to witness first hand and something those on land can never truly experience.
The best part is that this is the only place on Earth to swim with penguins in water that is relatively warm. Although the water in the Humboldt Current is fairly cool at an average of 21 C (79 F) and a low of 16 C (60 F), this is still much warmer than temperatures in the Antarctic Ocean. During the warmer months of January to May, the Panama Current dominates the area and temperatures range from 21-27 C (70-80 F). This makes the Galapagos Islands the perfect playground in which people and penguins can meet and swim together.
Unfortunately, these little penguins are endangered, with only about 3000 remaining in the Galapagos Islands. In the 1980s and in 1998 El Niño caused a dent in the population of Galapagos Penguins by diminishing their food supplies. Scientists monitor them regularly and the penguin numbers have been relatively stable. Hopefully with help and plenty of attention paid to the continued existence of these fabulous birds they will be around for divers and everyone else to enjoy for decades to come.