Editor’s Note: The following is the first-person account of legendary dive guide and Tropic Scuba owner Ed del Campo. Ed’s been in the industry for over three decades and runs a boutique dive-concierge service that offers trips across the globe. On a recent liveaboard in the Galapagos, Ed and his clients had their lives changed when—still in the water—they witnessed a volcanic eruption from mere miles away.
It was the second to last day of the trip and we had already seen everything that we wanted to see. You name it, we saw it—even orcas. We joked with the crew that the only thing that would make the trip better was if one of the nearby volcanoes erupted. That was the running trip joke.
So, it’s literally the last dive of the trip. While we were down there we heard a noise and it almost sounded like an anchor crashing on a rock or something. It sounded like a bang. A collision. I didn’t really think about it beyond: ‘What’s going on?”
We continued the dive—and here we are diving on the edge of a volcano. When we came up from the dive we were excited, ‘Hey, that was a great dive, the whole thing, then we looked up and everybody was pointing off in the distance. We got on the boat and looked, and you could actually see streaks of orange—it was still daylight—but you could see these streaks of orange coming down. We didn’t even say anything. We just sat there, not believing what we were seeing.
In light of the eruption and the new situation, the principal of the trip proposed that we go take a look at it. We canceled the following day’s dives so we could cruise by the volcano and get a closer look. And we did, at night.
As we’re approaching, I’m taking a look at this eruption. Nobody from our Ecuadorian crew had ever seen anything like this in the Galapagos. It was one of those really, really unique life experiences that—you just don’t get. Looking through binoculars, you could actually see not just lava flows coming down the mountainside, but fountains of lava shooting up into the air which had to be hundreds of feet.
I just sat there quietly watching in amazement. What can you say? It was literally one of those moments where you’re like: ‘Wow, I’m really happy I’m me right now!” I don’t know how many people on the planet can actually say they’ve experienced that, so, it really was very special.
