Farewell, Darwin's Arch

Caught in a fast current I lost my dive partners on an immersion off of the famous Darwin Arch near the island of Darwin, in the Galapagos islands. I drifted by myself for the next hour marvelling at the large schools of jacks, hammerhead sharks, and the enormous whale sharks cruising near me. When I finally came out from my dive, I realized I was all alone in the vastness of the ocean. While I waited to see if our dinghy driver appeared on the horizon, I caught a glimpse of the Darwin Arch, delineated against a furrowing sky and set ablaze by the last rays of sunlight. A couple of silky sharks circled below me and I knew I would be in trouble if I stayed floating here alone after dark. Still, the arch looked so magnificent I could not resist making a couple of frames with my underwater housing. As I lifted the dome above the waves, I realized my strobes were still on, so I kept firing them into the sky. The flashing lights were what caught the dinghy's attention and a few minutes later I found myself safely on board the boat. Two years after this frame was made, Darwin's Arch, which had been standing like a monolith caught in time for millions of years, collapsed. I treasure this photograph because it reminds me of how ephemeral and fragile life on Earth is.