To best provide us with safety on the high seas and comfortable cruising, I chartered the M/Y Passion, a luxurious 154-foot private yacht equipped with 12 roomy guest cabins, an enjoyable interior setting, large diving area and ample space for camera gear. It has been designed to reduce environmental impact on the islands and give you the most intimate, awe-inspiring Galapagos experience imaginable. In addition to the palatial dimensions of the vessel, the food is nothing short of gourmet, all rooms are equipped with private bathrooms and air-conditioning, and the panoramic sky lounge and bar is the perfect setting for discussing the day’s dives. Two trained naturalist dive guides will be onboard, and there will be two Zodiacs to take us in and out of the water and allow us to land on the islands.

Our incredible vessel is owned and operated by Fiddi Angermeyer, a master craftsman and keen seafarer born on the islands in the 50s. Fiddi’s mother, Carmen, came to the Galapagos with her parents in 1934 to escape political unrest in Germany. Fiddi’s father, Fritz, arrived on Galapagos in 1937 with his three brothers abandoning a turbulent Europe. The brothers began their journey from Germany aboard the Marie, a boat their parents bought them with money from the sale of their family home in Hamburg. The Angermeyers settled on Santa Cruz Island and hunted, fished, and farmed to survive. Fiddi was born there in 1952 and his passion for sailing was cultivated by his father, whom he built boats with as a young boy. In the early sixties, the family began using their boats to show the islands to scientists who visited the archipelago, and thus began the tourist activities of the Angermeyers. There is still no better luxury tourism operator in Galapagos, and this is why Big Animals will always choose to travel with Fiddi and his amazing team.

There is little I can add to what Charles Darwin has already brought to light and to our knowledge of evolution, but he was not a diver and he didn’t get to see what lives beneath the waves. To stand in the very place where Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, and to photograph the descendants of the finches whose beaks led to his discovery, is nothing short of revelatory. I’m certain he would have been absolutely stunned by the diversity of marine life in this truly incredible part of our planet. This Big Animals expedition is an opportunity to contribute to the global knowledge base while also adding to our personal experiences, image collections and future educational presentations to be shared with friends and colleagues.