'Mission Galapagos' Recap: 'Secrets of the Deep'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It’s rare that I find myself counting down the minutes to watch a particular documentary, but thanks to BBC America’s One Amazing Summer series, I’m starting to do just that. Because every single series we’ve enjoyed this summer from under that banner has provided us with magnificent visuals and powerful information and the latest entry in this incredible collection of learning, Mission Galapagos, did such a fine job last week of drawing us into the plight of the wildlife that lives in this mysterious and majestic place that I simply had to know more about how the creatures here are learning to cope with the changes in our climate, and in turn, I found myself watching the clock yesterday so I could settle in and discover more about this wondrous place and thankfully, last night’s episode of the show delivered one heck of a learning experience.
 
If anything, this particular chapter in the story may turn out to be my favorite, because I have a soft spot for ocean related stories and all the wonderful creatures that swim in the ocean and seeing as to how the title of this tale is ‘Secrets of the Deep’, I knew that we were going to be in for some awesome underwater treats. In fact, we were able to get up close and personal with the giant sun fish in this story, and see how these massive fish go about their day beneath the waves, and we also got to learn more about how Sea Lions are handling climate change in this region of the world, since a stronger El Niño is also altering their food supply and while their numbers are starting to dwindle, the good news is, they are finding ways to eat, it just involves diving a little deeper than they are used to.
 
But truly, the centerpiece of the night revolved around sharks, which brought me endless joy since I am a shark aficionado through and through, and in this tale I learned much about the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, an endangered species that just so happen to congregate in the Galapagos Islands for reasons unknown, something that the research team worked hard to figure out, in dangerous conditions for that matter as well. But their tireless efforts eventually paid off in spades because it would seem that these majestic and gentle sharkies come to this place as part of a mating ritual, making their survival all the more important and hopefully the footage present in this documentary will help to protect this species from facing any further trouble. 
 
However, while it was cool to learn about all of those animals, there was a surprise present in this story that I wasn’t expecting and it all revolved around the crew of the Alucia. Because this time around, we were privy to some incredibly candid moments with these researchers and this is really the first time that I can remember, where the audience is given the opportunity in a documentary to see exactly how much these people love what they do, and how dedicated they are to finding the right answers since several of the crew put their lives in jeopardy to get the information they needed on the Scalloped Hammerhead and well, it was just refreshing to see how much these researchers genuinely care about this part of our world and will quite frankly, do whatever it takes to help preserve it.
 
In the end however, this was quite the thrilling episode to watch, thanks in large part to the whole sequence where the two submersibles below the surface of the water struggled to deal with underwater currents because the danger was quite real to say the least. But thankfully, everyone returned to the ship safely and once again, we came to learn just how resilient nature can be since sea lions are finding a way to get by and well, while I’m still hungry for more, there is a touch of sadness in my heart when it comes to this series, because next week’s tale brings forth the series finale of this incredible journey but perhaps that’s the best way to handle this, to give us just enough, so that we seek out more knowledge about this magnificent place on our own. Either way, once again I’ll be counting down the minutes until our next adventure through the Galapagos Islands and I cannot wait to see how this saga wraps up. Until next time.

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