Galapagos without live-a-bord : does it worth it ?

[pimouss]

Hello

we are thinking of going to dive for 2 weeks in february in Galapagos.

We are on budget, so it won't be possible to take a live a board to dive Wolf and Darwin island. And we are also interested in going on the other islands to watch the fauna

Does dives from other island worth it ? I mean, I know the better is on Wolf and Darwin, but is it possible to watch almost everything but in less quantity or there are seen only by chance ?

Is there island better than others ? dive sites ? dive center ?

Is there live a board around Wolf and Darwin for only 3-4 days ?

Thanks for your help

 

[WetPup]

I did some day trips out of Puerto Ayora after I did my regular island cruise (not one that went up to Wolf and Darwin). That's your only land-based option. It is the only place in the Galapagos with a dive shop. It's also not cheap by the way. And no, there are no shorter liveaboards - Wolf and Darwin are too far away for that to be viable.

The dives out of Puerto Ayora were ok, but nothing to write home about by any means (I was there in the month of April). I was backpacking around South America at the time, and carrying my dive gear with me wasn't practical. Wolf and Darwin weren't places I wanted to go without my own gear. I have plans to return to go do it properly on a liveaboard. Honestly, my experience was that if you're a serious diver, you should save your money until you can afford a LOB.

 

[Tbar]

Re posted in South American forum

 

[Azbuceadora]

There are a couple of dive ops in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal, but the majority are in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. Since you are going to Galapagos anyway, you would probably enjoy a day or two of diving. If you are taking a naturalist cruise, the boat operator can probably help you arrange a day of diving with an outside dive op while the other passengers are doing a land excursion in port; they cannot set you up for diving off the cruise boat.

If you are doing an island-hopping or day-tripping sort of trip, you can set up the dive days yourself with one of the local shops.