Galapagos liveaboards

[Lou DeAngelo]

I AM LOOKING FOR PERSPECTIVES ON THE PLUS AND MINUS OF THE VARIOUS OPTIONS? I ONLY SEE POSITIVE POSTS ON SITES AND AM WONDERING IF GALAPAGOS SKY IS WORTH THE PRICE DIFFERENCE

 

[Lou DeAngelo]

also I read one post that said something about paying a gas surcharge? i don't recall that from other liveaboards. Is this common on all of them in the area?

 

[roflcopter]

I've been on the Galapagos Master. It was amazing. The best service and food.

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Hi Lou - I am very familiar with all the boats as we charter them all many times a year and you can find details about the top six dive live-aboards on our website at Galapagos liveaboards ... our top choices Liveaboards - there are two others but I would not recommend them. I have been there numerous times since my first trip in 1986 and you can now find the most comprehensive list of availability and certainly the best rates available on our website. As to which boats and when to go, there are many reason to pick and choose one period or another and too complex to get into details on this post, but as to whether you should go there - this is a mail I received from an Australian client yesterday, who is just back from his trip - I hope it says it all

Hi Dom

Quick note in between work meetings to say a massive thank you for a trip of a life time adventure on Galapagos Sky. It was amazing with no major issues at all.

The organisation, the boat, the crew were brilliant. Everything all went to plan in the massive trip there and back without a hitch. And most of all the diving was bordering on insane, especially the early morning and late afternoon dives at Darwin and Wolf. We couldn't ask for more (we could but that would be stupidly greedy). I'll try to send a few highlight pictures (from many) later. We are very experienced divers so no issues handling the dives with big cameras, but I think we were lucky that the 14 other divers were mainly European and also experienced, hence we could maximise the dives with no trouble. Certainly not a place for novices. Below is an email to Jennifer on the water temperature for reference.

After the dive trip, Jennifer took complete and control and worked her magic on our land based itinerary. We thought covering 600 nautical miles on Galapagos Islands was adequate, but the island hopping on Santa Cruz, North Seymour and Isabella capped it off. All in all, it was the best trip, certainly the best dive trip in 20+ years

Thanks again Dom

Mike

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Hi again Lou, I just noted that you mentioned about a fuel surcharge and I wanted to let you know that only two boats in Galapagos that charge a $150 fuel surcharge and that is the Humboldt Explorer an the new Majestic Explorer. They have always done so and is really a way of increasing the rates to those of their competitors. The Humboldt is a top boat and extremely popular and is around $500+ less expensive than her competitors so most people do not resent the $150 fuel surcharge as she still works out less costly overall. One of the nice things about the Sky is that even though she does charge quite a bit more, she includes free nitrox and free alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Overall, in the big picture, the rates on the boats are not an enormous variance - all are expensive