twatto
Registered
thinking of travelling to galapagos probably in january. Can anyone help with some advise....what boats you'd recommend, how strong are the currents this time of year, etc. any info would be greatly appreciated.
searching for advice on galapagos
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I just posted a two part trip report yesterday from our trip last week aboard Deep Blue. I would highly recommend them. Look under "forums" and go to the "Liveaboards..." section to find the report.
alijtaylor
Contributor
Hi
I was on Lammerlaw last November and had an excellent time www.lammerlaw.com I think that at the top end of the market they can all pretty much deliver a great experience. From my reading I did not get the impression that the currents predictably varied due to time of the year, instead they vary a bit from day to day. Up at Darwin and Woolf the currents were reasonably strong, to move against them you were gripping the rock and crawling. That said you were either perched behind the rock (not coral) holding on and waiting for the Hammerheads and Whale sharks or you were drifting with the current. So not too difficult, but you want to know what moderate to strong current feels like before you get there. It took me about 4 dives up there to feel comfortable and I was not new to current. That said I had a great time and would go back tomorrow if someone else signed the cheque.
Alison
I was on Lammerlaw last November and had an excellent time www.lammerlaw.com I think that at the top end of the market they can all pretty much deliver a great experience. From my reading I did not get the impression that the currents predictably varied due to time of the year, instead they vary a bit from day to day. Up at Darwin and Woolf the currents were reasonably strong, to move against them you were gripping the rock and crawling. That said you were either perched behind the rock (not coral) holding on and waiting for the Hammerheads and Whale sharks or you were drifting with the current. So not too difficult, but you want to know what moderate to strong current feels like before you get there. It took me about 4 dives up there to feel comfortable and I was not new to current. That said I had a great time and would go back tomorrow if someone else signed the cheque.
Alison
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twatto:
Be a bit more specific.
Liveaboard? Or land based? (many Aussies select that viable option)
Currents vary absolutely by location. If you want them and can handle them, your DM can provide ripping currents. If you want them toned down, you can have that, too. Remember- you'll be diving within a group. What are you ready for?
Forget about the currents- how are your surface recovery skills? Shoot the sausage from depth and deco hang waiting for pick up. Take your gear off and hand it up? Scramble up a dory's (or RIB) ladder? Backrolls from the same?
The day dive ops are all quite different, as there is certainly a range of floating facilities available on the liveaboards.
What are you up for? (Check out my "HomePage" for a Galapagos Trip report)
OP
twatto
Registered
We are currently trying to decide between land based and liveaboard. We have had some current experience. We definately don't want to miss the land based activities either. I have heard that there are boats that do both diving and land based stuff. Currently we are trying to gether info so that we can make the best of our few weeks there.
thanks to everyone who replied. much appreciated.
thanks to everyone who replied. much appreciated.
cyklon_300
Contributor
the Reina Silvia is a very nice option.
http://www.aquaticencounters.com/gpgs.html
Our itenerary provided numerous opportunities to hike and explore between dives.
http://www.aquaticencounters.com/gpgs.html
Our itenerary provided numerous opportunities to hike and explore between dives.
erichK
Contributor
Land based seems to be significantly less expensive, but does limit how much of this remote and scattered achepelago you can visit. Because of the distance between islands, and because dive boats are not allowed to land, you effectively have to decide whether you are diving, or going to another island and hiking on each particular day.
We'll be going for eight days in December, and decided on Scuba Iguana, both because of their excellent safety and environmentalist and because there are three of us, and the land based package they put together is considerably cheaper than most of the live - aboards. We'll be doing eight dives, plus possibly a night dive, and three days of hiking and visiting islands, and staying in two rooms of what we hear is a modest, but clean and comfortable hotel.
This is probably a better compromise than the cheapest of the liveaboards, which would still have cost us quite a bit more.
We'll be going for eight days in December, and decided on Scuba Iguana, both because of their excellent safety and environmentalist and because there are three of us, and the land based package they put together is considerably cheaper than most of the live - aboards. We'll be doing eight dives, plus possibly a night dive, and three days of hiking and visiting islands, and staying in two rooms of what we hear is a modest, but clean and comfortable hotel.
This is probably a better compromise than the cheapest of the liveaboards, which would still have cost us quite a bit more.
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