What to people think of the Galapagos

[divefan99]

I've been looking into live aboards to the Galapagos and it seems like there are a ton of choices. Where have people been and what did you think of the trips?:tree:

[docmartin]

we went on the aggressor 3 years ago. the best dive trip we have ever been on. i still dream about it. however, conditions can be intimidating for unexperienced divers who are not 100% comfortable in the water. highly recommended.

[cyklon_300]

Aquatic Encounters (Boulder, CO)..outstanding boat and destination.

PM me for other details.

[DocVikingo]

Been several times, including both Aggressors.

Overall, they probably were the best dive trips I've had to date.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

[docmartin]

now that is quite an endorsement coming from Doc Vikingo!

[saltwater taffy]

Absolutely, consider the Aggressor boats. You will experience the best diving you will ever have. If the thought of seeing a "horde" of hammerheads turns you on, this is the place.

[Kaos]

A guy from San Fran just returned, and has an excellent report on his trek:

http://www.echeng.com/travel/ecuador/

[pufferfish]

I spent ten days doing boat dives from Puerto Ayora with Mathias Espinosa at www.scubaiguana.com
Great dive outfit

The diving was phenomenal as were the island tours topside. It's like being in a zoo the animal life was so plentiful.

Next time I would like to do a live aboard so as to get out to Wolf and Darwin islands.

[Sue]

I'm going to Galapagos next November.

What water temp. should I expect?

Thanks in advance

Sue

[sdwho]

We did the Peter Hughes liveaboard in June '02. Its advantage is that you get a 10 day, rather than 7 day, trip and you get a fair number of land excursions (marine iguanas, giant tortoises) as well as snorkling with penguins.

It is an incredible experience. When it was over, I was exhausted but exhilirated. We went with two other couples with whom we regularly dive. We all said it was a once in a lifetime experience -- and a week later we all were talking about going back!!

As far as water temp, conditions etc. It can vary, both by time of year and where in the Galapagos you are diving. When we were there (June), the early part of the trip was pretty chilly -- as little as 60 degrees at the surface. By the time we got to Wolf and Darwin, the water temp was rising into the lower seventies.

I was chilly at times, but managed to get by with a seven mil suit, 5 mil gloves and a 3 (I think) mil hood. And as has been mentioned, it can be rigorous at times, particularly when you're going against the current.

But you gotta do it....its unlike anything else I've ever seen.

Seth

[Rob5019]

We did the Lammer law in May. great boatg and crew (large trimaran, so very stable on the surface). Good food, very roomy. Only mistake we made was not going up to Wolf and Darwin (where all the big pelagics school); this was a concession to the 2/3 of our group that did not dive and wanted lots on land time to see the boobies, albatrosses, giant tortoise, etc.

HIGHLY recommend the Galapagos. Sea lions will follow you on EVERY dive and swim right up to you. You should see plenty of sharks (white tips, hammers and a cousin of the Great White, the colossal Galapagos Shark), schooling spotted eagle rays, red-lipped batfish, Port Jackson Sharks, Tiger Snake Eels, King Angels, Moorish Idols, schooling Barracudas, Slipper Lobsters, and just masses of fish and other creatures.

Tips:

1. Bring a 5mm wetsuit. They will recommend 7mm, but I thought that was too much. The water is cold, though, and you will need at least 5mm most dives.

2. Fly into Guyaquil, not Quito. Quito is at 10,000 feet; Guyaquil is on the coast, so no problems with altitude. The flight to Baltra (about 2 hours) starts in Quito and stops first in Guyaquil at about 11, so you can snooze another 2 hours.

3. Be sure to get to Wolf and Darwin (the north islands). This is allegedly (I missed it, but will be back) some of the most fascinating diving in the world. Our dive guides just raved about it.

Have fun!

[Gaz]

Just got back from the Galapagos and it was AWESOME did the norht islands wolf darwin tons of Hammerheads some VERY close encounters with Galapagos sharks and 28 Whale sharks several on most dives also dolphins Mobula rays Silky sharks, tons of turtles, i particulary enjoyed diving and snorkeling with the sea lions and Penguins

As every muslim is required to visit Mecca during there lifetime I beleive every diver should visit the Galapagos its an absolute FANTASTIC experience

I am lucky enough to be heading there again in 2004 to lead a group of previous visitors to my bresort here in belize and I can't wait to get back there.

Gaz Cooper

[RoatanMan]

I have been on several live aboards in the Galoping Pogos and I finally wound up diving with Mathias Espinosa of Scuba Iguana- now heading for our fifth trip with him!

Mathias was the featured guy in the IMAX 3d Movie about Galapagos. For my money, staying at the Hotel Galapagos and diving with him was the best of all worlds. We saw everything that people go to the Galapagos to see (including extensive visits underwater with Marine Iguanas), plus we had warm dry beds that didn't move at night! Mathias is a treasure- he has played guitar with the members of Buena Vista Social Club of Havana.

The added benefit of having so many restaurants to pick from merely made the experience much more fun.

It was one hell of a lot cheaper than a live aboard as well. Having done so many of them, I'll pick Scuba Iguana. the lava tubes crawl thru with Oswaldo is not to be missed.

see http://www.geocities.com/johnofrancis/galapagos.htm

RoatanMan

[beepbird]

In February 2001, I was on one of those fly by night boats (the Pelikano) that offered diving on our southern itinerary cruise. Right after the oil spill. Our Naturalist guide was also our divemaster. We paid somewhere around $850 US for a 7 night cruise and 7 dives. One dive each morning and an additional one some where in between. Safety talks and general overall impression was sketchy at best. Luckily a Scubapro rep/ PADI Instructor from South Africa was also on our boat. The land tours were so-so. I could have learned a lot more.

I saw a few hammerheads, no whale sharks.

It was the best that my travel mates could afford so I had to compromise with them. Given the chance to go back I would definitely go first class and take the Agressors or the Trimerans.

Good Luck and I did swim with penguins!

[DiverDave76]

The Agressor can't be beat. Wolf and Darwin is certasinly advanced diving but should be on every diver's list to experience during their lifetime. Be careful, not every liveaboard goes up there. Those 2 islands are the reason to go. Indescribeable.

Dave

[sdwho]

beepbird once bubbled...
In February 2001, I was on one of those fly by night boats (the Pelikano) that offered diving on our southern itinerary cruise. Right after the oil spill. (SNIP)
I saw a few hammerheads, no whale sharks. (SNIP)




If your goal is to see whale sharks, then your timing is as important as youor choice of boats...February is definitely
not the best time for whale shark sightings in Galapagos.
We went at the end of May/beginning of June. At that point,
the divemaster indicated that no whale sharks had been seen
for four months. We got lucky, however, and saw one or two
on around half of our Darwin dives... July and August appear to be the peak times...

Seth

[-hh]

Kaos once bubbled...
A guy from San Fran just returned, and has an excellent report on his trek:

http://www.echeng.com/travel/ecuador/


This is an excellent trip report, and his itinerary is nearly identical to the one I used last year: doing a week on a "normal" boat before the scuba liveaboard is IMO necessary (as well as a fiscally prudent way to amortize your cost of getting there across more days) because there's so much stuff topside that you miss because the Scuba liveaboards only have a couple of token land tours before they head out to Wolf/Darwin.

For land stuff, you can pretty much rely on seeing 80-90% of what you see above. For UW, things are a bit more hit-or-miss, and there are seasonal variations. My trip was over Thanksgiving, which is generally considered to be "after" the normal Whaleshark season.


-hh

[Bacchus]

Sue once bubbled...
I'm going to Galapagos next November.

What water temp. should I expect?

Thanks in advance

Sue

Will you be there November 2003 or 2004? Not that it makes a difference in water temp :D We'll be on the Sky Dancer from Nov 9-19th. 13 days and counting!!

Steve

[Sue]

Steve

Same dates but on the Nemo. wave if you see us!

12 days and counting

Sue

[Bacchus]

Sue once bubbled...
Steve

Same dates but on the Nemo. wave if you see us!

12 days and counting

Sue

We're sure looking forward to it. Will you be in Quito for any time before or after? We'll be at the Hotel Colon on the 7th and 8th and then again on the night of the 19th. Maybe we can cross paths.

Found a nice little Relais and Chateau property in Otavalo for a couple of days afterwards and then heading back to the hills.

Look for us....we'll be the ones trying to make 500 lbs. of camera gear look small enough for carry on! :D

Steve

[Sue]

Steve

we'll be staying in Guayquil before and after the liveaboard, but will certainly look for the Sky Dancer.

Btw among our group we'll be carring 3 video cameras and 2 still ones ... also carry on luggage!

Sue

[DiverDave76]

Check out this shot I got @ Darwin in July...

www.deepsouthdivers.org/shark.jpg

:shark:


Dave

[Sue]

Just returned and I can rate the Galapagos as the best diving trip I've ever made!

Dave is right, you can't miss Darwin and Wolf: imagine diving with a huge whale shark and dozens of dolphins and sharks, besides tons of other fish.

Southern islands diving are also cool, mainly due the funny and amazing sea lions playing all over you.

It's an unforgettable experience!

Sue

[Bacchus]

Hey Sue....I bet we were on the dock together at Baltra. The Nemo pulled up right next to us (on the Sky Dancer). Glad to hear you had a great trip. I agree.....one of those lifetime experiences. Schooling Hammerheads, Sunfish, Galapagos Sharks, 1000's of eels, dolphins......the list goes on. Trip report to follow after I sort through the 1000+ pics I took.

Welcome back.

Steve

[Sue]

hi Steve

Welcome back to you too!

I haven't seen the Sky Dancer, but I has very jetlagged and tired from all the travelling to get there.

Did you go to Wolf and Darwin? When we got there there was no other boats, but two came when we were leaving.

Nemo revealed itself as being a great boat to travel on those seas. We were near to the Agressor and it was balancing too much. I didn't get sea sick not even in the 20 hours trip to Darwin.

The diving was great and I also took loads of pics.

Sue

[Bacchus]

DiverDave76 once bubbled...
Check out this shot I got @ Darwin in July...Dave

Nice shot Dave....looks like I found some of their relatives last week.

Steve

Schooling Hammerheads (http://allenhost.com/albums/album203/aaa.sized.jpg)

[DiverDave76]

Outstanding! Wish I were back there right now. Will be heading to the Bahamas in a couple of weeks but just can't seem to get real excited after having dove Wolf and Darwin. I sure look forward to the day I return...4 more years!

Dave