Need advice re: Getting to Galapagos Dive ships from Guayaquil

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sytech

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Location
Florida Keys
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I booked a flight to arrive in Guayaquil, Ecuador next Tuesday April 29.

My original intention was to go to some of the beach towns along the Pacific Coast. Then it struck me (duh!) that I can go diving in the Galapagos Islands.

I did a quick search and see that there are larger boats like this:

Galapagos Islands .com - Silver Galapagos Cruise Ship

available but I don't know if they do scuba diving excursions from their boat and am waiting for their email reply to that question. I realize that boats like the Aggressor are available but I'd prefer being on a larger vessel. If anyone can supply me with the names of other larger ships which offer scuba diving that would be very helpful.

Anyway, I need information on the best way to get to the Galapagos from Quayaquil as well as any information pertaining to Galapagos water temps and climate this time of year.

Any suggestions and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Sy
 
This is the off-season, you should be able to get a good deal on a dive boat.

If you are flexible, go to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz and book a "last minute deal" there in town. You can save up to 50% on liveaboard trips.

You can also do day trips out of Puerto Ayora, albeit your choice of dive sites is more limited than a liveaboard.

As far as getting from Guayaquil to the Galapagos, try the search function. I just posted this thread on this very same forum last week:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/so...diving-out-puerto-ayora-advice-travelers.html

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2014 at 07:49 AM ----------

Oh, yeah, a couple more points.

I went diving a few weeks ago in rental gear - a 7mm wetsuit was adequate, but there were some pretty cold currents here and there. Overall, 7mm was fine. If I were doing a liveaboard, a tropical drysuit would be nice if I were doing multiple dives every day.

Topside, it is brutally hot and humid. Unpleasantly hot and humid. This is the "hot season." You can get a serious sunburn in a very short period of time, so I recommend a good sun hat with a wide brim, a very lightweight, long-sleeve shirt in a light color, and long trousers of a similar manufacture. Puerto Ayora has a lot of tourist shops where you can buy "safari"-type sun hats with the Galapagos logo. When the sun goes down, you'll be comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt.

You'll soak your clothes with sweat in just a few minutes, so bring several shirts and trousers. There are drop-off laundromats in Puerto Ayora, so you can get your clothes cleaned as frequently as your desire.
 
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Sytech...naturalist cruises, by regulation, do not / cannot offer diving. Some do offer to arrange a day of diving during the cruise, but basically you then double pay for the activities you'll miss and the higher than normal price of them arranging the daily dive for you with a local operator.

Booking a last minute liveaboard (dive cruise) from Galapagos is not easy to do; a naturalist cruise yes, but not a liveaboard. Currently, low season or not, only 3 liveaboards are even operational in Galapagos and one of those is in dry dock until June. Also, when Buddy lost their permit, anyone booked on their 2 boats had to replace their lost departures on the remaining 3 boats. Space is extremely limited this year with deals few and far between. We do still have a couple of deals available on Galapagos Sky. And ps..only liveaboards dive Darwin and Wolf, the 2 sites Galapagos is best known for.
 
Hmmm.... I was just left the Galapagos 2 weeks ago, stayed there for over 3 weeks, mostly in Puerto Ayora. Seems like all of the dive shops had sidewalk signs advertising "last minute deals" on liveaboard dive trips.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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