Ecuador in July, new diver deciding on a location (Galapagos or mainland coast)

[djr33]

I will be in Ecuador in July. I have scheduled an extra week to go scuba diving (and possibly other things if I can't dive the whole time). For what it's worth, I speak Spanish well enough, and I've spent a lot of time in Ecuador over the past few summers, and I was in the Galapagos for a week a couple years ago. I will be traveling alone.

I am an experienced snorkler and strong swimmer (was on a swim team for years). I'm totally comfortable in the water. I did SNUBA a year ago and have wanted to try scuba since.

I did my first scuba diving in the Canary Islands about a month ago. It was great, and I think I learned fast. I just had time for two dives, one was a training dive and the other was my first 'real' dive. So I've logged 2 dives-- I know, unimpressive so far. I got certified to 12m, ITDA.

I unfortunately live in central Illinois (lots of corn here, not ocean) for now due to grad school, so I can only go diving when on vacation (not interested in hanging out in pools here).

So my question is simple: I'd love some advice on how to start out diving in Ecuador. The obvious attraction would be the Galapagos, but it's more expensive and from reading on here and elsewhere it sounds like it's not for beginners-- can I catch up in a week or so? Would it be a waste of time if I can't do the best things anyway?

The alternative is the mainland coast -- probably Isla de la Plata and Machalilla National Park -- but I would rather go to the Galapagos if it's reasonable. Or maybe these locations are great too.

I'm eager to learn but don't want to get into anything over my head to the point where I have to just watch other divers do cool stuff. I'd love to see a whale shark, but overall just looking forward to diving.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

You've covered most of the considerations, however, I would add that it would be quite rare to see a whale shark in the central islands in July. All land based diving is from the central islands. At that time of year, whale sharks are mostly up around Darwin which is only accessible from a liveaboard, which you obviously could not do. Certification is expensive in Galapagos and there are not many beginner sites. It can be done, but would certainly cost a lot less on the mainland coast, especially accommodations and food.

 

[djr33]

Mainland seems reasonable for this trip then. Any particular recommendations?

 

[jet126]

I'm curious about this too, if anyone has a current review of dive ops in Puerto Lopez. The most recent intel I can find is at least a year old. I will be there 7/12-7/26 and may try to dive one day depending on viz.

djr33: if you stay in or near Puerto Lopez the whale watching is superb. It was on a whale watching boat a few years ago I learned there is a word that transcends all languages: "WOW." The whales on the way to/from Isla de la Plata, the hiking, birds, and views on the island are also spectacular.

 

[djr33]

Reporting back after the dive:

Had a good time in Puerto Lopez. Easy enough to get there by bus from Guayaquil (and I hear also from Quito or Manta), via Xipixapa (or Jipijapa). And there are a number of hostels in the area, about $10 per person or around $30 for a room in a hotel. It's an easy place to just show up.

Scuba must be booked a day in advance (as is the case with almost all tours), almost without exception.

I was less than convinced by my email exchange with Exploramar, and I intended to just go to the office in person (required anyway to make the payment in order to confirm a reservation) and see. But instead I ran into some people from Native Diving, another scuba tour operator (there are 3-4 in the town from what I could tell), and they were $30 cheaper and seemed friendly, so I decided to go with that. Other places are also PADI certified from what I saw, though the Exploramar site implies they are not-- I guess that just applies to Quito where (if you look at a map) obviously there's no need for diving anyway. (Oddly enough if you want to do a course with them, they'll make you go to Quito first, then to the beach. Out of the way, and made me lose interest in their services.)

[Disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure of this, but here's my impression]
The company I went with said that visibility was bad, and they'd go to a different location, not Isla de la Plata. But during the dive another group was talking with the guide and it seems that in fact the company didn't have a permit to dive at the island. So I was a bit annoyed by being mislead about that. On the other hand, I enjoyed my dives and it was $30 cheaper, so I don't feel that I lost out. Just a word of advice to future travelers there: you may want to confirm exactly who can dive where and base your plans on that.

I did two dives a bit off the coast, somewhat south of Puerto Lopez. First was on a wall, about 18m, and the second was a one-way dive (boat picked us up where we ended), about 14m.
Saw two sea turtles, no other big things. There was a small stingray. And of course lots of fish (and a number of purple starfish, easy to spot, all over). Enjoyable.

Originally was supposed to dive on Friday but arrived in the morning to find out that was cancelled due to "visibility" (and too few people?). Scrambled to change to another tour to for the day, and finally (very luckily, just barely) worked out going to Isla de la Plata then, which was supposed to be the next day. That was worrying. All worked out for me, so I can't complain after the fact. A bit unclear/stressful along the way though.


As for the area in general, I had a great time. I didn't expect much at all out of the whale watching. I've heard several times that whale watching is often just sitting on a boat, and if you're lucky you might see one whale off in the distance. But it really was great. I was pleasantly surprised and would completely recommend it. In fact, I saw whales all three days. The first was specifically a whale-watching tour for 4 hours, which is worth it just to focus on the whales rather than getting somewhere else. The second was Isla de la Plata, where we saw whales on the way. I wasn't too impressed by the island really. I was in the Galapagos a few years ago; maybe I would have been more impressed if I hadn't already seen the Galapagos. Basically it's a fairly dry (and sparsely vegetated) island with Blue Footed Boobies, Frigates, and a few other (much less abundant) bird species. It was a decent hike (lots of stairs to get going, then the longer loops weren't in themselves very difficult), and we saw the birds up close. And the third day was scuba, where we saw whales on the way back.



Short version:
--Enjoyable scuba, not amazing visibility (they said it changes spontaneously and can be good or bad), pretty warm water.
--If you're in Puerto Lopez (during the [Northern Hemisphere] summer months), don't miss the whale watching.
--Reserve your diving at least a day in advance, and be prepared to be a bit flexible if visibility is bad. I would say that having 3 days in Puerto Lopez is reasonable-- any less and you might not get a chance to dive.



Note on safety in the city: I had no problems, and I didn't have any bad feelings about the location. Walked around at night. (Don't miss the actual downtown area, about 3-4 blocks away from the beach. More real stores there, less touristy, if you want to wander a bit.)
I've been robbed at gunpoint in Ecuador before, so I'm always keeping an eye out for whether a location seems ok. As far as I could tell, Puerto Lopez isn't a place to worry about. One couple did have a bag slashed on a bus (on their way to Puerto Lopez, though I'm not sure it was the immediate connection) and had various things, including a GoPro, stolen from it. As a place that's a bit out of the way, that's one thing to consider. All in all, I'd recommend it.

One point I'll add is that arriving late at night at the bus station felt questionable because the area was very dark and I didn't know what to expect. But everything was fine, and having now been back to the station during the day I wouldn't be concerned again being there at night. Just look for one of the little converted motorcycle taxi buggies and pay $.50 to go into town. The bus station is just outside of town, about 5 minutes by taxi.