Trip Report Galapagos Late August Trip Review and Video

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soonerwatch

Registered
Messages
30
Reaction score
14
Location
United States
# of dives
25 - 49
Wanted to share some thoughts about my recent galapagos trip. Trip dates were August 19-29. I met up with a buddy there who was newly certified. I had about 40 dives when we started the trip. We were based on Santa cruz island in an AirBNB (Torre Mar). Highly recommend the airbnb. We dove 2 days with academy bay divers. I can't recommend them highly enough. I corresponded with the owners a few months prior to our visit. They were very accommodating as I had a lot of questions about appropriate sites for my newly-certified friend. Their equipment is very good for rental - wetsuits were practically new. we had choice of a 5mil or 7 mil. I brought a neoprene beanie and a .5 underlayer so I went with the 5 mil. Water temps ranged from low 70s to mid 60s. If I went again I would probably go with the 7 mil as I was cold by the 2nd dive.

Academy Bay's boat is very nice. I believe it is relatively new. The w/c is the nicest I have ever seen on a dive boat. The dive master george and the crew were excellent. we had a range of experienced and inexperienced divers on our boat and they handled the mix very well. We were grouped by experience and when the newer divers went low on air they were sent up and we were allowed to continue diving. Visibility wasn't excellent as I have heard is common for this time of year in Galapagos. But the nutrient rich water brings in the larger critters. Dive master shot video and stills and if you brought a USB drive by the shop later in the day they would give you their videos for free. My video is a mix of my own shot with gopro 3 and stills and video shot by academy bay.

We dove beagle and daphney on our first day. Saw a few giant rays but they were too far away to get a good video of. At daphney there were sea lions on the rocks and as soon as we entered they joined us. I was hoping to dive with sea lions on this trip and it did not disappoint. Also spent some time with garden eels but I didn't put them in video as footage wasn't great. There was some thermocline and mild surge.

The second day we dove mosquera and seymore. These sites were only a few miles away from our first day dives but thankfully the water was 5-10 degrees warmer. Captain and crew did a great job getting us into the water in some rough conditions. Once below the surface conditions were fine. In the video at about 2:20-2:25 there is a bright yellow fish I have never seen before and have not been able to identify - any help is appreciated.

Mosquera was probably my favorite dive of the 4. Saw the hammerhead in the video, turtles, barracuda, rays. I did not go to gordon rocks but some on my boat did and reported a giant mola mola upon entry and lots of hammerheads. But the current was very strong and visibility was not good.

I have also mixed into my video some video and stills shot from snorkeling trips. We took a day boat to Isabella. What they say about the crossing is true. It was a grueling 2 hour trip. think I lost a disk in my back due to bottoming out in troughs. No one got sick but I was surprised. We snorkeled at tintoreras. This is a shallow bay where you can see many turtles and rays and I also got close to some marine iguanas. The trip was arranged through academy bay and cost about $150 per person. it also included lunch and trips to turtle sanctuaries and bird sanctuaries. We also went on a small island off of isabella for a short hike. And went on a small boat and managed to see a galapagos penguin.

Our second snorkeling day was to pinzon island with natural selection tours. Price was around $120 pp. We stopped first at a protected cove on Santa Cruz. We saw many baby blacktip sharks, turtles, and some marine iguanas. The trip to pinzon was a great boat ride. Pinzon looks like a moonscape with black rocks and old volcanos. We fished along the way and caught a barracuda which the crew prepared sashim and ceviche style. Pinzon snorkel was one of the trip hilights. When we pulled up you could hear a mother sea lion barking. The guide first took us into a shallow cove where juvenile white tip sharks were hanging around in 2-3 feet of water. We then approached the mother sea lion and her kids. The younger sea lions came out and played with us. Eventually the mother grew tired of us and we had to move away. That is when I saw the marine iguana hiding behind a rock - you'll see it in the video - I snuck up on him and got some great footage. Back on the boat we had lunch and snorkeled some before leaving - a 10 foot blacktip was spotted under the boat.

I liked being land based on Santa Cruz. We were able to see the darwin research station, we took the hike over to tortuga bay (don't bother trying to snorkel in the lagoon). There are several good restaurants on the island. One night we took a water taxi over to finch bay for dinner. The deck of the anglemeyer restaurant near finch bay is a great place to sit and watch turtles, sharks, rays and other marine life. Another place on the water is the volcano restaurant near the super market. Lots of wildlife to see there. Galapagos deli had good breakfast. Isla Gril, Lo and Lo, Red Mangrove Inn were all good.

Here is the video
 
Thanks. Great video and write up. I'm booked in May 2019
 
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