Galapagos conditions

[Hackric]

Hi divethegalapagos, thanks for all the info - what do you mean by "they seem more faithful to their migration route"?

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Hi divethegalapagos, thanks for all the info - what do you mean by "they seem more faithful to their migration route"?

Meaning it would appear they follow their migratory routes rather than sea temperatures determining whether they show up at Darwin between July and November.

As Hamish pointed out, there's still lots of whale shark research to be done. No one has any idea of where they go when they migrate away from Darwin in December. Hammerheads have been tracked between Darwin, Cocos and Malpelo. One traveled 700 kilometers from Darwin to Cocos in 15 days.

Got a call from a guide friend today who said they had about 12 whale shark sightings last week, mostly large females and one pregnant...week before were smaller whale sharks. He said this past week there were "thousands" of hammerheads -and yes, water still cooler than normal as previously reported. I doubt he means in one school, but that they were everywhere. Said currents were really strong. Also said Cape Marshall was pea soup with maybe 10 ft viz. Ouch. A manta would run into you before you'd see it. They almost do at that site when the viz is good.

 

[tstormdiver]

Also said Cape Marshall was pea soup with maybe 10 ft viz. Ouch. A manta would run into you before you'd see it. They almost do at that site when the viz is good.

That almost sounds better than the Vis at the local quarry (6- 10ft lately).

 

[Hackric]

Thanks for all the info.
2-3 meters vis is almost diving in swimming pool when you dive in the UK!
Whale sharks? thousands of hammerheads? =>Now I am not sure I will be able to sleep before I put my head under the water next sunday.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Tammy...since everything for you seems to be relative to a quarry...boy are you in for a treat!!!
When are you coming again?

 

[tstormdiver]

Yes, I would say that 90% of my diving is/ has been a quarry. We will be boarding the Humboldt Explorer on Aug.30th. The best diving I've done to date was last year when my LDS went to Malaysia (Sipadan). Really looking forward to it!:blinking:

 

[tstormdiver]

I got talked out of taking my drysuits & am going with a semi dry instead. Good news: I don't have to worry about shredding up my drysuits. Bad news: I will have to go to the quarry to get a baseline of my weighting requirements. Oh well,.... another excuse to get wet!

 

[Mossman]

I got talked out of taking my drysuits & am going with a semi dry instead. Good news: I don't have to worry about shredding up my drysuits. Bad news: I will have to go to the quarry to get a baseline of my weighting requirements. Oh well,.... another excuse to get wet!

Smart choice (IMO) on the drysuit. You'll be too busy worrying about the Galapagos sharks lurking behind you and the hammerheads in your face to want to worry about tearing a fatal hole in your drysuit. At least when you shred your brand-new semi-dry, you'll still have a wetsuit to keep you sort of warm

Besides gloves, good knee protection is helpful, either built into the suit, or you can pick up some cheapy knee pads at a sporting good store - at Wolf & Darwin, you're not just holding onto the rocks with your hands, but hugging them to keep a low profile out of the current (and if you're a photog you'll be using your knees to hold you in place when you shoot).

Don't worry so much about the weighting baseline as you'll have a check-out dive to figure that out when you arrive. A lot of people dive their first dives in cold-water suits in the Galapagos, so the crew are very used to helping folks get it right. At Wolf & Darwin, overweighting isn't a bad idea since you're spending most of your time on the bottom anyway and extra weight makes that easier.

 

[tstormdiver]

Smart choice (IMO) on the drysuit. You'll be too busy worrying about the Galapagos sharks lurking behind you and the hammerheads in your face to want to worry about tearing a fatal hole in your drysuit. At least when you shred your brand-new semi-dry, you'll still have a wetsuit to keep you sort of warm

Good point,... as my dry suits are only trilams & can tear rather easily.

Besides gloves, good knee protection is helpful, either built into the suit, or you can pick up some cheapy knee pads at a sporting good store - at Wolf & Darwin, you're not just holding onto the rocks with your hands, but hugging them to keep a low profile out of the current (and if you're a photog you'll be using your knees to hold you in place when you shoot).

I will not be taking a camera underwater, so no worries there. I haven't gotten another one since I lost mine in Malaysia last year. Being currently a full cave student, I have been in several high flow caves & have been learning How to use the rocks & handholds to my advantage in currents.

Don't worry so much about the weighting baseline as you'll have a check-out dive to figure that out when you arrive. A lot of people dive their first dives in cold-water suits in the Galapagos, so the crew are very used to helping folks get it right. At Wolf & Darwin, overweighting isn't a bad idea since you're spending most of your time on the bottom anyway and extra weight makes that easier.

Cold water isn't very much an issue for me as I am used to diving to the bottom of the local quarry (42 degrees year round). I don't particularly like it, but I can deal with it. I can't say that for everyone in our group however. I basically want to get an idea for weighting as I almost always wear double cylinders for cold water diving & wear no weight, so I pretty much have no idea where to start.

 

[mjh]

Just went through this issue. We are doing back to back trips and just forsee too many potential issues doing multi dives with my DUI CF200 (which I love). So picked up one of these on sale O'Neill for two weeks.

Good wetsuit vs. Semi Dry. For me I think a good fitting wetsuit beats the semi dry. If the seal fails or leaks the semi dries I tried on were baggy and IMHO just would result in more water to keep warm. But fit can vary soooo much.