Galapagos dive trip report

[pitah]

Hi.

I went to the galapagos last month, it was the best dive trip of my life. I just finished to upload the divelog and some pictures here, and i wanted to share it with you. will upload a video if i can get it compressed. regards.

http://www.geocities.com/shark_noextinction/index.html

 

[sapphire]

Great trip report and photos. I read it until I got this message from geocities:

Sorry, this site is temporarily unavailable!
The web site you are trying to access has exceeded its allocated data transfer.

I guess I will have to go and look later.

You have encouraged my resolve to get to the Galapagos someday. A friend of mine went and saw nearly all of what you described, plus whale sharks. I will have to start saving for that trip! What dive operation did you use, and did you do any exploring in Ecuador??

 

[JRO]

After having read the book, I can't wait for the movie.

Inspiration to get down there myself.

 

[Gaz]

Galapagos is AWESOME diving went last Sept going again leading a group this Sept.

The diving is unbeleivable and every diver should make his pilgrimage to the Galapagos at least once in his/her diving career.

I used www.UltimateDiveTravel.com Great company and excellent service

Have Fun & Dive Safe

Gaz Cooper

 

[RiverRat]

AWESOME trip report! Sounds like you had fun. I need to get some more dives in before I go there though. Need more experience with drift diving, surge, currents, caverns etc. Something to look forward to!

 

[pitah]

sapphire.
galapagos is worth for all the efforts to get there. keep saving. Yes i spent one week on Ecuador's mainland, been at Guayaquil and Quito, It was really nice. hope i could have been some more days to go to Cuenca and Banos, as so many persons advised me. If you like hiking and mountains, you'll have a lot of fun at Quito and surroundings.
The dive operator i use, was galapagos sub aqua, and they arrange the live-aboard trip. Ricardo help us also with plane tickets and changing schedules on our flights from mainland to galapagos, and he also arranged Janet, one of our dive buddies, reservations for her trip at Ecuador mainland. (http://www.galapagos-sub-aqua.com/about.php) I think he can offer also other boats and options.
Our dive master, recommend us also, the deep blue, as he said they will be sponsoring some scientist to go tag whalesharks, so it might be interesting to go on a trip with some whalesharks experts, if they offer that option... (they plan to do it at cocos, malpelo and galapagos)
Our boat was really nice, the food was excellent, the best was the friendly atmosphere with all the divers from differents countries, and the crew, you don't really need many things there to enjoy a lot.

 

[frankzeg]

We were there the week before you were and also had a great dive trip. But the tours that a lot of these liveaboards do is the same thing over and over- they cannot vary since they have to coordinate the itinerary with the park service. And really the diving at North Seymour is a waste of vaulable time. We found some of the best diving on a day boat out of Puerto Ayora. We did several dives at Floreana- where the water is nearly 20F colder. And there we saw our first whale shark. But he was only a baby- only 7 meters. This is quite unusual for December- but I guess the water was cold enough for him to find food. The remoras on that beastie were impressive in their own right. Fish density at Floreana was actually better than at Darwin. Many many barracuda, mackeral, silky sharks, and huge stingrays. Some spotted eagle rays and other types. Of course no schooling hammerheads- just a few strays. The huge, aggressive morays that you find every 3 meters at Darwin are missing but there a lot more other species to compensate- we saw hunting tuna, trevally and some other fast movers.

Also the schools of hammerheads at the nearby island of Gordon Rocks were very different from those out at Wolf/Darwin. The individual animals are much larger ( like 40% bigger)and more typical of a hammerhead school that has NOT been subjected to longlining. We were very impressed- and a bit intimidated after seeing the smaller animals at Wolf. Make sure you allow yourself to drift out into the blue at the tips of that semi-circular island- they school there.

Our recommendation for other divers: do the liveaboard thing ( we had a great time on the Aggressor) but spend at least a week on the islands- it is far cheaper and there is much to be discovered. We want to dive Isabella ( puerto Villamil) and the other western islands like Fernandina. The folks at Scuba Iguana are opening a new shop out there to facilitate diving at these spots. We wished we had two more weeks out there. Note to those on a budget: you can rent a whole house in Puerto Ayora for $40/night- enough for your whole dive club- backpacking is still alive and well in the Galapagos. Food is great in Puerto Ayora and hiring an expert guide is reasonable. We hired Fernando Ortiz - one of the guys who designed the Aggressor itineraries and had a great day wandering the island at our leisure. You can contact him through the Scuba Iguana folks- they also have one of the best young divemasters I've ever dove with- Pepo.
So don't be intimidated by the scary liveaboard costs- you can dilute it with cheaper digs or skip them if you can get over not going to Wolf and Darwin. Of course if you want to go the terminally romantic way you can stay at the Red mangrove Inn and drop $150+ a night on a totally unique eyrie in the sky.

 

[Doc]

But the tours that a lot of these liveaboards do is the same thing over and over- they cannot vary since they have to coordinate the itinerary with the park service. And really the diving at North Seymour is a waste of vaulable time

You can contact him through the Scuba Iguana folks- they also have one of the best young divemasters I've ever dove with- Pepo.

So don't be intimidated by the scary liveaboard costs- you can dilute it with cheaper digs or skip them if you can get over not going to Wolf and Darwin. Of course if you want to go the terminally romantic way you can stay at the Red mangrove Inn and drop $150+ a night on a totally unique eye in the sky.

No one cares about the land based experience because the marketing drives them to live-aboards. Having done both, extensively, I agree wholeheartedly with you.

The money in magazine advertising is behind the boats. So, that's the best diving, all readers are assured. As SDMagaizine says when the reviewed the Galloping Pogos, "we are reviewing live aboards- our readers would do it no other way!" Doesn't that say it all? Lowest common denominator.

I dove with Mathias and Pepo. I believe after many years of diving that Pepo is probably the single best divemaster I ever have met. After 10 days of diving with him, I gave him my watch. Good man.

See our trip report at http://www.geocities.com/johnofrancis/galapagos.htm