But I have to decide if the trip there is worth spending the money, even if it is less than the liveaboard if I cant go to the best spots. She would say yes because she would like the land based activities as much as the underwater ones.
When I have had enough time, I have added land based diving and topside touring before/after Galapagos liveaboard trips. In 2012 I added diving from San Cristobel and Isabela, topside Isabela tours (5 day stay on Isabela) and stayed a few days each on Santa Cruz and San Cristobel. In 2010 I also added diving from San Cristobel and Isabela (6 day stay on Isabela) and did topside tours from Isabela and Santa Cruz (6 day stay on Santa Cruz). In 2007 I added 3 dive days plus days for topside tours, all from Santa Cruz. I have also dove Santa Cruz land based sites by liveaboard back when it was still possible to do so. I have been told by an experienced diver I trust that the Floreana dive sites when I was there were not "worth it", so I have never dove there.
Here is my advice given what you've explained in this thread so far:
1. Do not do anything that might jeopardize your ability to do a future Galapagos liveaboard. Diving at Darwin and Wolf is blow-your-mind incredible. Is your wife happy to book big trips to the same place twice? What if she has a bad experience on some piece(s) of your non-liveaboard Galapagos trip? etc.
2. Research how long the boat trips are to the dive sites (e.g. Scuba Iguana states 2 tanks is an 8 to 10 hour day:
Scuba Iguana. Observe and admire the Fauna of Galapagos). Most folks head to Santa Cruz sites for hammerheads, but the rides to e.g. Gordon's Rocks are not short, and these dive boats are not huge. Lots of the time the seating area is enclosed to keep the spray and wind out. I think these trips would present more seasickness risk than e.g. your average Caribbean land based diving.
3. Research your options for inter-island travel. I have always traveled between Santa Cruz and Isabela by boat. This is an open ocean trip, again not in an enormous vessel. Perhaps the seas are calmer at some times of year than at others. The rougher the ocean, the longer this trip will take.
4. Make sure you are comfortable diving in cooler water (I have had temps high 50s to low 70s usually), lower to low vis, and potentially surge and/or current.
5. The decision of how much time you should spend where is IMO best handled by a specialist with whom you share more details of your budget, interests and situation. If DivetheGalapagos books 100% land based trips, she would be my first choice for your situation by far. I have done 5 Galapagos trips, most before I met her, and amongst everyone who books dive tourists, my experience is she has exceptional, up-to-the-minute insider/in-depth knowledge of Galapagos liveaboards, land based ops and dive sites. DtG dives these sites year round and lives most of the year in the Galapagos. If she does not book land based trips any more, try whomever she recommends or Red Mangrove. This party will estimate total costs for you and work on bookings for dive sites which are difficult to get advance confirmation for (e.g. Kicker Rock), smaller hotels, etc.
