drrich2
Contributor
This research compilation is from planning my recent live-aboard trip aboard the Humboldt Explorer. I drew on others' trip reports and articles about the Galapagos and 'competitor' destinations. Thanks to all who post online making such resources available to others. I hope these notes help jumpstart others' trip research. I posted plenty of photos in my trip report; here I'll avoid that and keep things more concise.
-----For big animal encounters in the Americas several destinations come to mind; the Socorros, Cocos Island, Malpelo, North Carolina (sand tiger sharks), Tiger Beach (in the Bahamas – lemon and tiger sharks), seasonal cage-diving with great whites at Guadalupe, Jupiter in Florida (goliath grouper or lemon sharks – seasonal, or with shark-feeding dives a range of shark species (e.g.: tiger, hammerhead, bull, lemon, silky)) and…the famous Galapagos Islands, near the equator, owned by the South American nation of Ecuador. It’s not for beginners – Explorer Venture’s literature recommends divers have > 100 dives experience. For some dives they issue locators. But it’s got variety, scientific impact on our views on natural history, and it’s a household name.
-----The Galapagos region (especially by live-aboard, allowing diving at Wolf and Darwin Islands) is known for big animals underwater (varied by season and region – potentially dolphins, sea lions, mantas, mola mola, whale sharks, Galapagos sharks, hammerheads), and an array of creatures topside – giant tortoises, marine iguanas and even penguins! At the cost of variably cold-water current diving with limited viz. where some sites often involve holding onto rocks and watching adventure unfold around you. The best of Galapagos is by live-aboard, they’re more expensive than most Caribbean live-aboards, and it’s farther from the U.S…. you’ll likely spend over a week on your trip. Regulations and travel times limit dive count – for a 7-day Humboldt Explorer trip they estimate 18-19 dives (20 offered my trip, not 25 – 27 like some Caribbean live-aboards) – but likely a land excursion or two.
-----I went January 2020. Undercurrent’s destination page indicated that’s a good time to go, and Explorer Ventures had a $700 off sale (Year of Savings discount) for the week of Jan. 13 – 20 with 10 open slots. Travel arrangements were complex – I needed to fly to 1 of 2 optional cities in Ecuador, overnight, fly to San Cristobal (the island Humboldt Explorer operates out of), give my luggage time to catch up if misplaced, then fly home. So I used a travel agent. OutofOfficeBRB and Trailboss123 on Scuba Board praised Blue Water Travel, and I used them. I’ve been impressed with Galapagos Scuba Board thread contributions by Dom@DiveAdvice (with Dive Advice Travel, a dive travel agency with teams in France and California that’s chartered a lot of Galapagos trips) and DiveTheGalapagos (with the Calipso live-aboard).
-----Note on costs: I don’t like paying list price for live-aboards. Periodically Aggressor Fleet had sales > 30% off near fleet wide, and Explorer Ventures had intermittent special offers. On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28th, E.V. put out word of their upcoming Cyber Monday specials for trips booked 8 a.m. Monday 12-2-19 to Tuesday 12-3-19 11:59 p.m. A ‘normal’ week on the Humboldt Explorer was priced at $5,395; my $700 sale week was $4,695. For 2 weeks – Jan. 6th (yeah, the week before mine) and March 2nd they offered $2,000 off, $3,395!!! These prices remained in effect for weeks, with openings.
-----A little checking on recent sales showed Oct. 14th, 2019, Divebooker.com posted a 50% sale the week of Dec. 5 – 12, 2019, book by Oct. 31st, aboard Galapagos Aggressor III, bringing the price down to $3,298. Blue Water Travel’s site listed that price $3,395, but PADI Travel gave it as $5,395! Buyer beware!
-----Consider trip insurance. I finally caved in to uncertainty and the dread of snow and ice costing me $6,400, so I logged on and bought the DAN Basic Plan for $255.12.
Galapagos Research Notes
-----For big animal encounters in the Americas several destinations come to mind; the Socorros, Cocos Island, Malpelo, North Carolina (sand tiger sharks), Tiger Beach (in the Bahamas – lemon and tiger sharks), seasonal cage-diving with great whites at Guadalupe, Jupiter in Florida (goliath grouper or lemon sharks – seasonal, or with shark-feeding dives a range of shark species (e.g.: tiger, hammerhead, bull, lemon, silky)) and…the famous Galapagos Islands, near the equator, owned by the South American nation of Ecuador. It’s not for beginners – Explorer Venture’s literature recommends divers have > 100 dives experience. For some dives they issue locators. But it’s got variety, scientific impact on our views on natural history, and it’s a household name.
-----The Galapagos region (especially by live-aboard, allowing diving at Wolf and Darwin Islands) is known for big animals underwater (varied by season and region – potentially dolphins, sea lions, mantas, mola mola, whale sharks, Galapagos sharks, hammerheads), and an array of creatures topside – giant tortoises, marine iguanas and even penguins! At the cost of variably cold-water current diving with limited viz. where some sites often involve holding onto rocks and watching adventure unfold around you. The best of Galapagos is by live-aboard, they’re more expensive than most Caribbean live-aboards, and it’s farther from the U.S…. you’ll likely spend over a week on your trip. Regulations and travel times limit dive count – for a 7-day Humboldt Explorer trip they estimate 18-19 dives (20 offered my trip, not 25 – 27 like some Caribbean live-aboards) – but likely a land excursion or two.
-----I went January 2020. Undercurrent’s destination page indicated that’s a good time to go, and Explorer Ventures had a $700 off sale (Year of Savings discount) for the week of Jan. 13 – 20 with 10 open slots. Travel arrangements were complex – I needed to fly to 1 of 2 optional cities in Ecuador, overnight, fly to San Cristobal (the island Humboldt Explorer operates out of), give my luggage time to catch up if misplaced, then fly home. So I used a travel agent. OutofOfficeBRB and Trailboss123 on Scuba Board praised Blue Water Travel, and I used them. I’ve been impressed with Galapagos Scuba Board thread contributions by Dom@DiveAdvice (with Dive Advice Travel, a dive travel agency with teams in France and California that’s chartered a lot of Galapagos trips) and DiveTheGalapagos (with the Calipso live-aboard).
-----Note on costs: I don’t like paying list price for live-aboards. Periodically Aggressor Fleet had sales > 30% off near fleet wide, and Explorer Ventures had intermittent special offers. On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28th, E.V. put out word of their upcoming Cyber Monday specials for trips booked 8 a.m. Monday 12-2-19 to Tuesday 12-3-19 11:59 p.m. A ‘normal’ week on the Humboldt Explorer was priced at $5,395; my $700 sale week was $4,695. For 2 weeks – Jan. 6th (yeah, the week before mine) and March 2nd they offered $2,000 off, $3,395!!! These prices remained in effect for weeks, with openings.
-----A little checking on recent sales showed Oct. 14th, 2019, Divebooker.com posted a 50% sale the week of Dec. 5 – 12, 2019, book by Oct. 31st, aboard Galapagos Aggressor III, bringing the price down to $3,298. Blue Water Travel’s site listed that price $3,395, but PADI Travel gave it as $5,395! Buyer beware!
-----Consider trip insurance. I finally caved in to uncertainty and the dread of snow and ice costing me $6,400, so I logged on and bought the DAN Basic Plan for $255.12.