Tuesday 24th August Back to land based diving
I met with Jorge the day before and I debriefed him on my trip on the liveaboard and showed him the videos. He was very delighted with the interaction I had with the aquatic life, and from someone who has lived in the Galapagos most of his life that was very impressive. We both agreed that it would be rare for open circuit divers to have such intimate encounters though they could have the sighting, and the primary goal of rebreather diving in the Galapagos would be for aquatic interaction, and extended bottom times, rather than deep exploration, though this could be a separate mission objective and organised logistically if required.
We prepared the rebreathers Monday pm, and discussed the dive plan, it was to be a multi level profile, 40mt/130ft for 20 minutes, then 25mt/83ft for 25 minutes followed by 15mt/50ft for another 20 minutes, with a set point of 1.3. Our purpose was to return to Gordon Rocks and check out a cavern/cave on the outside of the Volcano on the deep wall.
I arrived at Jorges at 6am and we calibrated and ran the pre dive checks. Then we loaded our gear onto Jorges own boat, this was a smaller boat powered by 2 outboard motors but capable of comfortably supporting 4-5 rebreather divers and support crew. The ride time to the site from Puerto Ayora was 1 hour, same as the regular dive boats, and the boat was captained by Charles Wittmer, Jorges uncle and business partner.
We arrived at the site and geared up, ran the checks again and were dropped off on the outer wall. We descended to 40mt/130ft and hit a thermocline but the visibility opened up to 20mt/66ft and the water temp read 14c/57f, it was cold for a 5mm wetsuit! We followed the wall for 17 minutes till we found the cavern opening, Jorge waited on the outside with his video camera and I went into the cavern entrance but couldnt move far as I was at max depth, there was a big sand patch at the bottom of the cavern (this was the only sand patch on this side of the volcano wall) and looked like a small passage proceeded further into the cavern. I suspected if there was an opening it would lead through to the other side of the collapsed crater, where there is a big sand patch, however it would need some trimix and side mount to check out properly. I came back out of the cavern and then we ascended to our next level at 25mt/83ft where the water temp increased to 20c/68f (though the vis dropped to 10mt/33ft) and ran through the remainder of the dive as planned.
After arriving back at Jorges place we cleaned up the equipment, and I retuned the tanks, and myself, Jorge and Charles had a beer and chatted about the diving on Galapagos and about the great potential for rebreather diving tours and how rebreather divers would get so much more from the Galapagos than open circuit encounters.
I arranged to meet Jorge for dinner the next night so we could discuss future trips and I could say goodbye to a great support operator and a new friend.
Wednesday 25th August Dinner with Jorge
I met Jorge at 5.30pm at Il Giardino, a nice Italian restaurant, with 3 decks, overlooking the bay, and Jorge interviewed me about the trip, rebreather diving in Galapagos, and the potential for technical diving in the area as well. We discussed how to improve the services and logistics for visiting rebreather divers, and how support for groups would differ to what he had provided me, and risks that needed to be considered in organising rebreather tours in the Galapagos. My girlfriend insisted her next time here would be on a rebreather mainly for the experiences with the aquatic life. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I thanked Jorge for his support, help, and complimented him on his vision and commitment to provide rebreather support for visiting divers. Its always sad to say goodbye after such a great trip but I smiled at the thought of having made a great new friend and professional acquaintance and looked forward to when we next met and my next trip to the Galapagos.
Thursday 26th/Friday 27th August The departure
We left Puerto Ayora, the two of us, by taxi ($15) to the canal at 8.30am, arriving 9.15am, then boarded the ferry/bus to the airport and arrived 9.35am. Upon checking in we were informed we would be charged $80 excess baggage, and although I tried to explain we had come in as a group with no charges, the check in clerk insisted we had to pay. It worked out about $40 each for 1 extra bag to check in. This was the first time on the trip we had excess charges, and I guess if we hadnt come over from Quito to Baltra in a group would have had the same charges. We arrived in Quito 2.10pm local time, and then took our own taxi (no transfer was arranged and we were aware) to the Rio Amazonas for our last night in Ecuador.
I recommend a great little Indian restaurant, actually named appropriately the Great Indian Restaurant a few hundred yards from the Rio Amazonas, and dinner for with starters came to $17.
At night the music blaring from the Mariscal district was so loud, that even on the 6th floor it kept us awake, but the reception gave us another room on the opposite side of the hotel on the 1st floor which was sheltered from the noise.
On the Friday am, we checked in 4 pieces of baggage between 2 and I had the same packing arrangements as before (head in carry on) so no excess charges, except this time I placed my back plate in my girlfriends checked bags so I had less in my carry on, plus I didnt want to take a chance that my back plate may have been confiscated by an overzealous TSA agent as it had aroused suspicion on the way down. We picked up the baggage in Miami and then cleared customs and dropped off again as we had an onward connection to Montreal.
During this trip I used 8 fills of scrubber, including 3 land based days diving, otherwise 1 keg would do for the liveaboard based on the profiles I conducted.
My photos/video are amateurish and taken with a Canon A640 Powershot and Ikelite housing.
I used a Suunto D6 dive computer and set the Nitrox mix to give me a PPO of 1.3 on my max depth, crude but conservative and effective within the scope of the profiles I was running.
Heres a few links to this trip as well;
Jorge Mahauads blog
My videos on You Tube
Hope this report helps anyone planning a trip to the Galapagos and on a rebreather.
I met with Jorge the day before and I debriefed him on my trip on the liveaboard and showed him the videos. He was very delighted with the interaction I had with the aquatic life, and from someone who has lived in the Galapagos most of his life that was very impressive. We both agreed that it would be rare for open circuit divers to have such intimate encounters though they could have the sighting, and the primary goal of rebreather diving in the Galapagos would be for aquatic interaction, and extended bottom times, rather than deep exploration, though this could be a separate mission objective and organised logistically if required.
We prepared the rebreathers Monday pm, and discussed the dive plan, it was to be a multi level profile, 40mt/130ft for 20 minutes, then 25mt/83ft for 25 minutes followed by 15mt/50ft for another 20 minutes, with a set point of 1.3. Our purpose was to return to Gordon Rocks and check out a cavern/cave on the outside of the Volcano on the deep wall.
I arrived at Jorges at 6am and we calibrated and ran the pre dive checks. Then we loaded our gear onto Jorges own boat, this was a smaller boat powered by 2 outboard motors but capable of comfortably supporting 4-5 rebreather divers and support crew. The ride time to the site from Puerto Ayora was 1 hour, same as the regular dive boats, and the boat was captained by Charles Wittmer, Jorges uncle and business partner.
We arrived at the site and geared up, ran the checks again and were dropped off on the outer wall. We descended to 40mt/130ft and hit a thermocline but the visibility opened up to 20mt/66ft and the water temp read 14c/57f, it was cold for a 5mm wetsuit! We followed the wall for 17 minutes till we found the cavern opening, Jorge waited on the outside with his video camera and I went into the cavern entrance but couldnt move far as I was at max depth, there was a big sand patch at the bottom of the cavern (this was the only sand patch on this side of the volcano wall) and looked like a small passage proceeded further into the cavern. I suspected if there was an opening it would lead through to the other side of the collapsed crater, where there is a big sand patch, however it would need some trimix and side mount to check out properly. I came back out of the cavern and then we ascended to our next level at 25mt/83ft where the water temp increased to 20c/68f (though the vis dropped to 10mt/33ft) and ran through the remainder of the dive as planned.
After arriving back at Jorges place we cleaned up the equipment, and I retuned the tanks, and myself, Jorge and Charles had a beer and chatted about the diving on Galapagos and about the great potential for rebreather diving tours and how rebreather divers would get so much more from the Galapagos than open circuit encounters.
I arranged to meet Jorge for dinner the next night so we could discuss future trips and I could say goodbye to a great support operator and a new friend.
Wednesday 25th August Dinner with Jorge
I met Jorge at 5.30pm at Il Giardino, a nice Italian restaurant, with 3 decks, overlooking the bay, and Jorge interviewed me about the trip, rebreather diving in Galapagos, and the potential for technical diving in the area as well. We discussed how to improve the services and logistics for visiting rebreather divers, and how support for groups would differ to what he had provided me, and risks that needed to be considered in organising rebreather tours in the Galapagos. My girlfriend insisted her next time here would be on a rebreather mainly for the experiences with the aquatic life. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I thanked Jorge for his support, help, and complimented him on his vision and commitment to provide rebreather support for visiting divers. Its always sad to say goodbye after such a great trip but I smiled at the thought of having made a great new friend and professional acquaintance and looked forward to when we next met and my next trip to the Galapagos.
Thursday 26th/Friday 27th August The departure
We left Puerto Ayora, the two of us, by taxi ($15) to the canal at 8.30am, arriving 9.15am, then boarded the ferry/bus to the airport and arrived 9.35am. Upon checking in we were informed we would be charged $80 excess baggage, and although I tried to explain we had come in as a group with no charges, the check in clerk insisted we had to pay. It worked out about $40 each for 1 extra bag to check in. This was the first time on the trip we had excess charges, and I guess if we hadnt come over from Quito to Baltra in a group would have had the same charges. We arrived in Quito 2.10pm local time, and then took our own taxi (no transfer was arranged and we were aware) to the Rio Amazonas for our last night in Ecuador.
I recommend a great little Indian restaurant, actually named appropriately the Great Indian Restaurant a few hundred yards from the Rio Amazonas, and dinner for with starters came to $17.
At night the music blaring from the Mariscal district was so loud, that even on the 6th floor it kept us awake, but the reception gave us another room on the opposite side of the hotel on the 1st floor which was sheltered from the noise.
On the Friday am, we checked in 4 pieces of baggage between 2 and I had the same packing arrangements as before (head in carry on) so no excess charges, except this time I placed my back plate in my girlfriends checked bags so I had less in my carry on, plus I didnt want to take a chance that my back plate may have been confiscated by an overzealous TSA agent as it had aroused suspicion on the way down. We picked up the baggage in Miami and then cleared customs and dropped off again as we had an onward connection to Montreal.
During this trip I used 8 fills of scrubber, including 3 land based days diving, otherwise 1 keg would do for the liveaboard based on the profiles I conducted.
My photos/video are amateurish and taken with a Canon A640 Powershot and Ikelite housing.
I used a Suunto D6 dive computer and set the Nitrox mix to give me a PPO of 1.3 on my max depth, crude but conservative and effective within the scope of the profiles I was running.
Heres a few links to this trip as well;
Jorge Mahauads blog
My videos on You Tube
Hope this report helps anyone planning a trip to the Galapagos and on a rebreather.
