Who to dive with in Galapagos

[Ralph Capeling]

We are experienced divers who would like to dive the Galapagos in September or October 2011 and would like some advice. I appologize for asking the same question that I am sure thousands of people have already asked and had answered.
Who is the best operator to dive with?
Which operator provides the best value for money?
What thickness of wet suit is required September/October?
What should I have asked that I did not ask and what do you think about adding in Machu Picchu in Peru before or after?

 

[tstormdiver]

I just came off the Humboldt Explorer a few weeks ago. Had a great time. Here is the report I wrote up about it: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...xplorer-trip-report-aug-30-sept-8-2010-a.html . I wore a drysuit with heavier undergarments. Most in our group wore 7mm semidry suits that they said did great.

 

[RJP]

Just returned from a week on the Galapagos Sky and had a great time. Highly recommended.

My buddy and I dove dry. Wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Tammy, thanks for a well written trip report. It is very helpful. It sounds like very exciting diving both from a what you see and how you dive point of view.
I am not looking forward to the cold water. I live in Belize and most of the year, dive in a skin and go to 3 mil for a few months and occassionally use a 5 mil. I did the rescue diver course in a 4 degree Celsius mountain lake in Alberta wearing a 7 mm farmer john type wetsuit and survived that so I guess I can get one of those again.
In the video, viz seemed to be very good sometimes and not very good other times. You mention "murky" in your trip report - was the viz good most of the time?
Regards
Ralph

 

[merxlin]

Just returned after diving on the Aggressor I, and could not have enjoyed it more. Well, unless we had been able to see whale sharks. Crew and boat were top notch, food was great. Loved the trip. Only one person on our trip dove dry ( and she dove a wetsuit a couple days after her drysuit sprung a leak), and no one complained about the cold, but we are all Southern California divers and the conditions were so much like home (except for the current) that it was a bit weird (almost disappointing to be that far away and have everything seem so familiar). Even the green water and 20-30 ft viz a couple days was way too familiar.

 

[RJP]

You mention "murky" in your trip report - was the viz good most of the time?

My favorite quote about viz applies to the Galapagos as much as anywhere else in the world...

"Viz is about WHAT you can see, not about how FAR you can see."

Here's a pic my buddy snapped last week in the "murky" viz off Darwin island...

Good enough to see hundreds of sharks on every dive. Including 5-6 of these guys. (I'm the little one, on the right.)

 

[merxlin]

RJP is right, the big guys are either there or they aren't. We certainly tried to find them, but it's still the ocean- only guarantee is at an aquarium!

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Couldn't agree more. Once had a dive with viz of maybe 20 ft, but with 35 hammerheads visible from 3 different angles, who cares?

Ralph, are you talking about a live-aboard? And ps...we have a La Nina event this year, so viz is worse than normal and water is much colder than normal. But the fact that, no matter what the temp/conditions, that virtually every diver glows about the experience does sum it all up.

 

[tstormdiver]

I would agree there were some Days where it was fairly clear & other days of 20-40ft vis. Personally, I've dove locally, most of the year with only 10ft vis or less, so 20- 40 ft vis was a real treat! It was certainly some exciting diving to say the least!

 

[galapagosexpert]

In Galapagos, there are only 5 vessels that are permitted to offer live aboard diving (some mentioned above) Galapagos Sky, Agressor 1 and 2, Humboltd Explorer and Deep Blue. These will go up to Darwin and Wolf. The other option is local dive shops doing day trips from Sant Cruz Island or San Cristobal island, but they will not get you up to see "the big boys" in D and W.