Dan
Contributor
Summary
This is two, back-to-back, eight-day (17-24 & 24-31, 2022) liveaboard trips to Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, with Galapagos Master liveaboard. The itineraries, as shown in Table 1 and 2, include 7 days of diving to a total of 18 dives on each trip. We saw several kinds of sharks (Blacktip, Bullhead, Galapagos, Scalloped Hammerhead, Silky) including Whalesharks. Some animals that we captured in our cameras and jotted them down in my logbook include Barberfish, Eels (Fine Spotted Moray, Jewel Moray, Garden), Blennies (Throat Spotted, Panamic Fanged), Calico Lizardfish, Flag Cabilla, Green Turtles, Galapagos Penguins, Galapagos Sea Robins, Galapagos Seahorse, Groupers (Golden, Leather Bass), Guineafowl Puffer, Harlequin Wrasse, Hawkfishes (Dwarf, Giant, Longnose), King Angelfish, Mexican Hogfishes, Marine Iguanas, Mexican Goatfish, Mola Mola, Nudibranchs (Galapagos, Roboastra Leonis), Pompanos (Steel, African), Porpoises (Bottlenose Dolphins, False Killer Whales), Porcupinefish, Pacific Creolefish, Pelican Barracuda, Rays / Sting Rays (Diamond, Marbled, Spotted Eagle, Golden Cow, Manta), Rainbow Runners, Razor Surgeonfish, Red lipped Batfish, Scorpionfish, Sealions, Snappers (Blue-Gold, Whipper, Amarillo, Peruvian Grunt), Trevallies (Bigeye, Black, Bluefin, Cottonmouth), Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo.
The 24-31 (4th week) of October trip was better than the 17-24 (3rd week) of October trip, in terms of seeing Whalesharks and Marine Iguanas. I saw about 10 Whalesharks and a lot (>10) of Marine Iguanas in the 4th week of October trip versus a Whaleshark and a Marine Iguana in the 3rd week of October trip. I think, the weather had a lot to do with the close encounters. On the other hand, during the 3rd week of October trip, several Hammerheads swam over my head, so close that I could see its teeth. My last experience in such close encounters was in September 2018 in Hammerhead cleaning station in Manuelita outside, Cocos. I am glad to be able to go on these two back-to-back trips.
Figure 1 and 2 show the Galapagos Master (Deep Blue) cruising routes (marked by black arrows) around the Galapagos Archipelago for the 3rd and 4th week of October, 2022, respectively. We did 1st day of diving in San Cristobal Bay (checkout dive), 2nd day of diving off west shore of Baltra Island, 3rd and 4th day of diving off east shore of Darwin’s Arch, 5th day of diving off east shore of Wolf Island, 6th day of diving in Cabo Douglas, off northwest shore of Fernandina Island and in Punta Vincente Roca, off northwest shore of Isabela Island, 7th day of diving in Cousins Rock, off northeast shore of Santiago Island. On the 8th day, the crew transfer us to our next destinations, either hotels or straight to the San Cristobal airport.
Figure 1: Galapagos Master 3rd week of October 2022 routes in Galapagos Archipelago
Figure 2: Galapagos Master 4th week of October 2022 routes in Galapagos Archipelago
Here are short videos of the highlight of what I saw during the 2 weeks of diving in Galapagos:
3rd week of October, 2022 trip video
4th week of October, 2022 trip video
Background
Galapagos Archipelago is about 1077 km (669 miles) west off Ecuador west coast, or about 1092 km (678 miles) away from Guayaquil, Ecuador, as shown in bottom red-dot, in Figure 3, below. It would take about 110-minute flight from Guayaquil (GYE) to San Cristobal (SCY). There are similar kind of diving destinations around eastern pacific besides Galapagos, i.e., Cocos, Malpelo and Socorro, which are also indicated by red dots on their geographic locations and names in Figure 3, below. Galapagos is the southmost diving destination amongst the four eastern Pacific diving destinations.
Figure 3: Eastern Pacific diving destination geographic locations
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 6-hour nonstop flight from Houston to Quito (the capital city of Ecuador) with United Airlines. From Quito (UIO), I flew with Avianca to San Cristobal (SCY), via Guayaquil (GYE).
This is my second time in Galapagos. My first time was in December, 2016, How is diving in Galapagos in December? | ScubaBoard. So, I know what to expect as far as the water temperature and what wetsuit thickness I should bring. The water temperatures in Galapagos then were about 16-25 °C (61-77 °F). I was comfortable with my 7mm full wetsuit with hood down to 17 °C. Below that, I could only stay down in that 13-17°C freezing water for < 30 minutes, which was enough to see the Marine Iguana and Red-lipped Batfish in Cabo Douglas, Mola Mola and Bullhead Shark in Punta Vincente Roca. So, I stick with the same 7mm wetsuit. It turned out to be the same case in October 2022, as you see in Table 1 and 2, above.
The Liveaboard
Galapagos Master (Deep Blue), as shown in Figure 4, is 32m (105-foot) long ship with 8 cabins, catering for up to 16 guests, along with two rigid inflatable boats (RIB) or more commonly called panga, see Galapagos liveaboard diving for more detail info.
Figure 4: Galapagos Master (courtesy of Master Liveaboards)
It runs by 11 crews (a captain, 2 engineers, 2 chefs, a cabin mate, a host, 2 panga drivers and 2 divemasters) for 16 guests. Both trips had 15 guest on each trip. So, they work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the 15 guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley, dinning, and entertainment (Main Room) areas are on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Four guest cabins are in the upper deck and four cabins are in lower deck. Above the upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between dives. I stayed in the lower-deck cabin in 3rd week of October trip and in the upper deck cabin in 4th week of October trip. I prefer the upper deck cabin, away from engine room, with window view and walkway, where I can hang my wet rashguard on the railing right outside the cabin.
There are plenty of closet space and drawers to store belongings for 2 divers. The hosts did a great job of keeping our cabin cleaned and orderly.
Figure 5 shows Main Deck areas. Main room is where we have dive briefing. Dining room has 4 dining tables with 6-person sitting on the port side and 10-person sitting on the starboard side. Dive deck is on the back of the Main deck.
Figure 5: Galapagos Master main deck layout (courtesy of Master Liveaboards)
Setting up our dive gears and getting on to panga were pretty typical liveaboard with pangas. Once we kit up our dive gears at our assigned stations in the dive deck and ready to board on the panga, the deckhand would take our fins and cameras. We then walked to port side gate and stepped down to starboard side of the panga with deckhand assistance, sat on either side of the panga and scooted to the back of the panga. Once everyone was onboard, the deckhand would then handed over the fins and the cameras and off we went to the dive site.
The panga can take 10 people (including DMs and the panga driver). There were 15 divers on both trips. We were divided into 2 groups of 8 and 7 divers (Group Sharks and Orcas), led by a DM / group. Dive briefings were conducted in Main Room on the night before the dives. 20 minutes before diving, a bel rang to remind us to head back down to dive deck to suit up.
For water entry, the DM would count to 3 and we all backrolled into the water together at the same time. Each group would descend together following the DM.
The meal (breakfast, lunch & dinner) were served buffet style. The food were excellent. Special dietary meal were served to those who asked for it.
The diving details is reported in the next post.
This is two, back-to-back, eight-day (17-24 & 24-31, 2022) liveaboard trips to Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, with Galapagos Master liveaboard. The itineraries, as shown in Table 1 and 2, include 7 days of diving to a total of 18 dives on each trip. We saw several kinds of sharks (Blacktip, Bullhead, Galapagos, Scalloped Hammerhead, Silky) including Whalesharks. Some animals that we captured in our cameras and jotted them down in my logbook include Barberfish, Eels (Fine Spotted Moray, Jewel Moray, Garden), Blennies (Throat Spotted, Panamic Fanged), Calico Lizardfish, Flag Cabilla, Green Turtles, Galapagos Penguins, Galapagos Sea Robins, Galapagos Seahorse, Groupers (Golden, Leather Bass), Guineafowl Puffer, Harlequin Wrasse, Hawkfishes (Dwarf, Giant, Longnose), King Angelfish, Mexican Hogfishes, Marine Iguanas, Mexican Goatfish, Mola Mola, Nudibranchs (Galapagos, Roboastra Leonis), Pompanos (Steel, African), Porpoises (Bottlenose Dolphins, False Killer Whales), Porcupinefish, Pacific Creolefish, Pelican Barracuda, Rays / Sting Rays (Diamond, Marbled, Spotted Eagle, Golden Cow, Manta), Rainbow Runners, Razor Surgeonfish, Red lipped Batfish, Scorpionfish, Sealions, Snappers (Blue-Gold, Whipper, Amarillo, Peruvian Grunt), Trevallies (Bigeye, Black, Bluefin, Cottonmouth), Yellowfin Tuna, Wahoo.
The 24-31 (4th week) of October trip was better than the 17-24 (3rd week) of October trip, in terms of seeing Whalesharks and Marine Iguanas. I saw about 10 Whalesharks and a lot (>10) of Marine Iguanas in the 4th week of October trip versus a Whaleshark and a Marine Iguana in the 3rd week of October trip. I think, the weather had a lot to do with the close encounters. On the other hand, during the 3rd week of October trip, several Hammerheads swam over my head, so close that I could see its teeth. My last experience in such close encounters was in September 2018 in Hammerhead cleaning station in Manuelita outside, Cocos. I am glad to be able to go on these two back-to-back trips.
Figure 1 and 2 show the Galapagos Master (Deep Blue) cruising routes (marked by black arrows) around the Galapagos Archipelago for the 3rd and 4th week of October, 2022, respectively. We did 1st day of diving in San Cristobal Bay (checkout dive), 2nd day of diving off west shore of Baltra Island, 3rd and 4th day of diving off east shore of Darwin’s Arch, 5th day of diving off east shore of Wolf Island, 6th day of diving in Cabo Douglas, off northwest shore of Fernandina Island and in Punta Vincente Roca, off northwest shore of Isabela Island, 7th day of diving in Cousins Rock, off northeast shore of Santiago Island. On the 8th day, the crew transfer us to our next destinations, either hotels or straight to the San Cristobal airport.
Figure 1: Galapagos Master 3rd week of October 2022 routes in Galapagos Archipelago
Figure 2: Galapagos Master 4th week of October 2022 routes in Galapagos Archipelago
Here are short videos of the highlight of what I saw during the 2 weeks of diving in Galapagos:
3rd week of October, 2022 trip video
4th week of October, 2022 trip video
Background
Galapagos Archipelago is about 1077 km (669 miles) west off Ecuador west coast, or about 1092 km (678 miles) away from Guayaquil, Ecuador, as shown in bottom red-dot, in Figure 3, below. It would take about 110-minute flight from Guayaquil (GYE) to San Cristobal (SCY). There are similar kind of diving destinations around eastern pacific besides Galapagos, i.e., Cocos, Malpelo and Socorro, which are also indicated by red dots on their geographic locations and names in Figure 3, below. Galapagos is the southmost diving destination amongst the four eastern Pacific diving destinations.
Figure 3: Eastern Pacific diving destination geographic locations
Since I live near Houston, Texas, it was an easy 6-hour nonstop flight from Houston to Quito (the capital city of Ecuador) with United Airlines. From Quito (UIO), I flew with Avianca to San Cristobal (SCY), via Guayaquil (GYE).
This is my second time in Galapagos. My first time was in December, 2016, How is diving in Galapagos in December? | ScubaBoard. So, I know what to expect as far as the water temperature and what wetsuit thickness I should bring. The water temperatures in Galapagos then were about 16-25 °C (61-77 °F). I was comfortable with my 7mm full wetsuit with hood down to 17 °C. Below that, I could only stay down in that 13-17°C freezing water for < 30 minutes, which was enough to see the Marine Iguana and Red-lipped Batfish in Cabo Douglas, Mola Mola and Bullhead Shark in Punta Vincente Roca. So, I stick with the same 7mm wetsuit. It turned out to be the same case in October 2022, as you see in Table 1 and 2, above.
The Liveaboard
Galapagos Master (Deep Blue), as shown in Figure 4, is 32m (105-foot) long ship with 8 cabins, catering for up to 16 guests, along with two rigid inflatable boats (RIB) or more commonly called panga, see Galapagos liveaboard diving for more detail info.
Figure 4: Galapagos Master (courtesy of Master Liveaboards)
It runs by 11 crews (a captain, 2 engineers, 2 chefs, a cabin mate, a host, 2 panga drivers and 2 divemasters) for 16 guests. Both trips had 15 guest on each trip. So, they work very hard to maintain day-to-day operation of the boat and to serve the 15 guests.
The boat layout is very functional for divers. Galley, dinning, and entertainment (Main Room) areas are on the main deck. Camera station and dive deck are outside on the back of the main deck. Four guest cabins are in the upper deck and four cabins are in lower deck. Above the upper deck is a sundeck with open air sitting area for people to relax in between dives. I stayed in the lower-deck cabin in 3rd week of October trip and in the upper deck cabin in 4th week of October trip. I prefer the upper deck cabin, away from engine room, with window view and walkway, where I can hang my wet rashguard on the railing right outside the cabin.
There are plenty of closet space and drawers to store belongings for 2 divers. The hosts did a great job of keeping our cabin cleaned and orderly.
Figure 5 shows Main Deck areas. Main room is where we have dive briefing. Dining room has 4 dining tables with 6-person sitting on the port side and 10-person sitting on the starboard side. Dive deck is on the back of the Main deck.
Figure 5: Galapagos Master main deck layout (courtesy of Master Liveaboards)
Setting up our dive gears and getting on to panga were pretty typical liveaboard with pangas. Once we kit up our dive gears at our assigned stations in the dive deck and ready to board on the panga, the deckhand would take our fins and cameras. We then walked to port side gate and stepped down to starboard side of the panga with deckhand assistance, sat on either side of the panga and scooted to the back of the panga. Once everyone was onboard, the deckhand would then handed over the fins and the cameras and off we went to the dive site.
The panga can take 10 people (including DMs and the panga driver). There were 15 divers on both trips. We were divided into 2 groups of 8 and 7 divers (Group Sharks and Orcas), led by a DM / group. Dive briefings were conducted in Main Room on the night before the dives. 20 minutes before diving, a bel rang to remind us to head back down to dive deck to suit up.
For water entry, the DM would count to 3 and we all backrolled into the water together at the same time. Each group would descend together following the DM.
The meal (breakfast, lunch & dinner) were served buffet style. The food were excellent. Special dietary meal were served to those who asked for it.
The diving details is reported in the next post.