Trip Report 2 Weeks in Galapagos in Dec - Land + Liveaboard

[jjmochi]

I waited a while to post this, to give my thoughts some time to settle. I wrote this during my 10 day hotel quarantine upon return when things were still fresh, and thought perhaps my feelings may change over time but sadly it did not. [Sorry it is LONG - blame quarantine]

My husband and I were in the Galapagos for 2.5 weeks in the last 2 weeks of Dec. This was our first time to Galapagos and our first vacation since COVID in >2 years. We spent ~16 full days in Galapagos excluding travel days. It took us 2 days each way to get there from Singapore - we flew through Tokyo to JFK to Miami to GYE on the way there, and through GYE to Madrid to Istanbul to Singapore on the way back. (This is definitely a trip that would have been much easier before I left NYC, oh well.)

Our schedule (w my rating from ‘meh’ to ‘ok’ to ‘good’ to ‘great’ to ‘amazing’):
Photo dump by day: Galapagos Dec 2021 (have not had time to clean up much)

• Day 0 - left SG ~10pm, arrived at GYE around 11pm [same day but really >24h due to time diff]
• Day 1 - morning flight to Baltra, 1pm interisland flight to Isabela, walked ~10min to Concha y Perla (good) and snorkeled
• Day 2 - morning kayaked & snorkeled Tintoretas (meh), rented bikes in afternoon to Tortoise Breeding Center (ok) and Wall of Tears (meh), passed by a few flamingo lagoons (ok)
• Day 3 - morning Tunnels tour (great - but boat broke down and we were ~2h delayed coming back), 3pm ferry to Santa Cruz, dinner at Los Kiosk
• Day 4 - full day Santa Fe tour (land visit + snorkel) on Sea Finch (good) - was supposed to be Santa Fe / Plazas tour on Windrose but they cancelled last minute
• Day 5 - morning ferry to San Cristobal, explored the pier and walked to Playa Mann (ok), Interpretation Center (meh), Tijeretas Hill (meh - didn’t see many birds), and Punta Carola beach (great)
• Day 6 - full day tour to Espanola on LP Valeria I (amazing)
• Day 7 - 2 dives at Kicker Rock (ok/good, but no hammerheads), beach visit on way back (ok)
• Day 8 - 2 dives at Punta Pitt (good), afternoon land visit to see the red footed boobies (great)
• Day 9 - morning taxi to La Galapaguera tortoise center (great) and El Junco lake (meh), picked up at noon for a 7 night diving liveaboard on Galapagos Master, check dive in afternoon (meh)
• Day 10 - morning land visit to North Seymour (great), second check dive at Baltra (meh), and long 12h navigation to Darwin
• Day 11 - 4 dives at Darwin (amazing, hammerheads galore)
• Day 12 - 4 dives at Darwin (amazing, even better than first day, whale sharks stole the show)
• Day 13 - 4 dives at Wolf (amazing, huge hammerheads schools)
• Day 14 - 2 dives at Fernandina, first ok (cold and dark muck dive to see the strange and bizarre), second shallow 5m dive to see the marine iguanas feeding (amazing), afternoon 1 dive at Punta Vincente Roca to see the mola mola (horrible - zero visibility, super cold green water, saw nothing) and short panga ride to see penguins & flightless cormorants (great - but not on normal schedule - exception due to how bad the prior dive was)
• Day 15 - 2 dives at Cousins’ Rock (meh/ok), afternoon visit to Charles Darwin Research Station (meh), disembarked early, new dive group friends invited us for dinner at Finch Bay
• Day 16 - full day Bartolome / Chinese Hat tour on Windrose (great)
• Day 17 - last day, visited Santa Cruz fish market in the morning (meh), originally planned to visit El Chato on the way to airport but skipped as we had seen so many already, left at 10am for our 1pm flight back to GYE

We saw everything we wanted to see (everything on the Galapagos big 15 list) in two weeks, had a good mix of land tours, self exploration time, and dive cruise. As a huge animal lover it was a good trip that I would rate 6-7/10. We enjoyed the trip but it was not spectacular to the point where we immediately want to come back. We were also ready to leave at the end. And it is expensive- really expensive. The quality of service did not reflect the premium (especially for the dive portion). Overall we didn’t feel like we got value for money (all in cost ~$25k USD) nor were we super comfortable during any portion of the trip.

Our trip was centered around the liveaboard which we booked pre-COVID. We chose the Galapagos Master because it was the only boat running 10 night trips (which we first booked), and have heard great things about it (some on this forum). I'm not sure if the quality deteriorated significantly due to COVID interruptions (dive guides mentioned they had to fish and catch cows to get by while borders were closed), or if our expectations were set too high. I will say, upon reflection, despite the liveaboard being the focus of our trip and the most expensive part of our trip, it was overall our least favorite part of the trip (there are bright spots of course, mainly the 3 days at Wolf/Darwin).

I'll split this up into diving / non-diving for folks who are interested.

On Diving

• Our trip dates was planned around warm waters and whale sharks. Whale shark season is the cold season which we can’t stomach, Dec is the very end of that season and the second half of Dec when we were there was supposed to be a transition time with 23-25C waters at the central islands and 18-20C at Isabela/Fernandina, so we chose to go at the busiest time of the year so as to have the best chance of warmer waters and still catch the tail end of whale shark season.
• Yet this year was El Nina and we had 16-20C at the central islands and 16C at Isabela, way too cold for us. I had 4 wetsuit layers on (16mm of neoprene on my core, 10mm on my limbs, 6mm on my head, and I was still cold on the 16C dives). So diving was not that enjoyable and a lot of people got sick towards the end including one of the guides. Only Wolf/Darwin had 25C and was enjoyable.
• Diving at Darwin and Wolf lived up to its heft reputation; we saw massive schools of hammerheads, huge galapagos sharks, and 1-3 whale sharks on every dive. Water was warm and currents not as bad as people make it out to be (no whirlwind or ‘rip your mask off’ currents for us). We had ~120 dives beforehand and didn’t have any issues, we’ve also had a few beginners with only 30 dives who did fine. It’s negative entry on all dives (I learned how to roll with my camera!) but we descended pretty slowly as we go to only 8m and wait for the group to catch up then crawled down together slowly. The 3 days at Darwin/Wolf was A++. Visibility was not great (5-10m) but there was an abundance of life. No shortage of dolphins, turtles, morays, eagle rays, mobula rays, sting rays, various colored puffers, yellowfin tuna, large schools of jacks, grunts, salema, in addition to the main draw of hammerheads/whale sharks. No mantas tho. And tons of boobies including a ton of red footed ones which came right to the boat / took over the bow.
• Diving at the other islands was a disappointment. First 2 days were check dives where we saw nothing. Not sure why we needed the second check dive on Baltra on day 2, we asked whether we could dive North Seymour where we were anchored and was told no. Fernandina/Isabela day originally had 4 dives planned, first was so so (dark, cold, very poor visibility) but we did see what we went to see (the stranger stuff including the sea robin and red lipped batfish which walks, torpedo ray, some saw a bull head shark). Second (marine iguana) dive was amazing. 3rd and 4th were supposed to be mola mola dives but we called off the 4th after the 3rd which was the worst dive ever. One of the UK divers said it was just like diving in an English lake - green water, no visibility (1-2m at best, several divers lost the group), cold (15-16C), absolutely nothing to see other than a single pacific seahorse which they took one diver at a time to see (we had 14 divers, plus it’s the same seahorse we saw at Tunnels). I thought Cousins would be decent but actually think Kicker Rock/Punta Pitt was better, and a few of us skipped the second Cousins dive after not seeing much on the first (only 1-2 eagle rays and no mantas).
• Bottom line - if there was a cruise that only went to Wolf and Darwin, I would rebook. But for this price ($6.5k for a 7n trip) and pretty disappointing dives on literally half the trip, for me it’s not worth it.
• The local dives on San Cristobal were actually quite good. Still pricey ($200 for a two tank trip) but easy diving, and LOTS of sea lions.

Overall I still think it's an amazing dive destination for the sheer variety of stuff you can see (whale sharks! hammerheads! sea lions! dolphins! penguins! etc etc) but we did not enjoy it outside of Wolf/Darwin because of 1) the cold, 2) the repetitiveness of it all (a lot of it is hang on to rocks and watch hammerheads) 3) not much color / not much visibility. I don't regret going but probably won't go back. 50% of the dives (Darwin/Wolf) were great, but the other 50% sucked.

 

[jjmochi]

On the Galapagos Master specifically [warning: long list of complaints]

• Overall my experience wasn’t that great and I can’t recommend it. Most of the other guests were in agreement and there were a lot of complaints.
• Boat condition wasn’t great- we had the premium room on the top deck and had a huge termite problem. Literally infested with lots of dead bodies on the floor, and live ones circling once the lights went off. They fumigated multiple times a day (room smelled horrible, can't be healthy) and we had to keep the AC on at all times (not great when you’re coming out from a 16C dive) to keep them at bay. The room next to us had the termite larvae crawling on their bed.
• Hot water always ran out - they divide divers into 2 groups and if you’re the second group say bye to a hot shower.
• Food was ok in taste (a bit salty) but very limited in options. Breakfast was almost the same every day. Each meal had 1-2 protein options and 1-2 sides. In comparison the much cheaper $2k liveaboards I’ve been on in the past always had double or triple the number of options. Half the boat was vegetarian and there was never enough of the vegetarian option, and they served leftovers multiple times, towards the end ice cold. The vegetarians said they all informed the boat beforehand yet the chef had no idea and served meat only for the first 2 days. Food quality deteriorated fast on the last 2 days as I think they ran out of ingredients.
• Itinerary was poor in my view. First day you get picked up at 10am-noon and all you do is a 20min check dive right where the boat is anchored. We don’t start sailing until after dinner. So they could move the pick up to mid-afternoon and give guests back the morning. Last day the last dive finished at 10am. Yet all we do for the rest of the day is a 1 hour visit to the Charles Darwin Research Center. There is more than enough time to fit in a Santa Cruz highlands tour or a visit to the tortoise ranches which we pass by on the way yet we were told it was not possible.
• There were way too many briefings. Every day they go around the room and ask everyone how the day went. No one feels comfortable saying anything negative of course and if anyone had any feedback on how to improve they would launch into a lengthy explanation of why they do things the way they do. They say it’s valuable feedback yet I never saw them write down a single thing or implement any suggestions. A bit disingenuous.
• Anchor was super loud and always dropped at 3-4am in the morning. We anchor there and don’t dive until 8am usually. Don’t know why they don’t shift navigation times so we arrive and anchor drops closer to breakfast.
• You have to keep your wetsuit on in between dive 1&2 and 3&4, and it’s freezing. They don't let you go in the common area since you're wet, so you're left shivering in the windy second deck (there is literally a line to stand next to the engine room for some warmth).
• Full breakfast is served before dive 1 rather than the more typical light breakfast before dive 1 and full breakfast before dive 2. Result was we usually went in the water after the other boats despite arriving there first.
• Crew was helpful when asked for help but I felt service was actually lacking compared to the other liveaboards I’ve been on in the past. Certainly nothing above and beyond to deserve the price premium. Boat crew spoke no English. We were told pick up was at 12 yet they came early at 11.45am and told our hotel we had to haul our own heavy dive gear to the public pier vs waiting 15min until the agreed pick up time (we were on time).
• Two in our group could not dive due to ear issues and the crew/divemasters didn’t do anything to facilitate how they can make the most of their trip- they had to ask at every site if they could snorkel, and there were some complaints behind their backs. They paid full price for the trip and you would think the dive masters would proactively address what they could do on the surface vs them having to ask if they could go every time.
• Boat crew kept taking off the weight on the back of my tank which I added after Wolf/Darwin along with 6mm of neoprene (I have integrated BC and don’t touch my weights in between dives), I asked them not to remove it on the first day but forgot to check the next day and couldn’t sink. Dive guide never looked or went up. Took a long time to get the panga driver’s attention even with my dive alert. In the end only the private guide hired by one of the guests (who had no responsibility for the group) saw me and came to help. Another guest may or may not have had his air turned off by the crew on one dive (he was pretty sure he had turned on his air but went in with the air off, boat crew adjusts your tank every dive while they help you into the panga).
• Diving platform was average - a bit cramped but could be worse. Divers are split into two and so groups are up to 8. It’s too large, a few people had issues and it was hard to get the divemaster’s attention. On the zero visibility mola mola dive a few people were very low on air, yet the dive guide is still showing divers one by one to the single seahorse. My ad hoc buddy ran completely dry at 200PSI during our safety stop and it could have been a disastrous situation. A few others came up at 300-400 as well and said they couldn’t get the guide’s attention. One pair of divers skipped their safety stop completely (and this was a dive where we went down to 30m) because they were so low.
• There was a big speech on the 10% recommended tip on the second to last day. On every other daytour/boat we’ve been on there is just a tip box put out at the end, no suggestions or minimums, no pressure. We were with a group of 7 Germans, one UK, one Swiss, 2 Americans. It’s a pretty experienced group with multiple instructors, some at 3000+ dives, some at 1500+, all been on lots of liveaboards. Everyone thought it was a bit outrageous and certainly our experience did not match up.
• Equipment rental is expensive - about double the price of the other boats. But at least they are upfront about it. You can’t rent gloves/hoods and have to buy. They charge $25 for a pair of $2 garden gloves. Hoods cost $70 or 80. I came back with a fungal skin infection from the 2 days I had to add the rental wetsuit.

 

[jjmochi]

On the islands and day tours

• Wolf & Darwin - there are a TON of red footed boobies (mostly juveniles) at Wolf/Darwin which came to the boat. Literally the entire front rail is lined with them. It’s really funny to watch them trying to stick the landing and hold on when it’s windy, sometimes they get blown off and use their necks to hook around the rails. On the panga ride to the dive sites you can see boobies (red and nazcas I think) dive bombing the water. Lots of frigates as well which came to the boat and took over our sundeck (around Santiago/Cousins’ also). We missed Genovesa but can’t imagine the bird life being better than this. From the boat you can also see schools of silky sharks which came by every night to feed (apparently there was an accident a few years back with the silkies which is why they don’t do night dives anymore, they don’t bite but they headbump to knock out their prey). We also saw lots of dolphins swimming with the boat/pangas, and schools of mobula rays jumping in the distance. You can also see the Galagagos fur seal here which turns out is a type of sea lion and not really a seal.
• San Cristobal was our favorite by far. We really enjoyed the laidback vibe of the town and loved the really good food options. Lots of wildlife to see everywhere (the pier, the beach - we only went to Punta Carola, had originally planned to go to La Loberia as well but didn’t feel the need to after the amazing sea lion (lots of babies) interactions we had at Punta Carola). Tortoise center was the best one we’ve gone to, go on a Mon/Wed/Fri as those are feeding days. It’s not fenced in like the Charles Darwin station and we saw so many just on the paths, munching, walking, being active. At Charles Darwin and Isabela centers the tortoises were kind of just lying there not doing much. Guides only in Spanish tho. Could have skipped the El Junco lake visit as it was super foggy and we couldn’t see much at the top other than some frigate silhouettes in the distance.
• We did 2 daytours (which included 2 dives + a land visit) to Kicker Rock and Punta Pitt with Wreck Bay. Lunch was included on both days and average.
  • Diving wise they are a professional operation, we had our own gear but didn’t hear too many complaints about the rental. Easy but relatively good dives, sea lions came to play on both days. If you’re new to cold water diving or a bit rusty like we were, these are great refresher dives.
  • Beach visit after Kicker Rock was nice but nothing special, although we did see another boat feeding the pelicans/frigates and got to see the frigates bullying the much bigger pelicans (they live up to their pirate name).
  • Punta Pitt land visit was amazing, very cool to see the almost desert like landscape, and the red footed boobies up close. You need proper shoes for this one. Many had the cutest fluffiest white chicks. It’s advertised as the only place other than Genevesa to see all 3 types of boobies but we saw mostly the reds, with a couple of blues and nazcas only.
  • Espanola daytour was amazing. My favorite one. We booked with Island Galapagos on L/P Valeria boat. The boat is nice and comfy but not super luxurious. This is a long day, we started at 6am and ended at 6pm. 3 hour navigation each way, lots of dolphins swimming right at the bow on the way. You also need good shoes for this one. Our goal was to see the albatross which we did in abundance despite it being the end of the season (no more by Jan). Lots of fluffy chicks with their brown perm haircuts, and adults as well. Only saw one pair doing the mating beak dance but got really close to a few, including one which walked right by us and we had to make way for. Also really enjoyed the nazca boobies (big colony up close), saw a single galapagos hawk, and the snorkeling is very good (one of our best sea lion interactions, and we saw a blue footed boobie catch a fish underwater - very cool). Only wish we chose the single dive option instead of the snorkel - a couple from our liveaboard went and said it was very good.
• 
  
• Isabela was nice, but a bit too undeveloped. Two nights was enough for us. We arrived on a Sunday and nothing was open, only found one restaurant. On another day we slept past 9pm and there was nothing open other than a food truck. Food was generally more expensive than the other two and not nearly as good. If you don’t like rice or fried plantains, you’re in trouble.
  • Concha y Perla was good and free, we went twice and snorkeled once. Saw a school of 10+ eagle rays and swam with them for 30min. Didn’t see much else beyond the usual parrot fish, butterfly fish, etc. Second time we went in the morning (much better) and saw a penguin jump into the water, so they are there, but visibility is not great so you have to be lucky. The mangrove forest is very pretty and it’s a nice walk with many sea lions and iguanas on the path (tip: if the sea lions are blocking the way you can shake keys / make noise to force them off - a ranger did this when we got stuck)
  • We loved the Tunnels tour despite our boat breaking down halfway, the landscape is beautiful, and the highlight for us is the penguins up close (within arm’s distance) both above and in the water. If you only do one tour on Isabela do this one. Lots of sea turtles, caves full of whitetip sharks, blue footed boobie chicks on the walk, nazca boobies & dolphins & mantas on the way, etc. We booked through Book-EC and the operator was IsdeFuego.
  • Tintoretas we could have skipped. We chose the kayak option and it was an ok kayak. We saw some sea turtles and whitetips in the water and a few penguins far away from the kayak but nothing special. Tunnels was way better. This was also quite tiring.
  • Tortoise center was ok, mandatory guide but quite educational. The breeding center is quite small compared to San Cristobal one and the tortoises weren’t as active. Isabela is the only place you can see the flat shelled ones tho. We saw a few along the way to Wall of Tears but they weren’t flat shelled (Isabela has 6 varieties for its 6 volcanos)
  • Wall of tears bike ride was tiring, we did this after the kayaking which made it extra tiring. Do not recommend this combo. Online said it was mostly flat - that is a lie. The last section has some pretty steep hills and the whole road is not paved. There are some sections which are very sandy as well. I spin 3x a week and had to walk up a couple of hills, my husband is not a cyclist and was completely wiped. We did the roundtrip in ~3 hours stopping at about 4-5 places along the way. This was so-so for us, the wall is just a wall and the view is nice but not amazing. There were 3 flamingo lakes we stopped by and only the one by the Tortoise center had flamingos (3-4), and they weren’t that close.
  • On the north tip of Isabela is Punta Vincente Roca which our dive boat visited. You can see super cute penguins and flightless cormorants up close, we only took a 10min panga ride after our dive and were not allowed to land. I would have liked a land visit in lieu of the second mola mola dive. We saw no molas in the water but saw >10 from the surface while navigating back to Santiago/Cousins. You also cross the equator so was cool to see the 0-0-0-0 reading.
  • To the west of Isabela is Fernandina where you can see the marine iguanas feeding and I can only comment on the dive which was superb and probably one of the most unique experiences you can have. We dropped in 5m of water and found 7-8 iguanas just munching away on the red and green seaweed. Can get really close (arm’s reach) as long as you approach slowly.

 

[jjmochi]

Islands / Daytours (con't)

• Santa Cruz was our least favorite. A lot more backpackers, a lot more loud, more commercialized and a lot less wildlife on the island. We saw 2 sea lions on the pier and at the fish market vs the hundreds you see in San Cristobal. Some good food options (loved The Rock) but we would only stay here for the day tours and not really for Santa Cruz itself. We did see some baby blacktips and baby mobula rays by the Finch Bay pier at night which was cool.
  • North Seymour was really good. This was included as part of our dive trip. We had ~2hours on the island before any of the day boats got here and there were lots of boobies (blue and nazca), frigates (great and magnificent), land iguanas etc. A couple in our group saw the racer snakes. This was the only place we saw the frigatebirds up close with the inflated red pouches. Not as many blue footed boobies as online suggested but worth a visit.
  • We were originally booked on the Windrose to visit Santa Fe and South Plaza on the same day. They cancelled on us 3 days before as they didn’t have the required min 8 passengers to go. This was after full payment just 2 days prior and zero mention of a minimum requirement / cancellation risk - apparently there was >8 before but the others all cancelled due to the new covid variant. They found us spots on the Sea Finch which was going to Santa Fe on the same day and refunded us a $10 price difference. The Sea Finch is nice but worlds apart from the Windrose - the $10 refund is a joke. Windrose said they get to Santa Fe in 45min and do a land visit plus a snorkel, plus another land visit at South Plaza. Sea Finch got to Santa Fe in 2 hours. But this was our only option given the late notice.
  • Santa Fe is good, especially if you like sea lions. My top 3 for sea lion snorkeling would be Santa Fe, Espanola, and San Cristobal (we didn’t snorkel in SC as we didn’t want to hike with our wetsuits/gear). Bonus is the other passengers (all older 60+) didn’t want to snorkel and I got 3 sea lion pups to myself playing for almost an hour. The bull came close a few times and the panga was good at getting in between us. There are other stuff to see (turtles, whitetips including babies by the beach etc) but I stayed with the sea lions. The land visit was good too, only place to see the endemic Santa Fe land iguanas which are much bigger than the ones we saw on Baltra, and the Optunia cactuses are huge. Lots of iguanas just munching on the cactus that dropped to the ground.
  • Bartolome was the last island we visited, at the very end of our trip. This was on the Windrose and the boat is beautiful, is equipped with a full shower (sadly no hot water) which was great after the snorkel, and very comfy beds/couches if you want to rest. The boat is fast - we were the first to arrive at Bartolome and left at 7.25am (our pick up was 25min late, only complaint) - our friends from the dive boat told us their pick up on another boat was 5.30am. We had a lovely easy walk up to the iconic viewpoint and saw 3-4 juvenile galapagos hawks up really close (literally posed right under the rails where they were perched) which was awesome. Then took a short panga ride around Pinnacle Rock and found two penguins, and an iguana swimming which we followed for a while. Then a very tasty lunch and good snorkeling at Chinese Hat, which had the best visibility that we’ve seen all trip. Very pretty area with lots of sea stars evenly distributed on the sandy bottom, and I had my best penguin encounter underwater as one swam right at me and almost into my lens. Saw plenty of whitetips sharks, some big schools of butterfly and salema fish, a single turtle, and a school of yellowfin tuna.

Tips

• Bring cash. You don’t pay the 12% tax if you pay for daytours in cash.
• If you're prone to cold, consider a dry suit. You will be miserable otherwise. It's also so much work wearing 5 layers! (I had lavacore top + 7mm full + 3mm shorty + 3mm hooded vest + 3mm hood) And I was still cold.
• Check if your country requires a yellow fever vaccine 10 days before travel to Ecuador. We got slapped with a 5 day quarantine coming back because we didn’t know about this requirement and didn’t have the vaccine. There is no yellow fever in Galapagos but border agents could care less, they just see Ecuador.
• If you need a COVID PCR test to return to your country, you can get this in GYE with 1-2 hours turnaround at Interlabs (~10min drive from the airport) for $124. No need for an overnight stay in GYE if time is more precious (normal option is $42 with 12h turnaround). We did this comfortably during our 5h layover at GYE. If you need a test in English make sure they print it out for you as the online version is only in Spanish.

 

[jjmochi]

The main animals - where we saw

1. Galápagos giant tortoise - everywhere. Best on San Cristobal tortoise center. We didn't feel the need to visit El Chato afterwards.​

2. Blue-footed Booby - everywhere. Best on Tunnels tour and North Seymour.​

3. Red-footed Booby - Punta Pitt (adults and chicks) and Wolf/Darwin (juveniles mostly). ​

4. Nazca Boobies - everywhere. Best on Espanola, only place we saw chicks.​

5. Land iguana - on Baltra right as you step off the plane. On North Seymour also. ​

6. Santa Fe land iguana - as the name implies, Santa Fe.​

7. Marine iguana - everywhere. Heaviest density on Isabela. Best dive on Fernandina. Christmas ones (bright red and green) on Espanola. ​

8. Flightless Cormorant - most elusive one. Only saw briefly on west coast of Isabela (Punta Vincente Roca). Not sure if the non-diving cruises allow you to land.​

9. Galápagos Penguins - Isabela, Bartolome, and Chinese Hat. Best on Tunnels tour and Bartolome tour.​

10. Galápagos sea lion - everywhere. San Cristobal wins by far, we went to Punta Carola but heard La Loberia is also great. Santa Fe and Espanola were also very good. Dec is a great time to go as you see pups everywhere, some just days old and all very playful.​

11. Galápagos fur seals - saw up close at Wolf only. Saw at a distance on Tunnels tour.​

12. Flamingos - Isabela, but not super close. Perhaps better on Floreana.​

13. Galápagos Hawk - saw adults at Espanola and juveniles on Bartolome. Best on Bartolome by far.​

14. Frigatebirds (Great and Magnificent) - everywhere. Best on North Seymour, only place we saw the inflated pouches.​

15. Waved Albatross - only on Espanola.​

Dive Log

1. Kicker Rock - 45min, 20.5m, 20C, playful sea lions, baby galapagos sharks, many sea turtles getting cleaned, big school of barracudas, jacks, salema and butterfly fish
2. Kicker Rock - 42min, 20.8m, 21C, lots of sea lions again, yellowfin tuna, various colorful puffers, pacific seahorse, lots of turtles again
3. Punta Pitt - 50min, 15.8m, 22C, sea lions playing, huge school of eagle rays, garden eels feeding on the sandy bottom, a very pretty puffer, turtles, stingrays, large schools of burrito grunts and galapagos grunts
4. Punta Pitt - 41min, 18.2m, 17-21C, had a big thermocline on this one, very cold, a lot of fish, stingrays, turtles came up early because of the cold.
5. San Cristobal check dive - 27min, 6.4m, 21C, saw some stingrays, parrotfish, an octopus, hawkfish, burrfish. No sea lions
6. Baltra checked dive - 48min, 19.8m, 16-21C, very cold thermocline again, saw the same stuff - stingrays, puffers, big schools of butterfly fish, bumphead parrotfish, grunts, snappers, etc. No sea lions again
7. Darwin - 2 days / 8 dives here, all at Darwin’s Arch, all 25C. We saw whale sharks on the second day only but the other group saw them on both days. Generally saw some combination of galapagos sharks, hammerheads, whitetips, butterfly and barberfish cleaning the sharks, turtles (green pacific and hawksbill), bumphead parrotfish, napoleon wrasse, lots of morays (be careful where you grip), big schools of leather bass, puffers, scorpionfish, dolphins (closer to surface), huge trumpetfish, galapagos blennys hiding in the barnacles, some huge and strange looking lobsters, some really really big eagle rays, schools of mobula rays. Snorkelers saw a tiger shark which circled them a few times. Really really beautiful.
   1. 42min, 22.5m
   2. 55min, 18.2m
   3. 43min, 22.7m
   4. 38min, 16.7m (they limited to 40min due to time)
   5. 48min, 22.8m (4 whale sharks, I only saw 3)
   6. 44min, 23.1m (2 whale sharks)
   7. 46min, 24.3m (aka the best dive where we saw everything incl 3 whale sharks. Literally didn’t know where to point the camera at times. A top 3 of my 130 dives)
   8. 50min, 18m
8. Wolf - 1 day / 4 dives here, 2 at Landslide, 2 at Shark’s Bay. Landslide was a lot better. Saw similar stuff as Darwin but the hammerhead schools are bigger and come closer. No whale sharks. At this point some people started to get bored of hammerheads, but not me!
   1. 53min, 21.2m (Landslide)
   2. 49min, 18.2m (Landslide)
   3. 49min, 25.6m (Sharks’ Bay - didn’t see as much on this one)
   4. 51min, 19.3m (Sharks’ Bay - did something different as folks complained and we dropped in 5m of water very close to the rocks to watch the fur seals and sea lions for a while, but surge/current was crazy strong)
9. Fernandina - Cape Douglas - 38min, 24.4m, 17C. Saw 2 sea robins (really cool looking fish with wings that can glide), a red lip batfish that walks (but made the mistake of shining my light on it and scared it away), lots of stingrays of various types including a torpedo ray, a galapagos bullhead shark (via pictures from another guest), some turtles
10. Fernandina - Cape Douglas - marine iguana dive! 28min, 8.9m, 18C. They do a staggered drop with each buddy pair and you have a 5m radius where you can explore. We were the last pair on our panga to get dropped off and was closer to the middle which was great, saw 8 iguanas feeding and spent a long time watching them up close. The first pair to get dropped off only saw 2 because they swam the wrong way, so it could be better organized. They staggered because the iguanas might get stressed but the ones we saw were perfectly content to keep munching with us just inches away. Also found a conch all the way out of its shell and saw some cool looking orange and white parrotfish which was also on the first dive. Wish we had longer here.
11. Isabela - Punta Vincente Roca - 2 dives planned but 1 aborted. 32min, 30.8m, 16C. The zero visibility dive. Supposed to be two mola cleaning stations but we saw nothing but a single pacific seahorse. Snorkelers said it was beautiful closer to the shore. My husband skipped this one and had a blast on the panga getting up close with the penguins, flightless cormorants, and fur seals. Because the dive was so bad they offered a short panga ride afterwards around the bay / into the cave so everyone could see. We all agreed we didn’t want to do the second dive and asked whether we could do a snorkel or longer panga ride instead, but was told no.
12. Santiago - Cousin’s Rock - 2 dives offered, I did one only. Was tired of the lackluster dives after Wolf/Darwin at this point and just wanted a hot shower vs staying in my cold wetsuit.
    1. 46min, 22.7m, 17-22C. Saw sea lions, one eagle ray, one nudibranch, one seahorse, a lot of black and white pocka dot puffers which we haven’t seen before, a few bright orange ones, a big school of salemas, and a few swimming morays. No mantas tho
    2. I skipped the second dive but someone borrowed my watch and it was 41min, 20.4m. Was told they dropped on the other side but dive guides got lost and came up early. Saw similar things as the first dive and didn’t miss anything special. Site not worth two dives imo.

Wow what a word dump. That's it for now!

 

[peeweediver]

Describing your trip report as amazing would be an understatement. I have never read so much specifics with tons and tons of helpful information. You are rivaling DrRich for poster of the year! We were there in January so I'll just give a few thoughts on your comments.
1. We were on the Calipso and the crew, boat and food were the opposite of your experience. Crew did everything or nothing for you based on what you wanted. Keeping your wetsuit on between dives is nuts in that weather. We had 4 hot showers on the back of the boat...always hot...and the crew would help you either get there in your wetsuit or get your wetsuit off and get you there for a warm up then wrap a HOT towel around you and offer you hot chocolate. We always laughed because they would even bend down and help you take your boats and socks off...if you wanted them to. First dive was at 6:30 am after very light snack. All in all, everyone of our group (16...we had the whole boat), loved the boat and the crew.
2. Wolf and Darwin were a bit hazy so we saw schools of hammerheads as shadows. We did get lots of closer encounters in small, 1 to 4 groupings. For the marine iguanas, spouse and I wore a 7 mm, 3 mm hooded vest, two lavacores (one long sleeve and one short), a beanie over the hood on the vest and another 2mm hood over the beanie. Water temp was 59 F and we were lightly shaking after 35 minutes. On the Mola Mola dive we only saw one in the haze. Temp was surprisingly warmer than we expected...68 degrees.
3. Had the same conversation with my wife when we got home...If the water temp isn't over 80 F, I'm not going. We've been blessed with being able to travel for diving since the kids left for college. We're now in our late 60s and we can't handle cold, even topside...though we live in the Chicago area...go figure.
4. A couple in our group stayed for an additional week and did the naturalist tour on the Calipso. Same itinerary (alternating hiking and snorkeling) light snack, then hike, breakfast then snorkel, lunch then either hike or snorkel then reverse after afternoon snack. They loved the 7 day naturalist trip.
5. Since we spent 5 nights in Quito, our trip had some variety and we really loved Quito and the hotel we stayed at. All in all, we're glad we went but agree with you that maybe price to enjoyment ratio was out of whack a bit. Others on the trip were more "over the moon" because they handled the cold a bit better.
Thanks so much for your post. Those with an interest in the Galapagos will benefit greatly from the time you took to write it.

Rob

 

[also_anon_dc]

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I was looking at the Master for the same reason- the 10 night itinerary is attractive but reading that there were multiple rooms with termites is going to make me pass forever.

If it were me I would contact the office and ask for a partial refund based on that issue alone.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Great report

 

[Tippytoes12]

Really excellent trip, sorry about the disappointing parts.

 

[Redfoot]

Yes, great report thank you for taking the time to put this together.

+1 on contacting them about at least a partial refund- termites, skin infections, risky diving, bad food- you paid a lot of money for this trip and that is not the experience you should have had.