Back from the Galapagos

[Tobagoman]

Well, I'm back and what a fantastic trip it was. We didn't get to see whale sharks, but the other large pelagics more than made up for that!

We flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador a few days early so we could see the country side a bit. We got into Guayaquil late on friday due to American's flight running late out of Miami. But finally we touched down and retrieved our baggage. Low and behold, the driver for the Grand Hotel Guayaquil was waiting for us at the exit. I will say that the entire time in Guayaquil, this hotel treated us wonderfully!

Anyway, we booked af the GHG for three nights even though we wouldn't be spending all three nights there, just our luggage would. The next morning the Hotel's van took us to the airport for our early flight out on Tame to Quito (this flight also ran late which was par for the course on every flight this trip).

Quito was nice, I liked it better than the small glimpse of Guayaquil that we had. We stayed at the Los Alpes Hostel which was a very nice and inexpensive hotel next to the American Embasy. That dayed we walked around Quito and Old Town and ate some wonderful meals in the local restuarants.

The next morning we were met by Christian from a tour company we hired to take us by four wheel drive up to Cotopaxi, which is a 20,000 foot peak volcano near the Andies range. It was a long beautiful trip driving up there and we parked the 4X4 at around 15,000 feet elevation on the side of the volcano.

We got out into the cold and began climbing the steep trail up to the base camp building at around 16,000 feet elevation. Because of the thin atmosphere it was like climbing while looking through two paper towel rolls, and you definetly had to take baby steps. I wanted to continue up to the glacier/ice pack so we climbed and additional 1000 foot elevation to where it started. Mind you, I'm only dressed in a sweatshirt, shorts and tevas and it is well below freezing with alternate snow and sleet whipping around us!

Anyway, we reached the beginning of the ice, and I got the crazy idea that I want to climb up even further. Well my wife and the guide both said "uhn-uh, no way!", so I said okay, see ya in a bit and started up the snow covered icy slope. I scambled up about another seven or eight hundred feet in elevation, passing a couple of climbers in full artic gear, ice axes, crampons... the works, who looked at me like I'm an apparition!

I climbed until I was stopped by a large ice crevass that there is no way I could jump over without an ice ax or something like that. So I turned around and mostly on my butt, made my way back down to my slightly pissed off wife.

If you go to Ecuador, ya gotta go up onto Cotopaxi, absolutely beautiful!!!

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[Tobagoman]

Cont...

We flew back to Guayaquil that evening and the Grand Hotels driver was waiting for us again, I was amazed, even after our flight was an hour and a half late! We met up with most of the rest of our group going out on the Deep Blue, in the hotel's restaurant/Bar then called it a night.

The next morning the representative from Deep Blue's tour company met us and got us and our luggage on the bus to the airport, where they made the check-in a breeze. Oh, Deep Blue has an agreement with AreoGal that we can check in up to 100 lbs of luggage each. I wished they would have told us this BEFORE we got there, I would have brought some other gear with me!

Well, like every other flight this one was running late also (1 hour) and by the time we landed in San Cristobal it was early afternoon. But it was sunny and beautiful.

We took some pictures along the local beach of all the Sea Lions, which had their pups with them, and ate lunch at a restaurant along the beach that Deep Blue picked up the tab for.

We finally loaded onto the boat (via the rigid hull inflatables RHI's) and were shown to our rooms. Due to the late flight we wouldn't be doing our check-out dive that evening, but in the morning.

The rooms were small, but cozy. They had two single beds and lots of storage space for cloths. The dive gear was unloaded on the dive deck and stored there.

One nice thing about the diving with Deep Blue is that you never had to change out a tank. When we finished a dive, you undid your first stage and they would fill your tank right where it sat. For $100.00 we dove nitrox all week.

The next morning the dives were at Baltra and North Seymore. They were nice dives with Whitetip reef sharks, sea lions, and alot of fish. Vis was around 50 feet and the water temperature was about 73 degrees. This is an La Nina year, so the water is cooler than normal for this season.

That afternoon we set sail on calm seas for Wolf and Darwin Islands, over a hundred miles to the North-Northwest. It took us about 18-19 hours to reach Darwin (which is further north), which we are diving first.

The diving at Darwin's Arch, which is usually the better of the two islands was not up to its usual grande display. Now don't get me wrong, it was fantastic diving with plenty of shark action. But the vis was down in the 50 foot range with moderate currents and the thermocline running around 60 - 80 feet and temperatures above the tc at the mid 70's and low 70's below the tc.

We didn't see the big schools of sharks here, but plenty of small groups of sharks and lots of fish.

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[Tobagoman]

Cont...

We completed eight dives at Darwin's Arch over the two days at Darwin. Didn't see another boat the entire time we were there which was nice. The dives were pretty much the same, the pangas would drop us in near the north side of the arch and we would drift back towards Darwin where we would be picked up by the pangas as we finished the dives, a buddy pair here and there. The panga drivers are very good at spotting you.
Our last dive before departing for Wolf was along Darwin Island. Here we ran into a group of very playful Sealions who entertained us for the remainder of that dive.

The crew on the ship treated us royally. Very few, if any spoke English, except for our dive guide, Walter (who was on loan from the Aggressor fleet) and was a fantastic dive guide. They had warm towels and snacks and hot chocolate waiting for you on the dive deck after every dive, plus very hot freshwater showers on the deck.
The meals were very good, but make sure you are not towards the end of the meal line, as salad stuff gets slim for those near the end. They only had coke, water and the local beer available on the ship (the beer was 2 dollars a bottle while everything else is included in the trip price).

We arrived in Wolf on day five with Deep Blue and began our first of seven dives there. We dove a place called the Landslide on the southern side of the island and we would drop in and go immediately down to the ledge overlooking the blue and hang there for 10-20 minutes before letting the current take us along the ledge and out into the blue.

The first time we dropped in we found ourselves in a school of Eagle Rays. Soon a school of Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks followed by large Galapagos Sharks went by. It was a nonstop show of sharks, rays and fish. Somtimes the sharks numbered in the 100's! The fish bait balls were everywhere with the Galapagos and Silkies working them!

This was by far the best diving of the trip, and probably the best diving I had ever done as far as large pelagics go!!

On one safety stop out in the blue, my wife had just exited the water into the panga and I had told her I was going to drift for a few more minutes as I had plenty of gas left. First a pod of dolphins moved in and swam about me, then, out of nowhere a large group of Silky Sharks moved in and surrounded me swimming in tighter and tighter circles. It was absolutely thrilling to be in drifting there with these apex predators!! I hated to leave them, but I finally surfaced.

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[Tobagoman]

Cont...

This was pretty much our routine for the two days at Wolf; Large schools of Eagle Rays, Manta Rays, Hammerheads, Galapagos Sharks, Silky Sharks, Dolphins, some Silvertip sharks, baitballs and fish so thick it blocked out the light, Moray eels everywhere and just utterly fantastic diving. We did one night dive at the Anchorage where the water was a very chilly 63 degrees. We did see several red-lipped batfish and juvinile Galapagos sharks.

We reluctantly left Wolf on the afternoon of our sixth day with DB and headed south towards the main islands of the Galapagos. Our dives were over as we were going to try and fit in all the land tours (one we missed because of the late flight out of the mainland).

The land tours were nice, but nothing in comparison to the diving. Most of the birds were courting or already tending eggs. The Blue-footed boobies' maiting dance is fun to watch and the male frigates' inflated red throat pouch makes me want to take a pin to it! The critters on the land were really anti-climatic to me after the action at Wolf! I'll have to add more photos later, as scubaboard gallery isn't showing the rest of the photos I uploaded.

We flew back to the mainland on the 8th day of Deep Blue (our actual 11th day on vacation) on a late Aerogal flight, stayed the night in Guayaquil and then caught a late American flight back to Miami and a rescheduled flight from there to National Airport.

Overall I would say that Deep Blue has a fantastic operation. It would have been nice to do the land tours on the western islands were more 'action' is taking place, but I can find no fault with the diving at all, except maybe to say that I would prefer to do them all at Wolf and Darwin.

More pictures to come... hopefully!

 

[djac5700]

Great trip report, Tobagoman. Thanks for taking the time to write it. You're pictures look incredible!

My dive buddy and are also from the DC area and will be heading out on the Deep Blue in early August. Can't wait!!!

 

[LBR]

Just read this, very nice report and you did a good job sneaking up on the hammerheads to get close ups photos (they are usually quite shy of divers). The pic of you wearing sandels and shorts in the snow going up the mtn is too funny!

 

[Tobagoman]

I did want to make one correction to the report. The tour company that set up the trip and did such a fantastic job of getting us to and from "Deep Blue's" boat, set up the hotels and transfers and took care of all the details for us was "Galapagos Adventures" which is run by a great guy named Ken. If your planning on going to the Galapagos, look up his tour company (http://www.galapagosadventures.com) and let him take the reigns from you and make the trip run smooth and care free!!!

 

[wahlaoeh]

Great trip report and fantastic pixs. Miss those hammerheads, sealions, eagle rays etc. Thanks for sharing. I'd love to go back to the Galapagos again but there are just too many other distractions, places that I haven't been.

I second the recommendation of Ken from Galapagos Adventures; very cool and reliable guy

Happy bubbles, Jovin-

 

[Doc]

What's next? (nice report and super pix, btw!)

 

[cowjazz]

Thanks for the report.

With all the hysteria about the inevitable changes coming to Galapagos I booked a trip through my LDS on Deep Blue for September 16-25 2007.

I read some other threads concerning Galapagos, and people were commenting on their disappointment that they have book two years in advance for live aboards. Well, the LDS I booked through has a few spots left for the September trip I booked. If someone is looking to book a trip with Deep Blue for this year contact Blue Dolphin Scuba at (214) 387-0006, or visit them at www.bluedolphinscuba.com.

By they the way, I am not affiliated with the shop, just a customer. So put your flame throwers away. I'm just being selfish. If the LDS sells all of its spots the boat is basically a private charter.