Booking local for galapagos liveaboards, cheaper?

[vincenoir]

Hello everyone

I've been doing a lot of reading on this site so thourght it was time to post.
my fiance and i are booking our honeymoon in Ecuador and we can get about 5 weeks off work (once you get the backpacking bug theres no going back)

We want to spend the best part of four weks in the Galapagos and as this may be the only trip we make to the Galapos we want to get up to Wolf and Darwin on a 7-10 day trip. if we can afford it we want to spend the rest of the time doing day trips.

We normally hoilday by booking only the flights and poss one night in a hotel depending on arrival time as this is the cheapest way to see the world. but my friends who's been to the galapagos while backpacking round SA says that booking for abroad is no more expensive. now while i'd go with pretty much everything he'd say normally, on this i can't believe. If we can get to the islands with a weeks leaway to book a livaboard i must be cheaper.

You thoughts please.

 

[Seadeuce]

For liveaboard try:

http://www.quasarnautica.com

I went on the Mistral when there, 10-day trip, very good. I would suggest you get all details from the website, then ask your local tour operator to do the booking, giving him (her) the details. That way you have some recourse if things go wrong. Worked well for me, nothing went wrong BTW.

With 5 wks you should be able to spend 2 nights Quito and see the sights. Maybe do Macchu Picchu as an add-on, with Lake Titicaca as well. Worth seeing.
Watch out for pickpockets in Cuzco! Saw them operate.

If you're adventurous try whitewater rafting on the Misuahalli with Rios Equador, they're good.

Enjoy the Honeymoon!!

Seadeuce

 

[Doc]

If we can get to the islands with a weeks leaway to book a livaboard i must be cheaper.

I think you're in for a tough time booking any liveaboard that would go to Wolf/Darwin from anyone other than a major booking agent. Most are located in the USA, but eventually funnel through an ownership brokerage in Quito (or Ecuador, anyway). The liveaboard market in the Galapagos is largely focused on the North American diver. Most Europeans are doing day-dive ops, my favorite as well.

With recent legislation, you might want to double check the availability of 10 day trips.

 

[vincenoir]

I'm looking at spending a week or two, day diving as you suggested in other threads doc but i've heard that trips to the north can be arranded if enough divers can get together locally to charter a boat. the question is, i guess, how many divers and how experiance with the northern islands will the captain/DM's be. I realy enjoy organising my trips locally as it tend to put more money into the local's back pocket while keeping my costs down (i.e. steching out the trip)

 

[ChrisM]

No idea, but I'd be wary of booking a local op that does not dive Wolf/Darwin on a regular basis and have experienced DMs in the water, experienced pangueoros, and experienced boat captains. Wolf/Darwin are out there, next stop Asia. This is no place to be fooling around to save a couple bucks.

I was on the Aggressor in 05, and we had a diver go missing. With epirb, 4 pangas and two mother ships (both Aggressor) that go there every week, it still took 2 horus to find him

I'd echo trying to get to Macchu Picchu, also look into the Ecuadorian Amazon and the cuyabeno district, we're doing this next September

 

[vincenoir]

i found a boat that does trips to darwin/wolf for 7 days for $2500 but i'm starting to think that with warm water experence only up till noe that i might not be up to the conditions. i am hoping to get 20+ dives in the uk in the spring/summer but i'm not sure if that will give me the experence i need for wolf/darwin. up till now i've done boat dives in the red sea and the philipines.

 

[Doc]

not sure if that will give me the experence i need for wolf/darwin. up till now i've done boat dives in the red sea and the philipines.

The diving I did in the Red Sea and the Philippines was a perffect match for the Galapagos. Check my Blog postings (bottom left hand of this page) and read my trip reports from those places- as well as what I think defines "advanced diving".