Trip Report Diving in Galapagos in October 2022

[OrcaBoy87]

@OrcaBoy87, here are some numbers/impressions from my December 2022 trip where I wore a full 5 mm wetsuit plus 3 mm hooded vest which is close to the gear in your question:

Wetsuit for Galapagos in December

I wore 4 mm gloves with kevlar palms/fingers (Pinnacle Merino Karbonflex) and my hands were warm. Fellow divers with straight up neoprene gloves ended up with holes in them from holding barnacle-covered rocks (not a scratch on my gloves). I wore 5 mm boots because, well, that's what I have...and my feet were warm.

Truly an amazing trip.

thanks for your advices and detailed temperature report, appreciate that, cheers!

 

[Dan]

Based on your past experience, do you think a full 5mm wetsuit, plus 5/3mm hooded vest, will be sufficient? that's 10mm in core body part in total.

also, for gloves and boots, will 2-3mm neoprene be ok?

thanks!

Everybody has different tolerance to cold water. However since you are from Singapore and I'm from Indonesia, I assume our tolerance to cold water would be about the same.

Based on my experience diving in Galapagos (3x), I would say 5mm full wetsuit would not be enough, even with 5/3mm hooded vest over the 5mm wetsuit. If you have a new 5mm wetsuit, it might be OK for the first few days of the diving. The first day of diving around Baltra with water temperature ~ 17 °C (~ means +/- 1 °C) can be tolerable as your core body temperature is still warm & fresh. The next few days you will be in Darwin and Wolf, where the water temperature would be ~ 25 °C. You may still tolerate those water temperatures as they are warmer than Baltra, but your core body temperature starts to go down and you are getting tired. Then when you are in Cabo Douglas and Punta Vincente Roca with water temperature ~15 °C, you may start feeling cold and just want to get over the dive, even though you'll miss the Marine Iguana, Red-Lipped Batfish, Mola Mola, and Bullhead Sharks. If you have an old 5mm wetsuit, the thickness may not be 5mm anymore (perhaps it's down to 3mm). Then you'll be more miserable.

You can always rent 7mm wetsuit from the liveaboard, if you won't be diving in cold place, other than Galapagos.

My motto is, it is better being warm as you can always crack your hood around chin / neck / chess area to let some cold water in, than being cold with nothing to layer up with underwater.

I have 3mm gloves, which were fine then. I hate to get cold feet, so I wear 5mm boots with 3mm Neoprene socks.

 

[OrcaBoy87]

Everybody has different tolerance to cold water. However since you are from Singapore and I'm from Indonesia, I assume our tolerance to cold water would be about the same.

Based on my experience diving in Galapagos (3x), I would say 5mm full wetsuit would not be enough, even with 5/3mm hooded vest over the 5mm wetsuit. If you have a new 5mm wetsuit, it might be OK for the first few days of the diving. The first day of diving around Baltra with water temperature ~ 17 °C (~ means +/- 1 °C) can be tolerable as your core body temperature is still warm & fresh. The next few days you will be in Darwin and Wolf, where the water temperature would be ~ 25 °C. You may still tolerate those water temperatures as they are warmer than Baltra, but your core body temperature starts to go down and you are getting tired. Then when you are in Cabo Douglas and Punta Vincente Roca with water temperature ~15 °C, you may start feeling cold and just want to get over the dive, even though you'll miss the Marine Iguana, Red-Lipped Batfish, Mola Mola, and Bullhead Sharks. If you have an old 5mm wetsuit, the thickness may not be 5mm anymore (perhaps it's down to 3mm). Then you'll be more miserable.

You can always rent 7mm wetsuit from the liveaboard, if you won't be diving in cold place, other than Galapagos.

My motto is, it is better being warm as you can always crack your hood around chin / neck / chess area to let some cold water in, than being cold with nothing to layer up with underwater.

I have 3mm gloves, which were fine then. I hate to get cold feet, so I wear 5mm boots with 3mm Neoprene socks.

cool, appreciate your sharing, thanks!

 

[OrcaBoy87]

Everybody has different tolerance to cold water. However since you are from Singapore and I'm from Indonesia, I assume our tolerance to cold water would be about the same.

Based on my experience diving in Galapagos (3x), I would say 5mm full wetsuit would not be enough, even with 5/3mm hooded vest over the 5mm wetsuit. If you have a new 5mm wetsuit, it might be OK for the first few days of the diving. The first day of diving around Baltra with water temperature ~ 17 °C (~ means +/- 1 °C) can be tolerable as your core body temperature is still warm & fresh. The next few days you will be in Darwin and Wolf, where the water temperature would be ~ 25 °C. You may still tolerate those water temperatures as they are warmer than Baltra, but your core body temperature starts to go down and you are getting tired. Then when you are in Cabo Douglas and Punta Vincente Roca with water temperature ~15 °C, you may start feeling cold and just want to get over the dive, even though you'll miss the Marine Iguana, Red-Lipped Batfish, Mola Mola, and Bullhead Sharks. If you have an old 5mm wetsuit, the thickness may not be 5mm anymore (perhaps it's down to 3mm). Then you'll be more miserable.

You can always rent 7mm wetsuit from the liveaboard, if you won't be diving in cold place, other than Galapagos.

My motto is, it is better being warm as you can always crack your hood around chin / neck / chess area to let some cold water in, than being cold with nothing to layer up with underwater.

I have 3mm gloves, which were fine then. I hate to get cold feet, so I wear 5mm boots with 3mm Neoprene socks.

seeking your opinion again, i have a pair of freediving fins and a pair of scubapro jetfins, which one is better option for diving Galapagos? i will be there during similar period as you but different boat

 

[Dan]

seeking your opinion again, i have a pair of freediving fins and a pair of scubapro jetfins, which one is better option for diving Galapagos? i will be there during similar period as you but different boat

I would us the freediving fins. There are lots of current to swim against in Galapagos. Often you need to do negative entry quickly to the bottom to avoid getting blown away by the surface currents, especially in Darwin.

Aren’t Scubapro Jetfins more for cave, wreck & muck diving where you need to be able to maneuver (left, right, backward move kind of movements)? Not much that kind of diving in Galapagos. See my trip videos, above.

 

[Still Kicking]

I would disagree. Freedive fins might be a PITA in a crowded inflatable. (On my trip we put on fins when we sat down - if I wore long blades I would be bumping into the diver opposite). And more chance of whacking another diver as you do a backroll. At the end of the dive, fins, weights, tanks etc. were piled up. I think it would be easy to crack a plastic/fiberglass/carbon blade in the pile.

You are rarely swimming against current for long stretches of time. It's either being wedged in the rocks (indestructible Jets are a plus vs more fragile long blades) or steering with current and Jets being short and stiff are great for that. I never felt undergunned with Jets in two weeks.

However, I would take some cushy lycra socks ...they provide nice foot protection under neoprene boots.

Hope you have a blast!

 

[Dan]

I would disagree. Freedive fins are going to be a huge PITA in a crowded inflatable. (On my trip we put on fins when we sat down - long blades would be bumping into the diver opposite). At the end of the dive, fins, weights, tanks etc. were piled up. I think it would be easy to crack a plastic/fiberglass/carbon blade in the pile.

You are rarely swimming against current for long stretches of time. It's either being wedged in the rocks (indestructible Jets are a plus vs more fragile long blades) or steering with current and Jets being short and stiff are great for that. I never felt undergunned with Jets in two weeks.

However, I would take some cushy lycra socks ...they provide nice foot protection under neoprene boots.

Hope you have a blast!

Sylvie had no problem with her freediving fins in Galapagos (see picture, below). To enter the water DM would count to 3 and we backroll together simultaneously on the third count. So having your fins under your dive buddy’s fins is no big deal.

I don’t have freediving fins. Mine is Mares Avanti Quattro.

 

[Still Kicking]

Sylvie had no problem with her freediving fins in Galapagos (see picture, below). To enter the water DM would count to 3 and we backroll together simultaneously on the third count. So having your fins under your dive buddy’s fins is no big deal.

I don’t have freediving fins. Mine is Mares Avanti Quattro.

View attachment 815219

I am sure it's doable, especially for smaller divers, but at 6'3", I would feel like I was encroaching on other people's space in the panga if I wore my freedive fins.

I've been whacked in the head a few times in group backrolls over the years, so that's what I was thinking of .... not the end of the world but could dislodge a mask or reg.

Also, I wouldn't want to be wearing unsoled socks climbing the panga ladders, hopping from the panga to the mothership and on the dive deck. I would think they would shred pretty quickly. Was any of that an issue?

 

[Dan]

I am sure it's doable, especially for smaller divers, but at 6'3", I would feel like I was encroaching on other people's space in the panga if I wore my freedive fins.

I've been whacked in the head a few times in group backrolls over the years, so that's what I was thinking of .... not the end of the world but could dislodge a mask or reg.

Also, I wouldn't want to be wearing unsoled socks climbing the panga ladders, hopping from the panga to the mothership and on the dive deck. I would think they would shred pretty quickly. Was any of that an issue?

Right!

 

[Motoman4540]

I just got back from the Galapagos (March 6-15). This was my second trip. The first was epic. The second . . . not so much. The viz was absolutely terrible, often 20-30 ft. At Landslide at Wolf, the current was ripping in addition to 25 ft viz, such that we had to hold on for dear life to the rocks or hope that the reef hooks stayed in place, and on the best dives at Wolf, the water temp was down to 58-62F! For most of the dives, I used my Scubapro 3/2 with a 3mm vest over it and a hood -- what I used in 2016, and a Sharkskin T2 underneath it all. That sufficed for most of the dives. But after experiencing some seriously cold water 69-70F, and when the DM said that the water on the next dives were going to be colder, I rented a 7mm for two of the dives and with my Sharkskin underneath, I was toasty warm at 62F. The viz was so bad that we could barely see shadows of a hammerhead. None of the schooling hammerheads and Galapagos sharks that we had seen in 2016. It was so cold in the water that we literally saw ONE marine iguana gamely munching on some algae at about 20 ft. In 2016, there were countless ones in the water. On the other hand, we did see 12 Mola Molas. Don't get me wrong -- I love diving and I loved the trip on the Aggressor. But it was challenging diving, and nowhere near what we experienced in 2016. The DM said that the poor viz was due to the new moon, so before you go, check into that.