Galapagos affected by warm water / El Nino?

[janol]

Hello

Considering another trip to Galapagos in Feb 2015. However reading several recent ports / youtube comments about lack of fish and poor viz attributed to recent weather developments (and prospects of El Nino). Has anybody been recently and able to confirm the situation?

Thanks!
Janol

 

[inkedadventurer]

Hi, I was just there over Christmas diving. I had GREAT visibility every day I dove (4 days).
You can see my Gordon rocks post here:
Diving Destinations - Galapagos - Gordon Rock

 

[luvfreediving]

janol: can you link or let me know where you saw the negative comments?anyone have any more to add here? I've been saving for years and booked "the trip of a lifetime" in September but now I'm horrified to hear all these stories about the El Nino ruining it all....

 

[scubajoe86]

My wife and I just got back from a 2 week trip to the Galapagos Islands with one of those on the Galapagos Sky live aboard. Yes, the water was warmer than we expected ~77-80F except for a couple colder dives off of Fernandina Island. We had 7mm wetsuits with 5mm hoods and gloves. We could have used your 3mm wetsuits and been comfortable for all but the Fernandina dives. We only used the hood on 1 dive for the week. So that is the weather update. The good news is that we had great dives on an amazing live aboard. The only thing we didn't see was a Mola Mola, but there was 1 distant sighting by our dive master. We just weren't in the right spot at the right time for a brief glimpse. As for all the rest, we had good visibility on most dives. As too be expected, we had a couple low visibility dives and a couple high current dives, but for the most part the diving was great. It is definitely a challenge at Wolf and Darwin, and good gloves are a must. You will be hanging onto rocks in the current watching the sea life swim by. There was never a feeling of missing out because of El Nino, and multiple opportunities to swim with whale sharks, hammer head sharks, sea lions, and marine iguanas. Below is a link to pics from our trip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/orcutt_pix/sets/with/72157655730736310

 

[luvfreediving]

My wife and I just got back from a 2 week trip to the Galapagos Islands with one of those on the Galapagos Sky live aboard. Yes, the water was warmer than we expected ~77-80F except for a couple colder dives off of Fernandina Island. We had 7mm wetsuits with 5mm hoods and gloves. We could have used your 3mm wetsuits and been comfortable for all but the Fernandina dives. We only used the hood on 1 dive for the week. So that is the weather update. The good news is that we had great dives on an amazing live aboard. The only thing we didn't see was a Mola Mola, but there was 1 distant sighting by our dive master. We just weren't in the right spot at the right time for a brief glimpse. As for all the rest, we had good visibility on most dives. As too be expected, we had a couple low visibility dives and a couple high current dives, but for the most part the diving was great. It is definitely a challenge at Wolf and Darwin, and good gloves are a must. You will be hanging onto rocks in the current watching the sea life swim by. There was never a feeling of missing out because of El Nino, and multiple opportunities to swim with whale sharks, hammer head sharks, sea lions, and marine iguanas. Below is a link to pics from our trip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/orcutt_pix/sets/with/72157655730736310

thanks! I'm not going until September so fingers crossed the warmer water isn't too bad but REALLY nice to see the pics and feedback from when you went that, despite warmer water, still looks incredible. Gorgeous pics too!

I'll be sure to report back after our trip also

if anyone else has been to galapagos diving during this el ninjo would be great to get feedback too.

 

[kevindale222]

Lovefreediving are you on Galapagos sky in sept. Me and my girlfriend are on the Sky at end of sept. .

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

I had a dive guide on whatsapp just last night reporting from last week. They saw 14 whale sharks and lots of hammerheads. Water temps at Darwin 24C / 75F, so normal, not yet warmer. Sounds like a normal report for this time of year. Apparently, 3 weeks ago, water was warmer. But no algae blooms. Last time, the first 5-6 feet of water were so green.

 

[kevindale222]

That's the best thing I have heard all year. . I was getting worried with all the El Niño talk. Can't wait now.

 

[hellhole]

hi,...

i just heard that there is some restriction about not allowing people to get in the water/snorkel with the marine iguana? or is there is a time limit to it?

 

[kevindale222]

Really?