Galapagos Aggressor I Captain's Logs

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I November 15^th-22^nd 2012

We would like to show you a little part of the wonderful world of the Galapagos Islands during this week. Right after we arrived to the Galapagos Aggressor from the airport, we gave some information about the fleet and our dive system, and then we got ready for our first contact with the Galapagos water.

Check out dive:
Isla Lobos, San Cristobal, this is a very shallow, calm and nice place, with a colony of sea lions; there’s no current. Visibility about 12m/36ft. And temperature 20C/68F, we saw stingray, salemas, sea llons, big male, sea turtle, sea lion playing, and tropical fish.

Central Islands – Santa Cruz (Pta. Carrion- Cousin’s Rock)
Conditions: Water temp 20C, Visibility 12mt /36ft, Current: medium to strong; especially at Cousin's rock. We saw sea turtles, sea lions, stingrays, eagle rays, white tip reef shark, school of barracudas, a lot of small coral fishes in a big area of black coral, school of bonitos and lot of tropical fishes. It was a very good dive!

Northern Island – Wolf and Darwin
Wolf and Darwin Islands’ diving sites are amazing. Here we were diving with the big animals. We saw a big school of hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, and during the safety stop few silky sharks. We also encountered a school of bottlenose dolphins. During this week we had the opportunity to see the whale shark!
Water temperature was 24C/ 75F, the visibility 15mt/ 45ft.

Western Island – Isabela (Pta. Vicente Roca)
This site is located at the northwestern part of the Galapagos Islands very close to the Equator Line. We made three dives here and the Cromwell Current affects this entire area, bringing an upwelling and nutrition to the surface, but it also brings in the colder water. These are cold dives, about 15C/59F, but very cool with great visibility and a very mild current.

We saw mantas, school of barracuda, eels, but what was really amazing were the Mola Mola that were everywhere. We probably had more than 20 in one single dive! They were being cleaning by the cleaner tropic fish. It was really amazing because the giant Mola Mola don’t even move! They were just there in a stationary position and it was great! We also had seahorses everywhere, along with bull-head shark, red lipped batfish, sea lion, flightless cormorant, school of salemas, sea turtles, king angelfish, Mexican hogfish, penguins, harlequin wrasse, Galapagos sharks, pompanos, bonitos, big eyes salemas, marine iguanas eating under the water, Peruvian torpedo ray, and tiger snake eels.

While we were here we also did a panga ride where we saw the Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorant, and marine iguanas on the rock and swimming. We also saw from the panga sea lions, pelicans, blue-footed booby birds, and even more sea lions.

Once we finished diving we went to the highlands on Sta. Cruz in order to visit “Los Gemelos”. This is two big collapses formations of a lava chamber, like a crater shape. We also visited the famous giant tortoises in the wild at a private farm where we also saw the lava tube, which is what remains of the activity of volcano eruption on the Galapagos. After this we went to Puerto Ayora to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station with its famous program of breeding giant tortoises. In the afternoon we had time to visit the quaint town of Puerto Ayora where our guests wandered the shops and bought some souvenirs.

During this week we had the opportunity to see the “Giants of Galapagos - Whale shark, Manta, and Mola Mola. Definitively a great week!

Gustavo Barba & Richard Vera
Galapagos Aggressor Instructors

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain’s Report November 22 – 29, 2012

Hello Divers!
This is Gustavo and through this short captain’s report I would like to show you a little part of the wonderful underwater world of the Galapagos Islands.

Our checkout dive was in San Cristobal Island at a site called Lobos. This is a very calm, shallow and nice place that is home to a colony of sea lions. There’s no current, the visibility was about 12m / 36ft, and the water temperature was colder than last week at just 18C/65FfF. We saw stingray, salemas, sea lions, sea turtle, sea lions and tropical fish.

CENTRAL ISLANDS DIVING.
SANTA CRUZ (Pta. Carrion- Cousin’s Rock)
Conditions: Water temp - 16C/ 65F. Visibility - 12mt /36ft. Current - medium to strong; especially at Cousin's Rock. We saw sea turtles, sea lions, stingrays, eagle rays, white tip reef shark, school of barracudas, a lot of small coral fish in a big area of black coral (that is actually a greenish color), school of bonitos and lot of tropical fish.

NORTHERN ISLANDS
WOLF - DARWIN
These diving sites are amazing as here we were diving with the big animals! We saw a really big school of hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, and during the safety stop we even had a few silky sharks. Schools of bottlenose dolphins we everywhere! During this week we again had the opportunity to see a whale shark. Water temperature was 24C/ 75F, the visibility 15mt /45ft. This week the Orcas were around scaring all the marine animals as we saw them in the surf hunting and fishing.

WESTER ISLAND
ISABELA (Pta. Vicente Roca)
Isabela is located in the northwest part of the Galapagos Islands very close to the equator line. We made three cold dives here, about 15C / 59F, but with great visibility as the Cromwell Current greatly affects this area, bringing an upwelling of cold water and nutrition to the surface. Today we saw a big school of Mobula rays, school of barracuda, Orcas in the surface, and the Mola Molas numbered more than 10! Seahorses where everywhere, bull-head shark, red lip bat fish, sea lion, flightless cormorant, school of salemas, sea turtle, king angel fish, Mexican hog fish, penguin, harlequin wrasse, Galapagos shark, steel, pompanos, bonitos, big eyes salemas, marine iguanas eating underwater, Peruvian torpedo ray, and tiger snake eels.

Also we did a panga ride and saw Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorant, marine iguanas sunbathing on the rock and swimming, sea lions, pelicans, and blue-footed boobies.

Once on land we went to the Santa Cruz highlands on in order to visit the “los Gemelos”, two big collapsed sections of a lava chamber. We also visited the famous giant tortoises in the wild in a private farm, and we visited the lava tube, which is what remains of a volcano eruption on the Galapagos. After we visited the farm we went to Pto. Ayora to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station with the famous program of being a breeding center of giant tortoises. We also saw the land Iguanas there and in the afternoon we had time to visit the nice town of Puerto Ayora where our guests bought some souvenirs in local shops. Late in the afternoon we enjoyed dinner in one of the most popular restaurant in town.

On Thursday our guests check out. Their luggage was sent to the airport first with a guide, and then our guests disembark. Waiting for the plane to arrive we had time for some final shopping at the airport or just relax and get wi-fi Internet connection.

Thanks for choosing Galapagos Aggressor; we hope you enjoyed this week!

Gustavo Barba
Photos by Richard Vera

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain’s Report December 6 – 13, 2012

This trip was unforgettable. We welcomed aboard a special guest that showed us humility, goodness, strength, and also hard work as she prepared her own scuba gear despite having a physical disability. She does not have legs, but she was a great, great diver with incredible buoyancy, as well as being a calm diver and a very good photographer. We also celebrated her milestone 600^th dive onboard this week.

What about the rest of our guests? They were also excellent divers who intensely enjoyed every single dive, many filled with schools of hammerheads sharks and a whale shark close to the reef at Darwin’s Arch. We also encountered Galapagos sharks and passing eagle rays at Wolf Island that showed us their lovely hydrodynamic bodies.

We journeyed to Punta Vicente Roca where we found giant Mola Mola, Galapagos horn shark along with the egg of a horn shark, penguins, flightless cormorants, red-lipped batfish, blue-footed booby birds, marine iguanas, and many green sea turtles.
Note, what I describe above is only a small portion of marine life that we encountered. For the rest you can come join us aboard the Galapagos Aggressor I & II and you will see for yourself. I am sure you will be in love for the rest of your life with these enchanted islands!

The crew of Galapagos Aggressor I is grateful for the opportunity to serve and share with you the experience, both underwater and on the surface, of the Galapagos Islands.

EAT, SLEEP AND DIVE SAFE
Nelson

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Hello divers from around the world and welcome to the Galapagos Islands! This unique archipelago is set 600 miles from mainland Ecuador. With Galapagos set in the midst of 3 major water currents, it creates an amazing marine life for us all to experience.

This week the water temperature ranged from 69-72 F degrees. A 7mm wetsuit is needed, or ideally a semi-dry suit; also gloves and hood are recommended.

At this time of year the Panama Current influences more than the Humboldt Current. This also alters a bit the animal life. Normally Manta Rays are not as common at this time of the year, however, we were quite fortunate to have at our first dive site, Punta Carrion, a large Manta Ray within 25 feet of us. Joining us here also were several Mobula Rays. During the 2^nd dive at Cousin’s Rock, a pair of Manta Rays followed us, dancing over our heads – allowing us to truly see their magnificent size and beauty.

The goal of so many divers coming to the Galapagos is to witness the Hammerheads and this trip did not disappoint. We gripped onto the volcanic rock to watch schools of hammerheads, with the occasional Galapagos sharks interspersed within the schools at both Darwin and Wolf Islands.

Another regular sighting is the Eagle Rays, which we saw in a small patch of white sand. Here the eagle rays were sucking the sand in to then expel it from their gills and therefore cleaning them. Also, they were brushing their wings along the sandy bottom to clean them as well.

At Darwin’s Arch, the schools of Hammerheads also coast along the sandy bottom, which allows for their bodies to be silhouetted against the ocean floor. Another great opportunity for photographers!

This dive trip we went in Fernandina Island to see the Marine Iguanas feeding on algae at a depth of approximately 50 feet. These Iguanas, supposedly the model for Godzilla, are common to see on land, but it is a special opportunity to see them underwater.

We had a special guest at Punta Vicente Roca. A sea lion boarded the lower deck to greet us and visit with us for a while. They are as playful on land as they are underwater.

These were just some of the highlights; but also seen throughout the week were green moray eels, shrimps, schools of barracudas and Pacific bonito, pufferfish, scorpionfish and a large torpedo ray….so many to name. And like the Hammerheads, the Turtles swam alongside us.

You need to come to see for yourself!

Thank you all for choosing to dive with us on the Galapagos Aggressor I and allowing us the opportunity to make real your dreams about Galapagos.

All of the crewmembers of the Galapagos Aggressor I had a great time with all of you great divers and I hope you have the chance to come back again, and maybe even be joined by some first timers to the Galapagos!

Nelson Martinez

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain’s Report Jan 17 – 24, 2013

This week we welcomed our guests aboard and then we started with a check out dive in the channel between San Cristobal and Lobos Island. Here we found many sea lions that were very playful and we also spotted some stingrays. Our first night we enjoyed the company of the captain and the crew for a welcome cocktail and a dinner grill.

Our next full diving day we went to Punta Carrion (Santa Cruz I.) where we had fun again with the sea lions along with sightings of Mobula rays and small schools of grunts and snappers. The water temperature was 70 F. Later in the afternoon at Cousins Rock we found a seahorse and many turtles sleeping on the reef.

The following day we were at Wolf Island and the water was warmer (75F) and the visibility was also better. There were a lot of hammerhead and Galapagos sharks, eagle rays along with lots of Creole fish and many morays that seemed to be under every rock.

The next day we got to the top of the diving sites in Galapagos and the world.... Darwin Island. There we found lot of hammerheads and silky sharks as well. We had so much fun diving there! The water temperature was 78F approx. and the underwater visibility around 60 feet. The current was very gentle.

We next went further southeast where we had some great dives at Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela Island). The water was much colder here, but it is one of the main cleaning station for Mola Mola and maybe the best place to find seahorses, penguins, flight less cormorant and of course sea turtles.

Our final day of diving we went to Marshall Cove and here we dove with dolphins that where eating a school of barracudas. We also found manta rays that were passing and many other fish. A couple of hammerheads came in very close and also a couple of white tip reef sharks were spotted towards the end of the dive. Definitively our week onboard was incredible. For our guests, diving will never be the same after a week onboard the Galapagos Aggressor!

Don’t forget that the weather is getting warmer with sunny days and warmer, calmer water, but you will find cooler thermoclines and our last day of diving is colder water - around 60F. So if you get cold easily, I recommend wearing a dry suit or a 7mm or more is nice to wear.

One more time - we had an amazing week in the Galapagos Islands and on board the GALAPAGOS AGGRESSOR I. Thanks to our guests this week: Debby and Alan from the USA, Caroline from Sweden, Antoine from France and Reinaldo from Venezuela.

Dive, eat and sleep safe.
Nicolas Andrade
Dive Master

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain’s Report Jan 31 – Feb 7, 2013

Crew: Captain Chele, Chef Patricio, Chef’s Assistant Jason, Panga Drivers Omar and Freddy, Dive Instructor & Video Pro Gustavo, Engineer Enrique, Oiler Xavier, Waiter Georgie

During this week we had two important occasions. First we welcomed aboard Massimo & Barbara who were on their honeymoon. Congratulations! Second, we embarked on our new itinerary. The Galapagos National Park now allows us to make 4 dive per day, plus night dives! Also, we now can break up our diving with a land hike on Bartolome Island where we explored the spectacular volcanic landscape.

Our guests, who also included Tareq, Alison and Waldi, enjoy every single dive. We saw every thing including schools of Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks, Mantas, Mola Mola, Galapagos Shark, Silky Sharks, a pod of dolphin, and much more. We had an excellent week with some very sunny days and amazing sunsets. We could not ask for more and on the way back to port we even saw a pod of pilot whales!
Dive Instructor Gustavo

Thursday – San Cristobal
Dive Site: Isla Lobos
Air/Water Temp: 86/78 F
Visibility: 21f
Current: Mild
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Sea lions, stingrays, eagle ray and lots of tropical fish

Friday – Santa Cruz and Bartolome
Dive Sites: Punta Carrion
Land Tour: Hiking on Bartolome
Air/Water Temp: 84/76 F
Visibility: 38f
Current: Moderate,
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Mobula rays, golden rays, reef sharks sea turtles, and tropical fish.

Saturday – Wolf
Dive Sites: Land Slide, La Punta, Night Dive
Air/Water Temp: 86/78 F
Visibility: 52f
Current: Moderate – Strong
Sea surface: a bit choppy
Sightings: Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, eagle rays, sea turtles, dolphin and barracudas.

Sunday – Darwin & Wolf Islands
Dive Sites: Darwin’s Arch, Land Slide
Air Water Temp: 84/76 F
Visibility: 52f
Current: Moderate - Strong
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, eagle rays, sea turtles and barracudas.

Monday – Isabela
Dive sites: Cabo Marshall, Night Dive
Air/Water Temp: 86/74 F
Visibility: 48f
Current: Moderate
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Mantas, Mobula, golden rays, hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, and barracudas.

Tuesday – Fernandina
Dive Sites: Cabo Douglas, Punta Vincente Roca
Air/Water Temp: 76/59 F
Visibility: 18f
Current: Mild
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Mola Mola, marine iguanas, bullhead sharks, Mobula, re-lipped batfish, seahorses, and sea lions.

Wednesday - Santiago
Dive Sites: Cousin’s Rock, Afternoon
Land Tour: Highland and Charles Darwin Research Center
Air/Water Temp: 86/76 F
Visibility: 38f
Current: Moderate
Sea Surface: Calm
Sightings: Reef sharks, sea turtles, sea lions eagle rays, and tropical fish.

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain ‘s Report Feb 7 – 14, 2013

Hi divers from all around the world and welcome to Galapagos Islands. This unique archipelago is set 600 miles from mainland Ecuador. With the Galapagos positioned in the midst of 3 major water currents this creates an amazing marine life for us to experience.

This week we started a new amazing itinerary arriving and departing from Baltra Island and now with four dives per day, which is very important for us as divers!

I have been working as dive master for the past 12 years and I am still fascinated with these enchanted Islands. Even more under the water where, believe me, the animals are very curious!

Dive sites:
Itabaca Channel: Check out dive
Punta Carrion (Santa Cruz Island): 1 dive
Punta Martinez (Bartolome Island): 2 dives
Cousin Rocks (next to Santiago Island): 1 dive

These Islands are called the Central Islands. Here the water temperature is quite similar, but you never know when you may encounter a thermocline (really cold water). We can vary between 16 C /61 F and between 27 C/ 80 F; depending on the time of the year, because from now until May the water will continue to warm. Sea life: Eagle rays, marbled rays, sea lions, scorpion fish, barracudas, grunts, snappers, white tipped reef sharks, Mobula rays, green sea turtles, Galapagos garden eels, sting rays that seem to be everywhere, black coral, and many small creatures like nudibranchs.

Wolf Island - Dive sites: Land Slide, La Punta for 3 dives during the day and 1 night dive
Darwin Island - Dive site: Darwin’s Arch for 4 dives
These Islands are located in the northern part of the archipelago. Water temperature is between 78 to 80 F/25.6 to 27C. We’ll continue with the warm temperature from now until May (more or less). Sea life: Schools of hammerheads in the blue, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, eagle rays, barracudas, yellow fin tuna, snappers, grunts, trevally jacks, many, many moray eels, king angelfish, barber fish, almaco jack, steel pompano, thousands of Creole fish, giant hawkfish and a lot of marine life.

Cabo Douglas (Fernandina Island) for 2 dives. Here you can enjoy interacting with the most amazing animals that are able to hold their breath and do FREE DIVING like marine Iguana, flightless cormorant, and Galapagos penguins.

Punta Vicente Roca (West of Isabela Island). We enjoyed seeing the flightless cormorant putting on a show for us they go about hunting fish. Also we find seahorses, sea lions, and the white salema fish (this is the main food for the penguins) – all within this beautiful and colorful area. Water temperature for both dives sites is a brisk 16 C /61 Fahrenheit.

Cabo Marshall (Northeast of Isabela Island). This week we did 3 dives and an additional nocturnal dive. Here we found more Hammerhead sharks, three big Manta rays, white tipped reef sharks, schools of black striped salema fish, barracudas, and Mobula rays. Water temperature: 80F / 27C.

Thank you all for choosing to dive with us on the Galapagos Aggressor I and allowing us the opportunity to make real your dreams about Galapagos.

All of the crewmembers of the Galapagos Aggressor I had and great time with all of you great divers. I hope you come back again and you’ll maybe also be joined by some new first timers to the Galapagos!

Nelson & Richard
Galapagos Aggressor Instructors

 

[Moray]

What's the warmest month to dive there for water temperatures and what are they?

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor Captain’s Report Feb 28 – March 7, 2013

We started our trip from Baltra Island and we had people from different countries: Nodar and Zaza from Georgia, Francoise from France, Jacqueline and Matthew, Vanessa, Graham from UK, Yauheni & Volha from Belarus, and celebrating their honeymoon Kim & Dana and Ashary & Guy.

The first day we dove at Bartolome Point. Here we saw many dolphins and silky sharks. After lunch we did a land tour at Bartolome Island to appreciate the spectacular view from the top of the Island. The water temperature: 66F to 70F, visibility: 20ft and slight current.

The next two days we enjoyed Wolf and Darwin Islands where we did 8 dives with many hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, many moray eels, big schools of tropical fish, barracudas, some eagle rays, and marble rays. Conditions: Water temperature: 70F to 74F, visibility: 50 ft. and mild current.

At Isabela Island, Cabo Marshall the dive was great! We encountered many manta rays, white tip sharks, hammerhead sharks, sea lions, Mobula rays, and a lot of tropical fish. Water temperature: 70F to 73F, visibility: 30 ft. and strong current.

We next dove at Fernandina Island. This is a new dive site on our itinerary for this year, which is great because we have the chance to dive with marine iguanas. Our guest really enjoyed diving here. It was a nice surprise with the conditions because normally we have very cold water, but this week we had very warm water temperatures between 76F to 78F, but the normal close visibility and slight surge.

The last day we dove at Cousin’s Rock and we saw manta ray, eagle ray, golden rays, sea lions, and a big school of barracudas. Water temperature: 70F, visibility 30 ft. and no current.

We recommend bringing your 7mm wetsuit, hood, vest, gloves and dive light.

Thanks for an amazing week onboard the Galapagos Aggressor!
Walter Torres - Galapagos Aggressor Instructor

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Galapagos Aggressor I Captain’s Report March 14 – 21, 2013

This was a great week onboard the Galapagos Aggressor I. We started with a check out dive at the northeast side of Santa Cruz Island. Here the water was 76F and the visibility only around 15 feet, but we saw turtles and lots of tropical fish. After cocktails the dinner was served on the top deck by the grill with many fresh salads.

Our next day we had a nice dive at Punta Carrion early in the morning with many rays, grunts, snappers, sea turtles and many other fish. Visibility was great and we also had very little current. Then we moved to the island of Bartolome and we did 2 more dives. While there we did a land visit to the lighthouse situated on top of the island after having a great walk going up the 300 steps. We had such a nice time with at least 50 Galapagos hawks that were everywhere! We took many wonderful pictures of this beautiful volcanic landscape.

The next day we got up on Wolf Island and had four amazing dives during the day, and one at night after dinner. The water temperature was 74F with a cooler thermocline. Lots of hammerhead sharks passed in front of us, and lobster seemed to be everywhere along with lots of morays. We also encountered some Galapagos sharks, dolphins that were playing for a couple of minutes, a massive school of bonito and tunas that were being attacked by the sharks.

After our day at Wolf we moved to Darwin’s Arch at Darwin Island. We found a quite strong current of approximately 5 knots that made for a very challenging dive, but the dive was good nonetheless and some of the hammerheads came in very close. The highlight was a safety stop close to the reef where we had a chance to play with sea lions.

After sailing for a bit, we then arrived at the east side of Fernandina Island. We had magnificent dives in the morning and also in the afternoon with lots of mantas, a few Mobula rays and lots of white tipped shark along with many other small fish and simply massive tunas passing around us. We had an amazing night dive with some stingrays and an eagle ray that kept coming back to us over and over again. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Our next destination was a place called Cabo Douglas on the north side of Fernandina Island. This site is known for the marine iguanas feeding underwater. We also found lots of sea lions that played with us, seahorses and different stingrays scattered among the nice landscape that was filled with beautiful sea fans. A couple of bullhead sharks and many other fish that are endemic in this area of Galapagos were also spotted.

Our last day of diving and cruising on the ship was a mix of an early morning dive with marble stingrays mating, some white tipped reef sharks, seahorses, a couple of morays, and a school of eagle rays that was mixed with a couple a golden rays in between. We just had a magnificent last dive during this week. After lunch we visited the highlands of Santa Cruz with a bus ride making stops along the way. One to view a collapsed magma chamber, a second stop at the Tortoises Natural Reserve, a third stop was to see the inside of a lava tube that was formed by one of the last volcanic eruptions on the island, and the grand finale stop was a visit to the breading center for giant tortoises, consider in danger of extinction, at the Charles Darwin Research Center.

Thanks for an incredible week of diving and for joining us: Manuel from Spain, Jacques from France, and Sharon, Gary, Dave, Bob, Murphy and Gerry from USA.

Hope to see you soon back onboard the Galapagos Aggressor!
Nicolás Andrade
Dive Master