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Galapagos Aggressor I November 15th-22nd 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; theres 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- Cousins 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 dont 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
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; theres 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- Cousins 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 dont 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