Galapagos Humboldt Explorer Review 2011

[DazedAndConfuzed]

The Humboldt Explorer is suppose to be one of the 2 that has 2 full days in Wolf and 2 full days in Darwin. Their increased stay in those 2 islands means less days in other islands. They give up the possibility of seeing mantas and mola molas for the chance of seeing hammerheads for the whole duration of the dive. Thus if there was a dry spell of big marine life in those islands, then much of the trip is shot.

Maybe it was expectation. The DM and crew were bragging about we will see hundreds of hammerheads. Maybe we did, if you count all the shadows that everybody collectively saw. The DM bragged about sometimes, they would just go down, hang onto the rocks for 40 min and watch the show non-stop.

Maybe if we did Darwin first, then Wolf, we would have been more satisfied given that we saw more things in Wolf, but to be in Darwin after being to Wolf, and not see much, thus swimming the same path and doing the same dive day after day (there is only 1 dive spot in Darwin) made it seem monotonous.

We did do a 100+ ft dive just to see the batfish, as per special request by ocdiver1. Good thing we did a quick bounce dive and did not use one of our regular dive since there was nothing else to see, and it swam away and disappeared while I was adjusting my camera for a closer shot (I signaled the 'where' sign and my buddy just stared at me).

I read the Aggressor's Capt's log on Galapagos and theirs don't sound too different than what we saw, 'shadows' of school of hammerheads, etc. We saw that alot, but 10 shadow of schools don't add up to 1 school at 30 ft distance. They make it sound real exciting, maybe it was, maybe it was like ours.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...8448-captains-log-galapagos-aggressor-ii.html

I booked my trip thru Explorere and Jennifer was very helpful. You can ask her all the questions about flights, where to stay, what to do, etc, and have her plan everything or take that info and book it yourself.

 

[Jungho Kim]

Thanks, this is helpful!

The Humboldt Explorer is suppose to be one of the 2 that has 2 full days in Wolf and 2 full days in Darwin. Their increased stay in those 2 islands means less days in other islands. They give up the possibility of seeing mantas and mola molas for the chance of seeing hammerheads for the whole duration of the dive. Thus if there was a dry spell of big marine life in those islands, then much of the trip is shot.

Maybe it was expectation. The DM and crew were bragging about we will see hundreds of hammerheads. Maybe we did, if you count all the shadows that everybody collectively saw. The DM bragged about sometimes, they would just go down, hang onto the rocks for 40 min and watch the show non-stop.

Maybe if we did Darwin first, then Wolf, we would have been more satisfied given that we saw more things in Wolf, but to be in Darwin after being to Wolf, and not see much, thus swimming the same path and doing the same dive day after day (there is only 1 dive spot in Darwin) made it seem monotonous.

We did do a 100+ ft dive just to see the batfish, as per special request by ocdiver1. Good thing we did a quick bounce dive and did not use one of our regular dive since there was nothing else to see, and it swam away and disappeared while I was adjusting my camera for a closer shot (I signaled the 'where' sign and my buddy just stared at me).

I read the Aggressor's Capt's log on Galapagos and theirs don't sound too different than what we saw, 'shadows' of school of hammerheads, etc. We saw that alot, but 10 shadow of schools don't add up to 1 school at 30 ft distance. They make it sound real exciting, maybe it was, maybe it was like ours.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...8448-captains-log-galapagos-aggressor-ii.html

I booked my trip thru Explorere and Jennifer was very helpful. You can ask her all the questions about flights, where to stay, what to do, etc, and have her plan everything or take that info and book it yourself.

 

[Jungho Kim]

Sorry, I meant to ask "when was your trip to the Galapagos?" No worries, I saw Lwang's link to the Aggressor Captain's Dive Log... Hopefully, late April will have better vis than Dec, Jan...

ours was pretty much as listed on the website...after one check out dive, 2 dives at Bartolome, 2 full days at Wolf, 1 1/2 at Darwin, leaving early as we just weren't seeing much, 1/2 day Cousin's Rock

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Hi OCDiver ... I just want to address diving in the Galapagos as a destination. There is a reason there is a high season vs low season and a reason there are few spaces at full price between July and Nov versus discounts and 2 for 1 deals in the low season. The reason is that during high season, there's virtually nowhere else that can compete with the quality and quantity of the marine life that Galapagos has to offer. Your trip in Feb will not be the same as someone who dives in Oct. Galapagos is not over-hyped as a destination during high season. If you look at most lists of best dive trip ever, Galapagos is usually at the top of the list of even the most traveled divers. There are too few places on the planet where you can see thousands of Hammerheads, whale sharks, Galapagos sharks, Silky sharks, whales, dolphins, Orcas, Mantas, Eagle Ray, schools of jacks so large they'll block out the sight of a 50 ft whale shark, thick walls of at least hundreds of thousands of salemas that will block out all signs of a diver inside the school, giant free swimming morays, mola molas, sea lions, endless turtles, penguins...and that's 2 or 3 days of diving. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't prefer to pay more for that than less for more diving where sighting one turtle is a big deal.

That's not to take away from Socorro or Cocos, all the more admirable for the epitome of operations/ships available in those destinations. No coincidence all 3 destinations are in the crescent of the Eastern Pacific either. Plus, in Galapagos, the topside's not too shabby either...which is why so many head there who aren't divers and why divers add an extension now that liveaboards can no longer offer land visits. Blue footed boobies, Red footed boobies, waved albatross, the iconic giant tortoises, snorkeling with penguins, trekking active volcanoes, snorkeling with man-sized turtles and 2 ft away from white tipped reef sharks...I will still say it's a pretty unbeatable combo. You could say I'm biased, but that's not really what it is. I'm a believer... because of how unique and incredible the Galapagos are -fact. No, it's not an aquarium with guarantees, but it sure has a ridiculously low percentage rate of not wowing and a 0 rate of not wowing in high season.

 

[ocdiver1]

Our trip was mid February

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

MN Lakeman, Wonderful video!! Many have great critter shots, but all too rarely do they capture the critter behavior as well as you did, a huge element of the magic of diving for me.

I especially loved the porcupine fish moment, the 3 stingrays, the disappearance into the salemas and especially how skittish hammerheads are when they are frightened by bubbles. I have always loved the irony of the perception of hammerheads being dangerous to the non-diver, yet it's the little damselfish (as seen around the lobster) that are so territorial and bold they don't hesitate to try to attack a diver out of their area. Granted, they don't hurt, but they can annoy.

Superb job! Thank you for sharing.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

DiveTheGalapagos,

We were told the only thing that will be missed during times like this are the whale sharks, since they could be seen in plenty of other places, it is not a absolute must have.

The other large animals are year round

MN Lakeman's video was from Jan, which is very similar in weather to feb. His video shows alot of big animals. I am not sure if 2012 is a warmer year causing the big animals to not come around or maybe feb is the start of shark finning season for the locals, but there was a drastic difference between what he saw and what we saw.

Maybe me and ocdiver1 didn't see as much as we can because we both have cameras and maybe constantly fidgeting with the controls (at least I was) or focusing too much shooting away on a single subject. But we get the same response from other divers.


Topside is fine, but it is limited due to regulation. The only thing I did not see is Lonesome George.

 

[pikeblenny]

Visibility can play a huge part in what you do and do not see in Galapagos. Often in January-March the visibility can be lower than other times of the year. The big animals are there. They may just be hard to see. From what I have heard from divers over the past 6 months sightings of large animals have been better in Wolf than Darwin. This probably does have something to do with visibility.
The locals in Galapagos do not engage in shark finning. It is an illegal activity. Fishing is permitted at Darwin and Wolf within guidelines of the Galapagos National Park, but not for sharks or their fins.
I was in Darwin and Wolf the second week of February 2011. The visibility on our trip was poor our first day at Darwin but quite good the second day. The spots the dive guides go to are tried and true. That is why they go there. Unfortunately the visibility can really affect what you do and don't see - shapes and shadows versus the animals themselves.
On every dive trip you gamble on visibility. It is too bad it was on the lower end for your trip.

 

[MN Lakeman]

Thank you DiveTheGalapgos, for your nice comments. I want to say congratulations to you on conveying so very well, the true nature of the Galapagos. I think it should additionally be said, booking a trip to these islands is NOT booking a vacation to Universal Studios or Disney World - another words, this is NOT a scheduled, produced show.... its nature! There are just too many variables in the schooling behavior of all these magnificent pelagics to pinpoint their EXACT appearance! We were told by the DM just the week before we arrived, that several Whale Sharks were sited - but we saw none. Sure, it would have been terrific to have seen one while my daughter & I were there, but we knew we were at the very tale end of the whale shark season to expect a showing. If we want a better chance to see the big boys, we'll book FULL FARE during the known season for them. I guess I would also say, research many different sources for your expectations - not just the few webpages on Explorers' site.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Nobody is saying it should be going to an aquarium where the fish is guranteed to be there. But reading the Agressor's dive logs, their description of the dives in Wolf/Darwin seems to be the thinnest. Maybe the days of the hammerheads so dense that you can't see thru to the open waters are behind us.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ag...448-galapagos-aggressor-ii-captains-logs.html

We had better visibility in Darwin, but less big animals. So it is definitely not visibility related.