Galapagos in 1 week !!!

[ronscuba]

Just got back. Galapagos is INCREDIBLE !!! We saw 13 whale sharks, schools of hammerheads, eagle rays, bait fish, barracuda. The animals have no fear of man. Touching distance if you choose. It should be on everyone's must do list. Aggressor boat and crew was awesome.

 

[SelkieDVM]

That's great, glad you had a good time. I had heard it was an El Nino year and that there might not be as many critters around. Hope they're still there in a month! How were the water temps?

 

[ronscuba]

Water temps varied from 63 degf at the coldest sites, to 79 degf at Darwin. I wore a 7mm jumpsuit with integrated hood. Let the hood hang off my back and opened the zip on the warm sites.

 

[WetLens]

Water temps varied from 63 degf at the coldest sites, to 79 degf at Darwin. I wore a 7mm jumpsuit with integrated hood. Let the hood hang off my back and opened the zip on the warm sites.

We were worried about cool temps, but dove 5mm jumpsuits very comfortably in all conditions there. Think we saw 65ºF as the coolest. Took along a 5mm hooded vest just in case, but wore it only once on a night dive. Unless you are prone to cold, 7mm is overkill.

Have a great trip!

 

[ronscuba]

I think everyone has their own tolerance to cold. I typically dive without a wetsuit in 80 deg water. For me, 7mm was nice and toasty. 4 50 minute dives a day you can get cold sitting still on a rock watching the hammers and eagle rays go by.

 

[laurendell]

Agreed. I dove with a 5mm in the warmer sites with a full skin underneath and was fine, but in the cooler sites (my computer showed 62degrees) I think I would have been freezing in anything less than my 7/5 with the full hood. My husband had a straight 7mm with a hooded vest underneath and was very cold at the western islands. I think at Darwin & Wolfe most people would be ok with even a 3mm, but like Ron said you really can't underestimate what diving 4 dives a day does to you, it makes a big difference. (at least for me)

The trip was great though! Ron forgot to mention the humpback whale with a baby calf escorted by no less than 30 dolphins

In terms of luggage -- my carry on was about 23lbs and my two checked bags weighted about 75lbs together and I had no problems on AeroGal. The girl did say that technically the carry on was too heavy, but they didn't actually charge us for it. Not sure why.

 

[ronscuba]

Hi Lauren. Can you do me a big favor ? I could use the name of the islands and dive sites we were at each day. It will help me with my dive video.

Ron

 

[EddieNYC]

Hi Ron,

This is Eddie from the trip. Great video!!! Yours is far superior to Solon's. He only put two short whale shark clips in his. I can't wait to see the rest!!

Here are the dive sites. I think it is correct but Lauren can verify (she takes great notes!)

Checkout dive: Playa Ochoa (off San Cristobal)
Baltra-North Seymour (the land excursion with the boobies was Seymour Island)
Cold dives: Punta Vincente Roca (NW corner of Isabella Island)
Wolf: Landslide and Shark Bay
Darwin's Arch
Bartolomew Island land excursion
Cousin's Rock
Gordon's Rock
Darwin Station Land Excursion: Santa Cruz Island

 

[ronscuba]

Thanks Eddie. Working on the footage when we saw a lot of hammerheads. Rough draft should be up on vimeo this weekend.

 

[kennedy]

Ron - I just watched some of the video of your Galapagos trip! FABULOUS. We don't go till Dec - and I can't wait. I will keep checking back for more footage! thank you again for posting it up!