rumblefish
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Sept 2014, I had the privilege of visiting Ecuador for 20 days. During my time there, I was able to dive the Galapagos Islands aboard the Galapagos Aggressor. I was also able to dive with the giant manta rays of Isla de la Plata out of Puerto Lopez.
Diving the Galapagos is a logistical challenge. You need to plan it carefully.
When do you want to go?
I chose Sept to maximize my chances of seeing whale sharks. There are other posts here on the boards detailing the best times of the year to go to see certain things.
Do you want to use a liveaboard?
In my opinion, the best way to get the most out of the trip. The best of the Galapagos is without a doubt at Wolf and Darwin Islands and they can only be reached on a liveaboard. Be mindful that only a few licensed boats are allowed to go out to the Galapagos as a result of the Ecuadorean government enforcing licensing requirements for Galapagos Island access. Book your liveaboard way in advance. Can't really comment about day trips out of Santa Cruz.
Make sure your flights line up.
I believe all the liveaboards sail out of San Cristobal with the exception of the Galapagos Aggressor which sails out of Baltra. Most people fly into Ecuador, spend a night or 2 in either Guayaquil or Quito and then fly to either San Cristobol or Baltra. My dive buddy and I wanted to skip that so we flew a red eye into Guayaquil that arrived a little after 1 AM and hung out in the airport until our flight left 10AM the next morning. Guayaquil airport isn't a bad place to slumber overnight BTW. You arrive at the lower level. Once you claim your luggage, take the elevator up 1 level to the departure area. It's just one long terminal with restaurants on either end. There are plugs in these restaurants that you can plug in electronics. You just have to find a seat near one of the wall outlets. There are several rows of seats that you can spread out on either end of the terminal. It's clean and safe and had more people waiting overnight for morning flights than I expected. Bathrooms are also clean and readily available. No showers though.
Make sure you pay your fees.
There is a $10 visitor card that I paid at Guayaquil airport. The counter is in the center of the departure area. It opens in the morning. I believe there is also a counter to pay this fee in Quito's airport, but I'm not sure. When I arrived at Baltra, I also had to pay a $100 park fee. All fees have to be paid in cash. I used US dollars.
The diving
The first few dives were actually disappointing. Cold and not as much action as I expected. However, that all changed once we reached Wolf and Darwin. Be aware the currents at Wolf and Darwin can be powerful. They are more surge like in nature where they will pull you one way really hard and then reverse quickly and just as forcefully the other way. Don't panic. There are plenty of rocks to hang on to. You can also let the surge pull you freely back and forth if you are comfortable enough.
Diving at wolf and darwin is done in stadium fashion. By that, I mean you descend and settle on plateaus at certain depths. You settle in and watch the parade of wildlife swim by. When hunting the whale sharks, the DMs who seem to have this supernatural ability to spot them coming way before you do will signal when to begin kicking furiously out from the plateau to intercept the whale shark for a close encounter.
Diving is done off of rubber dinghys with the exception of the first checkout dive. You enter fully geared up holding your fins and backroll off (fins on of course) when you arrive at the dive location. After the dive is over, you remove your BCD in the water and hand it to the boat handler who will pull it up. You pull yourself by grabbing onto the side ropes along the dinghy. You use a combo of kicking with your fins while pulling with your arms to do what amounts to your best imitation of a walrus jumping on stage at Seaworld. Not elegant, but effective. The boatman will help pull you up by your wetsuit if you need help.
Wetsuits
I recommend 7mm to Dry. Hood and gloves. I don't have my logbook right now but it was in the 60s F near Baltra/Santa Cruz. Wolf and Darwin were a little warmer and more comfortable to dive as they are further up north. Gloves are a must as you will be grabbing barnacle covered rocks on occasion to control yourself in the surges and current. After a week of successive 4 a day dives, you will feel the cold.
Just a bit about Isla de la Plata and Puerto Lopez
Puerto Lopez is a small town about 1 hour 40 minutes south of Manta, Ecuador.
Isla de la Plata is an island about 1 hour out of Puerto Lopez by motorboat. It's where you go to see giant Manta rays. There are only 3 dive shops in this tiny town. 2 of which are strictly dive shops, Exploramar and Mares dive center. We were lucky to get a spot to dive Isla de la Plata with Mares dive center. I'm not sure if this applies all year around, but when we were there, university researchers had booked up exploramar for weeks. Mares dive shop was fully booked up. We put our name on a wait list and were lucky that someone decided to cancel. We were told that after we book their spots, the people who cancelled tried to regain their spots the next day. Their loss is our gain. Call ahead and make sure to reserve a spot before you head out over there. Don't just show up and hope for the best.
Is it worth all this effort?
YES!!! I said before I left that I wanted this trip to be the one that ruined all other dive trips. If you are looking for big action, then I have to say that this has been true. I have dived the GBR, Bali, Thailand, the Philippines, Cozumel, Bonaire, Vietnam, Dominican republic, Oman, Tobago, 1000 Islands Canada, and various spots around the US and no where has been as good for big action. I haven't been to Socorro or Cocos Island yet so I can't comment on these places, but I truly feel blessed that I was able to experience the magic that is the Galapagos Islands. Just don't expect to see much in the way of pretty corals or macro. That's not what diving the Galapagos Islands are about.
Finally, my videos.
I actually had enough footage to put together 4 separate videos. I have in the past played with underwater photography and videography (badly I may add) with an old canon s30 in a canon waterproof case. However, as this was a trip of a lifetime, I invested in a Gopro. These are the results.
Gear:
Gopro Silver+
SRP CYD Filter
Maruni macro filter
Backscatter flip 3.1 with 55mm adapters
Sandmarc black metal edition monopod
[video=youtube;PSY2_CPyl6w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSY2_CPyl6w[/video]
[video=youtube;7O5zyychgkY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O5zyychgkY[/video]
[video=youtube;jBYw7KU0r6I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBYw7KU0r6I[/video]
[video=youtube;ZT-YerpE0S4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT-YerpE0S4[/video]
Thanks.
Diving the Galapagos is a logistical challenge. You need to plan it carefully.
When do you want to go?
I chose Sept to maximize my chances of seeing whale sharks. There are other posts here on the boards detailing the best times of the year to go to see certain things.
Do you want to use a liveaboard?
In my opinion, the best way to get the most out of the trip. The best of the Galapagos is without a doubt at Wolf and Darwin Islands and they can only be reached on a liveaboard. Be mindful that only a few licensed boats are allowed to go out to the Galapagos as a result of the Ecuadorean government enforcing licensing requirements for Galapagos Island access. Book your liveaboard way in advance. Can't really comment about day trips out of Santa Cruz.
Make sure your flights line up.
I believe all the liveaboards sail out of San Cristobal with the exception of the Galapagos Aggressor which sails out of Baltra. Most people fly into Ecuador, spend a night or 2 in either Guayaquil or Quito and then fly to either San Cristobol or Baltra. My dive buddy and I wanted to skip that so we flew a red eye into Guayaquil that arrived a little after 1 AM and hung out in the airport until our flight left 10AM the next morning. Guayaquil airport isn't a bad place to slumber overnight BTW. You arrive at the lower level. Once you claim your luggage, take the elevator up 1 level to the departure area. It's just one long terminal with restaurants on either end. There are plugs in these restaurants that you can plug in electronics. You just have to find a seat near one of the wall outlets. There are several rows of seats that you can spread out on either end of the terminal. It's clean and safe and had more people waiting overnight for morning flights than I expected. Bathrooms are also clean and readily available. No showers though.
Make sure you pay your fees.
There is a $10 visitor card that I paid at Guayaquil airport. The counter is in the center of the departure area. It opens in the morning. I believe there is also a counter to pay this fee in Quito's airport, but I'm not sure. When I arrived at Baltra, I also had to pay a $100 park fee. All fees have to be paid in cash. I used US dollars.
The diving
The first few dives were actually disappointing. Cold and not as much action as I expected. However, that all changed once we reached Wolf and Darwin. Be aware the currents at Wolf and Darwin can be powerful. They are more surge like in nature where they will pull you one way really hard and then reverse quickly and just as forcefully the other way. Don't panic. There are plenty of rocks to hang on to. You can also let the surge pull you freely back and forth if you are comfortable enough.
Diving at wolf and darwin is done in stadium fashion. By that, I mean you descend and settle on plateaus at certain depths. You settle in and watch the parade of wildlife swim by. When hunting the whale sharks, the DMs who seem to have this supernatural ability to spot them coming way before you do will signal when to begin kicking furiously out from the plateau to intercept the whale shark for a close encounter.
Diving is done off of rubber dinghys with the exception of the first checkout dive. You enter fully geared up holding your fins and backroll off (fins on of course) when you arrive at the dive location. After the dive is over, you remove your BCD in the water and hand it to the boat handler who will pull it up. You pull yourself by grabbing onto the side ropes along the dinghy. You use a combo of kicking with your fins while pulling with your arms to do what amounts to your best imitation of a walrus jumping on stage at Seaworld. Not elegant, but effective. The boatman will help pull you up by your wetsuit if you need help.
Wetsuits
I recommend 7mm to Dry. Hood and gloves. I don't have my logbook right now but it was in the 60s F near Baltra/Santa Cruz. Wolf and Darwin were a little warmer and more comfortable to dive as they are further up north. Gloves are a must as you will be grabbing barnacle covered rocks on occasion to control yourself in the surges and current. After a week of successive 4 a day dives, you will feel the cold.
Just a bit about Isla de la Plata and Puerto Lopez
Puerto Lopez is a small town about 1 hour 40 minutes south of Manta, Ecuador.
Isla de la Plata is an island about 1 hour out of Puerto Lopez by motorboat. It's where you go to see giant Manta rays. There are only 3 dive shops in this tiny town. 2 of which are strictly dive shops, Exploramar and Mares dive center. We were lucky to get a spot to dive Isla de la Plata with Mares dive center. I'm not sure if this applies all year around, but when we were there, university researchers had booked up exploramar for weeks. Mares dive shop was fully booked up. We put our name on a wait list and were lucky that someone decided to cancel. We were told that after we book their spots, the people who cancelled tried to regain their spots the next day. Their loss is our gain. Call ahead and make sure to reserve a spot before you head out over there. Don't just show up and hope for the best.
Is it worth all this effort?
YES!!! I said before I left that I wanted this trip to be the one that ruined all other dive trips. If you are looking for big action, then I have to say that this has been true. I have dived the GBR, Bali, Thailand, the Philippines, Cozumel, Bonaire, Vietnam, Dominican republic, Oman, Tobago, 1000 Islands Canada, and various spots around the US and no where has been as good for big action. I haven't been to Socorro or Cocos Island yet so I can't comment on these places, but I truly feel blessed that I was able to experience the magic that is the Galapagos Islands. Just don't expect to see much in the way of pretty corals or macro. That's not what diving the Galapagos Islands are about.
Finally, my videos.
I actually had enough footage to put together 4 separate videos. I have in the past played with underwater photography and videography (badly I may add) with an old canon s30 in a canon waterproof case. However, as this was a trip of a lifetime, I invested in a Gopro. These are the results.
Gear:
Gopro Silver+
SRP CYD Filter
Maruni macro filter
Backscatter flip 3.1 with 55mm adapters
Sandmarc black metal edition monopod
[video=youtube;PSY2_CPyl6w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSY2_CPyl6w[/video]
[video=youtube;7O5zyychgkY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O5zyychgkY[/video]
[video=youtube;jBYw7KU0r6I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBYw7KU0r6I[/video]
[video=youtube;ZT-YerpE0S4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT-YerpE0S4[/video]
Thanks.
