Galapagos Islands

[Lloyd Jones]

I intend to take a group of marine educators from Queensland, Australia to dive the Galapagos Islands in Sept 2006 - hopefully to stay at research station - can anyone give me ideas of diving/accommodation there - such as water temperature, dive sites, location of research station etc.

 

[jedah]

Hi Lloyd,

I have never been to the Galapagos, but I've done a lot of research on it as we are planning on spending our honeymoon there next year! So....here's my 2 cents from my research...

The research station is in Puerto Ayora (the biggest town), on the Island of Santa Cruz. The main airport is on the smaller island of Baltra, with many shuttles to/from Puerto Ayora. You fly there from either Quito, or Guayaquil on Aerogal (www.aerogal.com.ec) or TAME (www.tame.com.ec).

In all likelihood, you'll have to overnight in Quito or Guayaquil on your way in, and probably on your way out as well. Quito is probably more scenic than Guayaquil, but the latter is more lively. In Quito, check out Cafe Cultura for very special accommodations (with a luggage storage service should you decide to overnight with them on your way out):

www.cafecultura.com

Accommodations in Puerto Ayora: take a look at Red Mangrove Inn (Cafe Cultura's sister hotel):

www.redmangrove.com

Diving: it's advanced diving with strong currents & surge. You have 2 options, day trips from Puerto Ayora, or live-aboard for 4-7 days. If you want to dive at Wolf & Darwin (tons of Hammerheads, maybe whalesharks at that time of year), you need to do a liveaboard upthere (it takes about 1 day to get there!).

For land-based day trips from Puerto Ayora, check out Scuba Iguana:

www.scubaiguana.com

For liveaboards, you can check out the Aggressor:

www.galapagos-aggressor.com

or the many other liveaboards:

www.galapagosislands.com

As far as I know, the dive sites are comparable around the main islands (Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, etc.), but Darwin & Wolf stand out (people call these one of the best places to dive in the world).

The water tends to be colder in the Southern islands (low-mid 70s), as opposed to the Northern Islands / Wolf & Darwin (mid-high 70s). They recommend to take full 5mms wetsuits with hoods, gloves & booties.

In all, Ecuador is a really special (and currently politically turbulent) country, and the Galapagos are one of the most unique places on earth.....

Hope this helps!

J.

 

[Doc]

I intend to take a group of marine educators from Queensland, Australia to dive the Galapagos Islands in Sept 2006 - hopefully to stay at research station - can anyone give me ideas of diving/accommodation there - such as water temperature, dive sites, location of research station etc.

Water temps, 72-76 degrees with variability.

Most arrivals come in at Baltra after the 600 mile flight from Quito. From there, you travel 26 miles or so South over two extinct volcanos in a straight line road (!) that takes you to the only major town of Puerto Ayorra. (There is a ferry boat transfer needed a few minutes South of the Airport from Baltra to Santa Cruz)

The Darwin Research Station is located at the far East end of the town of Puerto Ayorra on the Island of Santa Cruz. You could walk from the docks to the station in 8 minutes.

Land based dive site options are largely dependant upon the quality of the operator.

Here is my absolute favorite, as mentioned in the above post.

Mathias Espinosa owns Scuba Iguana and he is also a Guia (Guide) for their National Park systems. I believe he is the director of the SCUBA end of things. He is currently off teaching fishermen to be DM's.

Mathias was one of two people that appeared in the IMAX 3D Galapagos movie by Howard Hall. See more about the opeartion at http://www.scubaiguana.com/html/about_us.html

Scuba Iguana is located at the edge of the Charles Darwin Research Station and is, far and away, the best land based dive op there. We have been to the Galapagos many times, and although we have done the liveaboards, we prefer the options of land based nowadays. We stay at the attached Hotel Galapagos, which although not within the station, you could take one step and be in it! Pierre Constant, noted French uw photog http://www.wwnorton.com/odyssey/galapagos.htm haunts the place.

They took us to Gordon Rocks twice in ten days, Academy Bay, Santa Fe, Floreana, Santiago, Espanola, Cristobal, and several dives near North Seymour.

See our trip report and images at: http://www.geocities.com/johnofrancis/galapagos.htm

We had a world class experience from the first moment.

He is highly recommended.

 

[Globetravelgirl]

Hi Everyone,
A question about services from Scuba Iguana....
Scuba Iguana wants a bank wire transfer or Western Union CASH for a reservation. I am a little uncomfortable with this-- otherwise they say they cannot guarantee my reservation, as they book with other companies and may be sold out! ( Although, currently they are charging me the single diver supplement on all but 1 dive... which theoretically will be returned if other divers show up...) I am there in 10 days. Do I just take the risk and wire $1,000 plus to them or are there other options?? Help? Fast!
Cindy

 

[yakivet]

Hi Everyone,
A question about services from Scuba Iguana....
Scuba Iguana wants a bank wire transfer or Western Union CASH for a reservation. I am a little uncomfortable with this-- otherwise they say they cannot guarantee my reservation, as they book with other companies and may be sold out! ( Although, currently they are charging me the single diver supplement on all but 1 dive... which theoretically will be returned if other divers show up...) I am there in 10 days. Do I just take the risk and wire $1,000 plus to them or are there other options?? Help? Fast!
Cindy

Roatan Man has promoted Scuba Iguana on this board many times. If you've followed his other posts, you know he shoots pretty straight. I don't think he makes this reccomendation lightly. If I were headed down, and this is what Scuba Iguana required, I'd send them the money. My 2 cents. Ken :42:

 

[Globetravelgirl]

Thanks Ken,
I was not aware that Scuba Iguana has been promoted multiple times, and I have only seen one or two posts by Roatan Man. I appreciate the input from someone who has more experience with this site than I have. My wire transfer is going out tonight! Thanks again, C

 

[yakivet]

Thanks Ken,
I was not aware that Scuba Iguana has been promoted multiple times, and I have only seen one or two posts by Roatan Man. I appreciate the input from someone who has more experience with this site than I have. My wire transfer is going out tonight! Thanks again, C

My Pleasure. I'll expect a trip report when you return. Its on my list after RM's experiences.