Galapagos Liveaboard with non diver

[theminidiver]

Hello,

Me and wife are planning a trip to Galapagos. She is not a diver but enjoy marine life.

Would a liveaboard be a great experience for her as well?
I mean, in a liveaboard in Galapagos it is possible to leave the boat a few times during the day to visit other places on land?

I've never been on a liveaboard. I don't even know if I can handle 24/7 on a boat due to motion sickness. So I have these basic questions


Also, liveaboard is a must to dive in Galapagos?

 

[theminidiver]

Already gave up on Galapagos.
Not enough experience to deal with currents

 

[drrich2]

Already gave up on Galapagos.
Not enough experience to deal with currents

I didn't find the Galapagos currents that bad my trip, but I doubt it's a good match for you guys right now. In case you consider going in the future, here are a couple of links to give you some idea of what's involved:

Humboldt Explorer Jan 13-20, 2020 - Trip Report - Humboldt Explorer Jan 13-20, 2020

My Research Notes from Planning Galapagos Trip

People dive in the Galapagos without liveaboards, but liveaboards can get you out around Wolf and Darwin, a pair of distant islands with some of the more impressive sea life. The Galapagos are protected and while I enjoyed the land-tour early in the trip, and the excursion to see the tortoises at the end of it, it was not a 'tour heavy' trip and I doubt she'd be leaving the boat to visit other places on land much otherwise.

I've never been on a liveaboard. I don't even know if I can handle 24/7 on a boat due to motion sickness.

I'd recommend this one for a 1st timer (if you're U.S.-based) - Sun Dancer 2 (Belize) May 2015 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...ving-belize-via-sun-dancer-2-may-2nd-9th.html (It's been renamed the Belize Aggressor IV, and was already in the Aggressor Fleet when I went on it).

I also enjoyed Cayman Aggressor IV May 2016 - Trip Report - Cayman Aggressor IV Trip May 2016 though it's iffy whether you'll make it to the alleged best diving off Little Cayman.

There are other options.

Would a liveaboard be a great experience for her as well?

A non-diver on most liveaboards is sort of a fish-out-of-water. If she likes to read, sunbathe, lounge in a hammock and converse, and not a lot else, it might work. If you find one that turns out to be a great experience for a non-diver, please write a trip report and let us know. The Cuan Law has a rep. for being a less dive-centric liveaboard.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @theminidiver

Whether your wife would enjoy a week on a liveaboard depends on what she likes to do. Personally, I think it is wise of you to postpone a liveaboard to the Galapagos until you have more experience in a variety of environments. On my Galapaagos trip, there was large variation in water temperature, some brisk current, surge, and quite variable visibility. It is a really fantastic trip.
Trip Report - Galapagos Aggressor III April 26-May 3, 2018

In 2016, I did a week on the Red Sea Aggressor I on the southern route. There was a man and his nondiving wife on the boat. She seemed quite happy reading, drawing, painting, and knitting. In addition, there were numerous opportunities for her to snorkel in the shallows. One of the crew members would take her out in one of the tenders while we were diving. She seemed to have a great time.

Trip Report - Red Sea Aggressor April-May 2016

I dived the southern route and then the northern route on the Red Sea Aggressor (RSA) in back to back weeks between April 24 and May 6, 2016. This was my 1st experience with the Aggressor Fleet Reservations and logistics: I was living in Basel, Switzerland when I made this trip. I made my own...

scubaboard.com

I have done two liveaboards that might be appropriate for your first liveaboard, Belize and the Cayman Islands

Trip Report - Belize on the Aggressor IV April 9-16, 2022

Belize on the Aggressor IV April 9-16, 2022 Reservations: I reserved my spot ton the Belize Aggressor IV directly with Aggressor. I made my reservations during last fall’s sale and got 25% off. I made my airline reservations directly with American Airlines, a flight from Philadelphia to Miami...

scubaboard.com

Trip Report - Cayman Aggressor V, November 24-December 1, 2018

I have been to Grand Cayman 10 times, Little Cayman twice, and Cayman Brac once. When I found myself with a bonus week available for diving, I jumped at the opportunity to spend the time on the new Cayman Aggressor V, especially with the 35% discount they offered for their 35th anniversary. I...

scubaboard.com

Best of luck in your diving

 

[theminidiver]

Thank you all for the responses @drrich2 @scubadada

 

[gratefulmjc]

My gal Kathy and I were on the Galapagos Aggressor 3 in December...it had only two shore excursions...a 2-hour Bartolome Island hike/shoreline tour and the last afternoon at a turtle sanctuary then evening in Puerto Aroya for shopping and dinner.

Kathy was at the time of the trip a retired diver (she got back in the water last week in Little Cayman...yay!...and already booked for Coz in May). While she wasn't a stranger to diving, I was wary that she wouldn't enjoy the trip but she wanted to go, fit right in with the crowd, and had a great time.

As @scubadada noted above, her vacation groove was key...she's more than happy lounging in the sun, reading, etc. and loves being on a boat. Kathy is also an outgoing, social person so had fun at the meals, happy hours, and evening movie sessions.

Another factor in her favor was that a friend's LDS had booked the entire boat (the two of us plus 14 known-to-the-LDS guests...meaning like-minded and enjoyable people) so by the time we got thru the Guayaquil overnight and onto the boat we were all insta-friends...and only got more so over the course of the week.

The crew was great, making her feel right at home. And as @scubadada saw on the RSA trip, the panga drivers took Kathy for a handful of spins while we were diving so she could see the sea lions, iguanas, penguins, birds, etc. up close. And there was always something swimming by like mola molas, sharks, dolphins, turtles, etc. She also enjoyed the stunning scenery of many of the dive sites.

While she considered some snorkeling, where we dove wasn't snorkeling friendly (depth, temperature, choppy [at best]) so she didn't but in the end it wasn't a factor.

 

[Doc Harry]

You can still dive the Galapagos without a liveaboard.

Staying in Puerto Ayora is dirt cheap. Lots of dive shops in town, about $160 for a 2-tank dive.

Cold! 7mm wetsuits. I rented all of my dive gear.

Ten years ago I stayed in a hostel with a small, clean, simple, private air-conditioned room for $15/night, breakfast included. Dinner in town was about $7 pp.

Lots of things to see and do on the island besides diving.

You can catch a water taxi to the other islands.

Traveling in South America can be tricky but it's worth going to the Galapagos.

 

[scubadada]

You can still dive the Galapagos without a liveaboard.

Staying in Puerto Ayora is dirt cheap. Lots of dive shops in town, about $160 for a 2-tank dive.

Cold! 7mm wetsuits. I rented all of my dive gear.

Ten years ago I stayed in a hostel with a small, clean, simple, private air-conditioned room for $15/night, breakfast included. Dinner in town was about $7 pp.

Lots of things to see and do on the island besides diving.

You can catch a water taxi to the other islands.

Traveling in South America can be tricky but it's worth going to the Galapagos.

However, you will not be diving the bucket list, prime sites.

 

[Doc Harry]

However, you will not be diving the bucket list, prime sites.

That's a given

 

[drrich2]

I've never been on a liveaboard. I don't even know if I can handle 24/7 on a boat due to motion sickness.

I've been on some, and this issue warrants a look speaking generally. On the liveaboards I've been on (Belize, the Caymans, Turks & Caicos, California, the Galapagos, Raja Ampat), the big majority of the time, the liveaboard feet stable, not rocking, and I don't think would have bothered a sea sickness-prone person.

The big majority of the time. Sometimes boats need to get somewhere (e.g.: to the outer atolls region out of Belize, to Little Cayman, trying to get to the north in Raja Ampat at night and encountering rough seas), and you may get motion issues (on the Belize and Cayman trips some people got sick) - these crossings over deep water can do it.

There are remedies - Bonine (start taking days in advance, well before you get sick - once you get sea sick, it's hard to abort), and some people go for the prescription option of a scopolamine patch (outside the U.S. there's an oral pill option, and in the U.S. with the right prescription you can get what's called a compounding pharmacy to make it for you) - but it's strongly anticholinergic so depending on individual sensitivity and other health conditions and medications you may have, it'd be wise to try it and make sure you tolerate it before the trip (and don't touch your eye without washing your hands thoroughly after handling a scopolamine patch - it can make your pupil very large if do).

Some liveaboard destinations are more likely to feature rough seas than others. You don't have to use a liveaboard to tend them - a roughly 1-1/2 hour boat trip out of Morehead City, NC for offshore wreck diving in the Atlantic Ocean (not Caribbean Sea) can get rough at times.