Hi! I am planning a trip for summer 2011 and I was wondering whether Peter Hughes or the Aggressor is a better option for the galapagos? If the Aggressor the #1 or #2? What experiences have you had with each company? We are planning on traveling in July...any experience in that time? Also...did you bring your own gear? 7mm suit?
Personally, I preferred my Galapagos Aggressor II trip (June) over my Peter Hughes Sky Dancer trip (August). I'd imagine July would be sort of in between June and August and the diving was sublime on both of the trips.
While I preferred the length of my Sky Dancer trip (10 days versus 7) and the extra days at Darwin with the whale sharks that afforded us, and the boat certainly had a nice main cabin/dining area and dive deck, we had several issues with our cabin, versus a flawless experience on the GA II (plus I liked the food on the GA II a tad better and the guides/DMs as well). That said, our cabin issues on the SD only affected our cabin, and a recent report had similar complaints about the GA II - by the time you go on your trip, it's likely those have all been remedied and you'll either have a flawless experience on either boat, or something new will go wrong! That's the nature of liveaboards.
As for GA I & II, I'd imagine the differences are even more subtle and evanescent than comparing either Aggressor to the SD - the main differences between Peter Hughes and Aggressor that I can think of is that the SD has full liquor included in the cost and may still be offering 10 day trips, whereas the GAs only give you beer and wine (but decent local beer and very decent Chilean wine) but they had a nifty outdoor kitchen where we ate a few meals al fresco. Also, I thought the Aggressor's skiffs were easier to climb back into as they seem to sit lower in the water (or just have lower gunwales) - since getting back into the skiff in the treacherous swells of Darwin is the most effort you'll expend on the trip, that's an important factor!
(I was actually able to compare the skiffs directly, even though my trips were several years apart, since one of our dinghy motors had died on my SD trip when we were at Wolf and the GA that was sharing the site with us that day generously assisted the SD by helping pickup stray divers like me - after days of strenuously hauling myself into the SD dinghy, getting into the GA dinghy was a cinch)
I was OK on both trips with a 5mm FJ, using a hood only in the colder central islands (I hate wearing a hood). Actually, I now recall I put a 3mm core warmer over the 5mm FJ when we dove the central islands in August because that was very frigid (about 58-60 degrees), but I'm guessing July will be a tad warmer. Most divers wore 7mm full suits, some even brought drysuits (neoprene, though, since delicate trilams would get shredded on the rocks). Good kneepads, and more importantly, good thick gloves are also very helpful there.
. I'd love to hear it!
