Galapagos Water Temperature

[becky_scuba]

I was wondering if anyone knew of a website that shows the typical water temperature for Galapagos in late June/early July. I know that the northern and southern islands have different temperatures from each other.....some more conducive to wet suits or dry suits. I am very prone to being cold, more than the typical person, so what I am doing is trying to make a plan for which dives I will be wearing my wetsuit versus which dives I will be wearing the dry suit.

 

[cowjazz]

http://www.galapagosadventures.com/page22.html

 

[divingdog5]

7 mm gloves and hood if 2 cold rent a shortie

 

[divingdog5]

pissing allways helps for a few seconds

 

[MagicChicken]

pissing allways helps for a few seconds

Actually, no.

While urine will feel warm, you're losing precious caloric energy: high heat capacity fluids that were inside your body.

Anyhow, I always found it difficult to pee in cold water.

Also, colder waters in the Galapagos coincide with stronger currents. A punctured drysuit isn't much help.

I'd say use the thickest wetsuit you can find. Be careful that it isn't too tight.

Mine (5/7mm) fits very well, but I can still put a 2mm long John underneath. 2mm socks help a lot as well. I've got 5mm lobster claw mitts. I use this setup to dive in -1ºC waters. Believe it or not, it keeps me comfortable for ~ 30 minutes at 33m!

 

[Manuel Sam]

Since it appears that you're bringing both anyway, I'd set the decision bar at let's say 65 or some other number that you pick: anything higher is wetsuit, anything equal or lower is drysuit. Then play it by ear based on what the water temps are reported to be when you get to each site - since conditions do vary a lot even from day to day.

But if you want to sort of map out the relative differences from one zone to another, I'd say that the western side of Isabela, along with Fernandina and Roca Redonda are the coldest dive sites you may encounter in the Galapagos. Perhaps fortunately for you, these dive sites are bypassed on a lot of the trips. Even with a 7mm plus a hooded vest, I was cold by the second dive - so this might be drysuit territory.

The Northern Islands have always been the warmest. Definitely wetsuit.

Central Islands vary - they're somewhere in between, so a tossup. If it isn't too much of an adjustment, maybe you do the first dive on wetsuit and switch to drysuit for the second (since you're usually gonna be colder on the later dives).

 

[Seadeuce]

In the Galapagos what you see may not be what you get. IOW the temperature at the surface may be 23degsC in the southern islands, but you can find thermoclines that mean the bottom temps may be 2degs lower.
It is not unusual to find three different thermoclines as you descend, each pencil-thin, brrr..., but you will enjoy the return trip!

At Wolf or Darwin the waters are warmer, and the thermos are farther apart. You should be able to wear the same suit south or north.
One tip - carry a hood and wear it around your neck in warmer waters. When you meet a thermo, pull it up and over your mask strap, lovely.
Of course you may reverse the procedure on the ascent, or in colder waters down south you can leave it up.

BTW temps in colder waters up north (Canada - not Galapagos) may be as low as minus one near the surface, but at 30m they should be about plus four degs.

Now that return trip is exhilarating!


Enjoy!!



Seadeuce




If you are going

 

[becky_scuba]

My dive itinerary is as followsay 1 Playa OchoaDay 2 Mosquera Island & N. SeymourDay 3 WolfDay 4 DarwinDay 5 Darwin & WolfDay 6 Cousins Rock & Bartolome IslandDay 7 Gordon's Rock, South Plaza Island, & Puerto Ayora

So when looking at a map, It looks like Wolf and Darwin are considered the "northern" islands, so those likely will be my wetsuit islands. And I'm assuming the rest are the "southern" islands, probably my drysuit dives? (Considering my trip is the last week of June)

 

[MagicChicken]

I haven't experienced the current in the Galapagos yet From what I've read so far I would be worried I could damage a drysuit.

Whenever I have the choice, I choose wetsuit. That's probably just me being silly. What do you guys/gals think?

BTW temps in colder waters up north (Canada - not Galapagos) may be as low as minus one near the surface, but at 30m they should be about plus four degs.

This is not the case for the -1ºC dive mentionned above. In the Saguenay river there is a surface layer of freshwater (4ºC, can be higher) that flows South. At around 10m/30ft there is a halocline and underneath it's all saltwater (colder! the -1ºC was recorded repeatedly between 20 and 35m) from the Labrador current, flowing North. It's a wicked dive: the halocline blocks all sunlight. It's as dark as it gets and there's a lot of benthic species at leisure diving depths.

 

[jimisparks]

You can get away with a 3mm full suit with a 3/5 hood/vest. If your baggage tolerance allows I would also bring a 5 mm full suit for repetitive dives in the colder areas. The dive ops always under sell the colder currents. But, Im am also older!