Galapagos without liveaboard : is it worth it ?

[rickthompson]

I really don't have any vested interest to sell anyone on not doing a liveaboard, however, in my expierence the central islands provided an expierence that, at a minimum, equaled my liveaboard expierence to Darwin and Wolf. Conditions can always change and there are no guartentees, but my expierences at Darwin/Wolf were disapointing. No whale sharks, plenty of individual sharks but no massive schools. I will say Fernandina was the highlight of my liveaboard expierence, with a flora/fauna assemblage very different than the rest of the islands.

The OP's question was whether its worth it to consider a "dive vacation" in Galapagos without doing a liveaboard and I couldn't agree more. The best dives I've done in Galapagos have been at Tortuga (schooling hammerheads, orcas, mantas) and Leon Dormido (baitball), both day trips. Additionally I've had incredble freediving expierences at Seymour Norte (many mantas and hundreds of rays), Floreania, and Punto Moreno (whale sharks, Bryde's whale, cormorants, mobular rays).

Unfortunately with park guidelines how they are, there is no one way to easily see everything the archipelego has to offer. My reccomendation to anyone with the time (and money) who really wants to be satisfied with seeing everything Galapagos has to offer is to do a dive liveaboard (Darwin, Wolf, Fernandina, and northern Isabela), a land tour liveaboard (dive liveaboards aren't permitted and don't have the time to do many land tours in more remote/scattered islands), and then an additional ~2 weeks between Isabela, Santa Cruz, San Cristobol and Floreania staying in hotels/hostels and enjoying tours based from local ports.

 

[rickthompson]

Again this has just been my expierence, and a liveaboard is an awesome way to see Galapagos, however, if it's out of your price range you shouldn't count out going anyways and staying in hostel/guest house type accommodations, hopping around between islands, connecting with locals and other travelers, and doing some day dive trips. A lot cheaper and a much different expierence from liveaboard.

I agree you can almost think of as two different destinations, and you really can't see everything in just 1 week on Santa Cruz or a 1 week on a liveaboard.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Thanks to you Rick, I went back and read the original post more carefully. By the time I posted before, I had read through responses and had mostly forgotten the specifics of the original post. My apologies for that.

February, March and even into April can be dubious. Last year, post El Nino, Feb was apparently great, but normally, hammerheads migrate to Cocos and Malpelo before returning to Galapagos, so populations are diminished. I only dived the north once in Feb. It was pretty lame compared to high season.

I have never heard of anyone who has had a disappointing experience on a liveaboard during high season, July - mid Nov. Which month did you dive the north? Whale sharks are around June - Nov, with rare sightings in Dec or May. Hammerhead populations are always healthy then. Galapagos sharks don't migrate so tend to be year round at Wolf. Only once during an El Nino year did I not see whale sharks during high season. Water temps were crazy warm. Some were diving in shorties. I had dived there 7 weeks previous and we had temps as warm, but 12 whale sharks.

Agree..the entire west coast of Isabela is amazing to me, whether diving or not, but like better dive sites, is only accessible on a cruise. Penguins, whales, orcas, mola molas and those land-before-time views. It's the only place I need a hood, though, as the water temps are cold over there. I've been at Punta Vicente Roca in 54F water, not a thermocline either. Locals call it La Nevera, the freezer. I agree with your back to back cruise recommendation or liveaboard plus land based time on land. I'm not sure anyone can ever spend enough time in Galapagos. There's always more to see or learn.

 

[kurtisenbecker]

I hear what you are saying. All the Mantas I saw were a ways off and with the poor visibility none of my pictures turned out. I did get a few shots of hammer heads at a distance that were swimming around me. I had a great shot lined up on a hammer head swimming towards me but when I took an approach shot my strobe turned him away, damn. All the Galapagos sharks were too far away for any chance of a picture. I consider myself lucky to have seen what I did.