My fiancee and I are planning to take a liveaboard in the Galapagos around New Years and have been trying to determine which company to go with. Aggressor and Galapagos Sky are a bit more expensive than Wolf Buddy and Humboldt Explorer, but seem to have very similar offerings and reviews. Does anyone have recommendations for Galapagos liveaboards or insight into whether or not is it worth it spend more money on one of the more expensive companies (and if so why)?
Thanks for your help!
Dan
We were in cabin 7 on the Aggressor, Nov. 7, 2013. The staff was great! We did a mandatory check out dive where we really saw nothing but most people have new suits so its pretty important if currents are bad. Currents were not so bad on our trip but the crew said there were 17foot waves the week prior. Either way, gravol, zofran, scapolamine should be taken. Walter, the dive master, knows a lot about Galapagos. There was also Ruben, another divemaster who is very funny, at the back of our group to make sure everyone is okay. This is great practice compared to cocos island, which had a lot more current. I also liked the gps finders they attached to us, in case we got lost.
The only other dive I can complain about was with the marine iguanas, it was 30 minutes because we were on a tight schedule. The dives were 45 minutes until we got to wolf and darwin, then they were more like 50-60 min. I was very cold in a new 7mm wetsuit,5mm hood, and 2 mm gloves and boots, but I am 5'6" and 130lbs (not much fat to keep me warm). Another diver had a very used up 5mm(he had more fat). I would recommend a dry suit. If too expensive, then a semi dry. I ended up borrowing Rubens shorty and 5mm boots.
The cabin itself was the worst we stayed on for over 5000$ luxury yacht. The white carpets were dirty, there was rust, plaster in the shower, smell of mildew and so on. It was outdated and not the luxury that aggressor cocos or paradise dancer raja provided(although they advertised like it was). it was more like the aggressor palau but more than double the price and less dives. The hot tub, although a little excessive for a liveaboard, was nice when it was warm. Although, it was never full because of the rocking.
I felt very safe with Walter, Ruben and the captain who had 22 years of experience. I would love to dive with them on a luxury yacht.
I would recommend asking about the safety of the boats itself, because, as you may know the galapagos almost sank and could not dispatch the safety boats quickly(we were suppose to go on this boat in August and found out first from a review on scubaboard. 10 days later, we received an email from aggressor). Keep all valuables in a ziplock so you can grab and run.
Hope this helps!
---------- Post added November 26th, 2013 at 04:47 PM ----------
I forgot to mention that we saw mola mola in 16C water. Some liveaboards do not offer this. So questioning what is on the different dive sites is good to do as well=)
