Trip Report Trip report in the Galapagos with Aquarius liveboard

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funscuba

Contributor
Messages
387
Reaction score
26
Location
europe
# of dives
200 - 499
Well, all I can say is that it was a big WOW all the way. Of all the liveaboards I've done in my life I can really say it was the most entertaining, incredible, fantastic.

Early sept 2019.

- Booked with "DiveAdvice travel", excellent service online. The only thing that made me worried was that payment had to be made via bank transfer to the U.S (may take up to 5 days if sent from E.U for example, a week max), never did that before for a diving service but that's how it seems to work for the liveaboards to the galapagos (at least) so don't worry too much, that's the way it goes. And all the paperworks you need to do to book a liveaboard in the Galapagos, jeeezz.... what a nightmare.

- Arrival at quito airport with one way ticket, as evbody says you need a return or onward ticket, well, I simply had an onward ticket from … bogota, and at the immigration office no question asked, just if it was the 1st time I came to Ecuador and if I was coming from my country and that was it. Welcome to Ecuador ))) (Well, strong passport from the E.U helps I might say).

- Visit of quito and otavalo market (3 nights) then flight to baltra via Guayaquil with Wingo airlines. The DM came and pick us up at the airport straight to the boat via the bus.
Btw, return / onward ticket is a must to enter the galapagos, and must pay fees in cash 30US $ when arrival at Baltra airport, no card allowed.

- The boat “AQUARIUS” was absolutely in top quality and had actually been renovated and made longer a few weeks prior of my coming which was really nice. As my toilets didn’t work properly they switched me kindly to an even better other room with king size bed at no extra cost, I really appreciated that.
Just for the info we (the divers) had the luxury to be only 4 guests on a 16 persons’ boat (as guests) + the crew.
The food and crew was absolutely excellent from beginning to the end of the trip.

- And now for the dives ….. oh boy, the liveaboard might have cost me an arm and a leg but was worth every penny of it. Hammerheads was of course the top at shark bay dive sites at Wolf and Darwin, whale sharks, Galapagos shark, dolphins at the surface (didn’t see them while diving though), iguanas was really cool to filmed them while they were eating UW, lion seals etc….. My only regret was not to see a single orca whale, I know they can be seen but you gotta be lucky to be there at the right moment I guess.

- Expect water temperature to be between 18 to 24 degrees celcius. I skipped the mola mola dive site 'cause was too cold, on one dive was 16 and the other diver that went a bit deeper had 14 brrrr…..I also skipped the last one which didn’t seem to have been anything special.
I personally had two 0,5mm lycras and a scubapro 5mm semi-dry wet suit on me on the coldest dives, was at the limit to be enough to tell the truth, so if you have a 7mm better bring it. A hood is necessary on many dives also and don’t forget thick gloves as you will hold on the rocks while watching the sharks go by on many dives otherwise your poor fingers will pay the price I guarantee you that. My left hand was holding the rocks while I was holding my camera on the right, so on one of my left glove’s finger there was a huge hole because of that holding.

- Ah, and how could I forget the dive guide Simon, excellent service, and what a memory to draw each sites every evening.

- The dive equipment was in excellent condition and no incidents happened, everything was well taking care of by the crew which I thank very much.

- And what a view to see those 2 blue whales in the end of the day on the way to an other destination from the deck of the boat, awesome.

In conclusion, don’t hesitate to book that boat with it’s excellent crew, highly recommended.
 
How were the dives themselves? Was there alot of current ? Any drift diving or was it all routine? What were average depths?
 
Our DM always made sure we wouldn't end up in wild currents, so all the dives went well. Might have been some minor ones but nothing bad.
The dives were as I said fantastic with all the big pelagics.
Depth was kindda max 30m about. didn't need to go super deep.
 
Do you mind sharing pics from your dive?
I really am interested in going in the next few years. Definitely a bucket list trip
 
4DE25DE5-8932-492F-95FD-563FE37AA9CD.jpeg
 
Beautiful. Was that off of a reef wall?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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