alan_pires
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Hi, I normally where a 3/5mm Shorty when Diving. What is the water temp in Galapagos in December? Is it too cold for a Shorty?
Cheers.
Cheers.
Wetsuit for Galapagos in December
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I usually dive in the Caribbean without a wetsuit. Just shorts and a rash guard.
I dove the Galapagos in March several years ago. I did numerous day trips from Puerto Ayora up along the northeast coast of Santa Cruz Island.
I was quite cold in a 7mm wetsuit. A drysuit is the way to go.
I dove the Galapagos in March several years ago. I did numerous day trips from Puerto Ayora up along the northeast coast of Santa Cruz Island.
I was quite cold in a 7mm wetsuit. A drysuit is the way to go.
I dove the Galapagos Aggressor 3 the week of 8 Dec 2022 (location/avg temp F/min temp F/wetsuit/comfort):
- Itabasca Channel/70.8/69/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/too warm
- Punta Carrion/67.4/64/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Punta Carrion/67.2/65/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Darwin/76.4/76/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/too warm
- Darwin/76.1/75/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.1/76/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.0/75/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.0/75/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.2/71/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.2/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.2/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.3/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.0/74/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.4/73/5 mm/fine
- Cape Douglas/58.6/55/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/g-damn cold
- Cape Douglas/63.3/60.5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Punta Vincente Roca/58.2/57/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/cold but tolerable
- Punta Vincente Roca/58.4/57/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/cold but tolerable
- Cousin's Rock/67.8/67/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
5 mm is a Bare Velocity Ultra (no hood); 3 mm hooded vest is also Bare Velocity Ultra. Didn't wear a hood unless I wore the vest.
Temps from Peregrine DC.
Of note:
- Itabasca Channel was a shallow checkout dive with the goal of wearing all your gear to dial in weighting for the trip.
- I was only uncomfortably cold on the first Cape Douglas dive to 82 feet max. Walter the DM said it was the coldest he's ever seen there.
- The second Cape Douglas dive was only 20 feet max (iguana-focused dive) hence the marked temp difference between the two Cape Douglas dives.
- Most people wore rented 7 mm hooded wetsuits...and some were still cold...even extremely cold...to the point of coming up early on the colder dives. No one used dry suits.
- Check the Aggressor Adventure Logs for more temp data.
Luckily for me, I am/consider myself to be a warm diver...in 78-80 degree water I am perfectly fine in an old fleece-lined skin that just won't die while everyone else is in 3 mm (and sometimes cold). Maybe that skin is closer to a 3 mm than I think but then again I'm always one "thickness" less than everyone else.
Must-do trip...but dress warm!
- Itabasca Channel/70.8/69/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/too warm
- Punta Carrion/67.4/64/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Punta Carrion/67.2/65/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Darwin/76.4/76/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/too warm
- Darwin/76.1/75/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.1/76/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.0/75/5 mm/fine
- Darwin/76.0/75/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.2/71/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.2/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.2/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.3/73/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/74.0/74/5 mm/fine
- Wolf/73.4/73/5 mm/fine
- Cape Douglas/58.6/55/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/g-damn cold
- Cape Douglas/63.3/60.5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
- Punta Vincente Roca/58.2/57/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/cold but tolerable
- Punta Vincente Roca/58.4/57/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/cold but tolerable
- Cousin's Rock/67.8/67/5 mm over 3 mm hooded vest/fine
5 mm is a Bare Velocity Ultra (no hood); 3 mm hooded vest is also Bare Velocity Ultra. Didn't wear a hood unless I wore the vest.
Temps from Peregrine DC.
Of note:
- Itabasca Channel was a shallow checkout dive with the goal of wearing all your gear to dial in weighting for the trip.
- I was only uncomfortably cold on the first Cape Douglas dive to 82 feet max. Walter the DM said it was the coldest he's ever seen there.
- The second Cape Douglas dive was only 20 feet max (iguana-focused dive) hence the marked temp difference between the two Cape Douglas dives.
- Most people wore rented 7 mm hooded wetsuits...and some were still cold...even extremely cold...to the point of coming up early on the colder dives. No one used dry suits.
- Check the Aggressor Adventure Logs for more temp data.
Luckily for me, I am/consider myself to be a warm diver...in 78-80 degree water I am perfectly fine in an old fleece-lined skin that just won't die while everyone else is in 3 mm (and sometimes cold). Maybe that skin is closer to a 3 mm than I think but then again I'm always one "thickness" less than everyone else.
Must-do trip...but dress warm!
That's insane
Why pay that much money to be uncomfortable and cold while diving?
If the water temp is 75 deg F or cooler, I dive dry, especially if I am doing repetitive dives.
I did a 10-day liveaboard land tour of the Galapagos. They didn't allow land/scuba cruises at the time. So I did 2-tank day trips out of Puerto Ayora.
I haven't visited the Galapagos, but I know someone who took a drysuit course and either bought or rented a drysuit specifically for a Galapagos liveaboard trip-of-a-lifetime, and as far as I know, this person--a die-hard world-traveler tropical diver--never dived a drysuit again after the Galapagos trip.
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I spent my week on the Aggressor III at the end of April Trip Report - Galapagos Aggressor III April 26-May 3, 2018
Water temperatures varied from the low 60s at Punta Vicente Roca and Cabo Douglas to 76-77 at Wolf and Darwin. I was very glad that I took a full 7 mm wetsuit and a 5/3 mm hooded vest. I generally wore both, dived Wolf and Darwin without the hood several times. I also had 3 mm gloves with a sturdy palm.
Many divers on the boat were quite cold with lesser protection and rented whatever they could from the boat to make up for it.
Water temperatures varied from the low 60s at Punta Vicente Roca and Cabo Douglas to 76-77 at Wolf and Darwin. I was very glad that I took a full 7 mm wetsuit and a 5/3 mm hooded vest. I generally wore both, dived Wolf and Darwin without the hood several times. I also had 3 mm gloves with a sturdy palm.
Many divers on the boat were quite cold with lesser protection and rented whatever they could from the boat to make up for it.
With great sadness, I just sold my drysuit after 13 years of comfortable dry diving.
But with great joy, I plan to never again dive anywhere that I would need a drysuit.
Amen (though admittedly I did have the bad luck to run into the DM's career cold temp on the first Cape Douglas dive and ended up in the uncomfortable camp on that one...buying/learning a dry suit was further than I wanted to go since I'm basically WWPF).
I saw the same thing on my trip.
And one guy put a rented 7 mm over his personal 5 mm for the cold Cape Douglas dive and the Punta Vincente Roca dives..and came up after the 20 minutes needed to keep his iron diver on track...he got a load of friendly BS when he got the certificate. That had to be a lot of weight and not much range of motion.
Me too (but 4 mm)...Pinnacle Merino Karbonflex gloves with kevlar palms. And they still look brand new.
Many people used straight up neoprene gloves with several ending up with holes in them.
One of the DMs (maybe the other as well but I'm not certain) didn't wear gloves...and still shot great video (GoPro on a tray with lights). After all those dives apparently he knows how to use his knees, fins, body position, etc. to do most of the work anchoring in place against the current.
I wore a drysuit for every dive in January. Darwin and Wolf Islands were warm, but not so much that I was hot. The rest of the dives were cold enough that those in wetsuits were very cold. There were six of us onboard with drysuits.
PACKRMAN
Contributor
I was there in December 2022. Normally I am a pretty warm diver and prefer shorts and a rash guard. I went with a good 5 mil expecting 65 degree water. We saw plenty of 55 degree water and I froze. I cut many dives short because it wasn't fun being cold. I would absolutely suggest a dry suit and intentionally overweight yourself to help hold the bottom.
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