diving in the Galapagos, suggestions?
- Thread starter Aerowen
- Start date
I've been there twice 1998 and 2006 - I did no diving, only snorkeling. A lot of what you see is the same as what you'll find along the Central and South American mainland....but there are some amazing differences. You definately want to check out Tagus cove on Isabella Island. There are schools of target puffers out in the open water, but if you take a panga around the end of the cover (to the north I think) there are a series of caves with normally deep water inverts living on the walls. Choose a slack high tide for that though. Also, along the north side of the cove itself I found a striped Oplegnathus and the really cool piebald hogfish that are endemic to the region. That is also the only place I saw penguins underwater.
Most other places I snorkeled, it was more tropical - lots of sea lions, sea turtles, rainbow wrasse, Mexican hogfish and Prionurus surgeonfish. Once in awhile I'd see a moorish idol, or some other western pacific species. My understanding is that some of the dive trips travel up to the northwest to Wolf (Wenman) island, and see lots more tropicals - I think that is where they see all the sharks. Personally, I prefer the cooler water species around Isabella or Espanola.
I've only been there in the fall, and the weather was great - not too warm, with a morning sea mist that kept things cool. It will be warmer and wetter when you visit.
One last bit of advice - I'm still confused about flights in and out of the Islands. On both of my trips, we seemed to fly in one way, and left another. Both times, I almost missed our outbound flight - our boat let us off on the south side of Santa Cruz (so we could visit the Charles Darwin Station) and we had to take a bus north to the airport. What they don't tell you is that at one point, you need to unload the bus, put everything aboard a ferry, travel across a short channel, load up a new bus and then go on to the airport. Both of my trips, this took too long. As trip leader, I had nightmares about my whole group being stuck until the next flight out (in a week!). One time, I had to start waving US $20 bills to get my group moved up in the line to get a bus....ugly American I guess, but it worked. I was later told that the flight probably wouldn't have left with 20+ empty seats where we would have been.
Jay
Most other places I snorkeled, it was more tropical - lots of sea lions, sea turtles, rainbow wrasse, Mexican hogfish and Prionurus surgeonfish. Once in awhile I'd see a moorish idol, or some other western pacific species. My understanding is that some of the dive trips travel up to the northwest to Wolf (Wenman) island, and see lots more tropicals - I think that is where they see all the sharks. Personally, I prefer the cooler water species around Isabella or Espanola.
I've only been there in the fall, and the weather was great - not too warm, with a morning sea mist that kept things cool. It will be warmer and wetter when you visit.
One last bit of advice - I'm still confused about flights in and out of the Islands. On both of my trips, we seemed to fly in one way, and left another. Both times, I almost missed our outbound flight - our boat let us off on the south side of Santa Cruz (so we could visit the Charles Darwin Station) and we had to take a bus north to the airport. What they don't tell you is that at one point, you need to unload the bus, put everything aboard a ferry, travel across a short channel, load up a new bus and then go on to the airport. Both of my trips, this took too long. As trip leader, I had nightmares about my whole group being stuck until the next flight out (in a week!). One time, I had to start waving US $20 bills to get my group moved up in the line to get a bus....ugly American I guess, but it worked. I was later told that the flight probably wouldn't have left with 20+ empty seats where we would have been.
Jay
AMW
New member
IF you're gonna pay the money to dive the Galapagos, MOST DEFINITELY do a liveaboard and head up to Darwin in order to get the schools of scallop hammerheads and the whale sharks. Skip the diving around Santa Cruz Island. This area is over-crowded and overfished. Most definitely bring your 7mm wetsuit, hood, and gloves because IT IS COLD!!!
