The Galapagos Islands - Diving Tour

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Diving in the Galapagos

Day 10 - San Cristobal Island

I had a pleasant time waiting for the crew and passengers of Sky Dancer, a Peter Hughes Diving Inc. boat. While the sun was hot, it was a nice change from the rain of a few days ago. Soon enough I saw the 737s from the mainland arrive at the airport, and within an hour or so the bus arrived. I met Edwin, the chief guide and divemaster for this week, and the 15 other passengers for the week of diving.

Sky Dancer is a beautiful boat. Custom built for the Galapagos and for diving, she’s bigger than the Letty but has less passengers (16 vs. 20). I never got a great count of the crew, but I think it was around 11 or 12. In terms of the service, it was first class all the way. The crew, all the crew, worked really hard getting the divers into and out of the pangas for diving. All the diving was off the pangas. The food was superb, and the bar service excellent (it was mostly service yourself, which is the best way to go, I think, but Hugo was happy to make something frothy if you wanted).

For the most part though, we were all here to dive, and what diving it would be ...

The first day was a check out dive. Interestingly, many of the divers were warm water divers and concerned about the cold. It took a bit to get the weight right, and I was off to begin. With a 7 mm full suit and a scap (a cap instead of a beanie or a hoodie), I started with 20 pounds - hadn’t dived with a 7 mm suite before. Way too much. I was down to 9 lbs. by the end of the trip. I could probably have got to six pounds and still have been OK.

This first dive was only to 20 feet in a sandy bottomed protected cove on the west shore of San Cristobal. Only down for about 15 minutes, but it was good to see everyone had similar diving skills. It was also a panga dive - all of the dives would be off of pangas. The only trick was to roll over the side simultaneously with the other seven passengers and the divemaster. Not difficult, but a new thing to learn for some of the divers.

By the finish of the dive it was dinner time and early to bed. My incipient cold which I had been fighting off all week disappeared, so I was good to go for the rest of the diving. Phew - it would have sucked to have missed this week!

Day 11 - North Seymour, Baltra Islands and Bartolomé Islands

Two dives this morning. Saw a fair amount, but nothing spectatular. Spotted snake eels, a glimpse of some sharks (hammerheads, I think), morays, mobula rays (a school of four) and eagle rays. On the second dive got close to some either sleeping white tips or resting for cleaning on the bottom. A nice, easy introduction.

In the afternoon we had to wait for refuelling on Baltra Island. Of course, we had to stay inside during refuelling, but luckily it didn’t take long. We were soon on our way to Bartolomé. There, we snorkelled at the same site as I had been before. Not too much to see, but nice to be in the water. While the rest of the passengers hiked up to see Pinnacle Rock, I gave it a pass. It was pretty cloudy and dark, so the view would have been the same as before for me.

Tons of manta ray action on the surface though. Dozens were launching themselves in the air, flopping over if they were smaller or skimming the surface if they were larger. One launched themselves within 10 feet of the boat. Couldn’t get a picture in time, but there were spectacular.
After an excellent dinner I finished my nitrox course book. It’s pretty easy as courses go - will do two dives tomorrow on nitrox and that’ll be that. The bad news we got was that the current was strong and in our face the whole way for our trip to Wolf Island. We may not get there until late tomorrow.

Day 12 - Wolf Island

Well, the current was even stronger than suspected. We didn’t arrive at Wolf Island until mid afternoon, so we lost out on two dives. The sea was a little rough, but the first dive was great. Tons of hammerheads, turtles, moray eels draped every which way over the rocks, and tons of fish. Plus, on the panga ride there and back, a pod of bottlenose dolphins escorted us, leaping and spinning, almost for our entertainment. On the first of the two dives, we also saw a Galapagos shark.

During the second dive, we could hear the dolphins clicking and chattering to each other. It was a spectacular background noise for another great dive. The only down side was the cloud cover, which made the photos come out a little dark.

We had an option for one of two night dives here, but only Angelo, one of the Italian divers, went. It was a little too rough, too cold, and too deep (110 feet) for my liking. Just as well - an early night was good.

Day 13 - Darwin Island

Overnight we cruised to Darwin Island and the famous Darwin Arch. This is the most northerly and furthest island in the Galapagos group, and only the dive boats get up here. No one is allowed on Darwin or Wolf, and since there is only three dive boats, only about 50 passengers a week get to see this sight. Pretty incredible.
We’d have six dives here - four today and two tomorrow. While it might seem boring to dive at the same place for six dives straight, it wasn’t at all here. First off, we would descend to between 60 and 40 feet and find a good viewing location. Hanging on to the rocks in the strong current, hundred of hammerhead sharks would stream by, some coming so close that you could touch them if you wanted to risk it. Including the hammerheads, we got lots of deep water fish - crevallys, jacks, wahoo, barracudas, everything. Yellow fin tuna and albacore made an appearance. Dozens of turtles were seen, and a dolphin chasing some creolefish made a surface pass too.

When the dive was finished, we let go of the rocks and swim away from the Arch into the blue, doing our safety stop. There, we’d see rays and sharks galore.
On one descent, we came through a school of creole fish at about 20 feet and then immediately into a whole school of hammerheads. They swam around us as we descended - absolutely incredible. The only thing that would have made it better was if we had seen manta rays. Ah well, you can’t have everything!

On the last dive of the day, some sea lions came to play. One, a very playful female, game me a nip on my fin, and I got a picture of her just before she bit. It was fantastic! On the same dive, a giant hawkfish bolted underneath me with a smaller fish, his dinner, tucked in this mouth. I actually got a picture of that too.

Did all the dives today on nitrox. Although it was good for my nitrogen exposure, I didn’t really notice a difference, either in air consumption or in how I felt. Ah, well, I’m not going to pay for it for the next dives unless I notice a big difference when I change back to air.

That night, got a beautiful shot of the moon rising as it was in eclipse. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Day 14 - Darwin and Wolf Islands

Two more fantastic dives off of Darwin’s Arch. The sun came out more today, so the pictures came out better. After the first dive, on the ascent, we were joined by a silky shark. This was the shark that we were told in our briefing “might be curious.” If it came too close, we were to “hit it on it’s nose with a fin.” Um, right. Luckily, it never got that curious (although it did circle us a couple of times).

After motoring to Wolf (about two hours) we had a nice dive on the Landslide site again. Not too much to see, besides what has now become commonplace - hundreds of scalloped hammerheads. Amazing how quickly new things can become dull, although not for me. They were still amazing. Did get to see two lobsters fighting under the rocks, like two armoured cars fighting, they were so fast and plated. On the fourth dive of the day, saw a huge turtle being mobbed by King Angelfish that were cleaning it. The turtle did not look happy, and the King Angelfish quickly dispersed, but it was cool to see.

As we were leaving Wolf Island, about a hundred common dolphins started to swim out in front of us. I counted about twenty calves close to their mothers, and they stretched for at least ½ mile in either direction. I kept expecting them to end, so I never went to get my camera, but I wish I had. They would have been good pictures.

The sunset was the best so far tonight. Actually got to see the green flash, and got a picture of it as well. Finally, I seemed to have the hang of the camera. But wow, what an incredible three days of diving up here.

Day 15 - Isabella and San Salvador Islands

Overnight we motored to Isabella Island and two good dives. Spectacular sunrise and moonset at dawn. This was supposed to be a manta ray site, but they never showed. While that was a little disappointing, I can’t complain - sea lion pups, a school of mobula rays, an enraged burrfish which just wouldn’t stop attacking my camera, a school of wahoo, white tip sharks, hammerheads, and some incredible blue sea stars.

During the afternoon we went to Punta Egan on San Salvador for a land tour. I passed - it was the same that I had done the week before. But that evening six of us did a night dive. Very cool. Not too deep (only 40 feet) and a sandy bottom, but saw tons of sting rays, huge sea stars (3’ wide almost running across the bottom), tons of shrimp, a Galapagos cusk eel, tonguefish, and some kind of larva that was really gross on the safety stop. Attracted to the light, about two inches long, they were some kind of wriggling worm. Was quite happy to turn off my light and escape them.

Day 16 - Gordon Rocks and Puerto Ayora

That night, did a short motor to Gordon Rocks and had two OK dives to end off. Didn’t get to see much, except for some blue striped sea slugs and a great school of golden cownosed rays escorted by two spotted eagle rays, like some WWII bombing mission. Did get some pics of some medusa - don’t know which species, but these translucent life forms always astound me. While these dives weren’t as outstanding as Darwin Island, I couldn’t complain. It was a wonderful way to finish our week of diving. Eighteen dives - not as many as possible, but not a bad number either.

That afternoon, we motored into Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz. Had a good outing buying some souvenirs, have a few beers, and getting a great dinner. Thanks Dennis and Steve - had an awesome time guys!

Days 17 & 18 - San Cristobal and Guayaquil, Ecuador

The next day we had arrived at San Cristobal. Packed up, and bought a few last souvenirs for the parents. An easy transfer to the airport, and although we waited for a while in the stuffy terminal, no problems with the flight. Had to wait in Guayaquil for my room to be ready, but made it eventually. Had a nice dinner with one of the American families - Sean, Caroline, Q and Tom. Thanks for including me guys - it was a lot of funny (especially the ½ yards in the bar!).

My connection to Miami the next day was fine, and although it was late getting into Toronto, I was home safe and sound by 3.00 am. I can’t say too much more, I guess, except that if you have the time and the money and an interest in wildlife, the Galapagos were pretty incredible!!

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