Getting There

So many people come to the Galapagos Islands from so many corners of the world, there is really only one word of advice to give. Get to Guayaquil with at least one day to spare to ensure your bags will make the trip with you.  Once on board, there is only ½ day for them to catch up.

The Galapagos Sky

There has been some confusion regarding Peter Hughes and the Galapagos Sky.  As explained to us and posted online, Peter Hughes is no longer involved with Sky Dancer fleet.  He is now one of the principles of Divencounters http://www.divencounters.com/galapagos. 

The only real change in the operation has been the name of the vessel from the Galapagos Dancer to the Galapagos Sky.  We found the crew to be excellent.  The Galapagos Sky is comfortable, well appointed and maintained.  This carried through to their rental gear which we took advantage of for a day of diving.   From masks to regulators the rental gear was in good working condition, relatively new, with a variety of sizes to fit all.  One thing they did not have was gloves, which are almost a necessity.   

 The Dry

Dry land tours are very regulated.  You get to do three of them.  First is to Bartolome Island.  It is quite arid, with very little plant life, but stunning topography.  It is stunning enough to be the backdrop for several movies.  Their website also mentions penguins. (we saw 5) and swimming with iguanas (I did see one in the water during our snorkel). 

At Puerto Egas you get up close and personal with one of Darwin’s favorite subjects, marine iguanas.  They are there in numbers, and not the least bit concerned with your presence.  Our naturalist did a wonderful job giving us the background on the islands and the biology of the creatures.

The last is to Santa Cruz, home of the Darwin Interpretation Center and the ancient Galapagos tortoises.  Their  history, and the way they have been brought back from the brink of disaster is inspiring.  It is a quaint little city, and also a great place to shop for trinkets for everyone back home.

The Wet

There are two major draws for diving in the Galapagos. They are schooling hammerhead and whale sharks.  Other encounters with manta rays, sea lions and several other species of sharks were frequent and enjoyed.  Divencounters’ itinerary page gives a fair description of the sites: http://www.divencounters.com/our-yachts/itineraries/

Currents and water temps are two common questions.  On our trip high temps at Darwin and Wolf were in the high 60s to 70 degree mark.  In the south the water temps and thermoclines in the low to mid 60s.  I was very happy in my 7mm O’Neil J suit. With cooler air temps, wind, and repetitive dives I saw many in 5mm suits shivering.  Gloves with a reinforced palm are also a good idea.  http://www.oneill.com/#/men/americacanada/collection/men/wetsuits/dive/fullsuits/7mm_j_type/black

90% of all dives had some form of current.  40% of the dives had current significant enough you would not be able to swim against it.  The routine was often to roll in, negative entry, kick hard to the bottom around 60ft, grab a rock, regroup and then head to the spot you would view the hammerheads.  IMHO reef hooks are not practical.  Best strategy for me was to find a big rock to hide behind with another I could sit on like a saddle, leaving my hands free to handle the camera.

Ocean conditions are another concern of many.  Over our two weeks we wore Scopolamine patches and happy we did.  One week the water was rough enough that over ½ the passengers were sea sick at some point.  Some of the panga rides could be a bit bouncy.  I appreciated the fact that, where the other live-aboards anchored, the Galapagos Sky would move as close to the dive sites as possible shortening our panga rides. 

For the Photographer

The Galapagos Sky has the standard stainless steel, 2 tier, camera table right behind the dive platform.  The gap between the second and first tier is big enough to fit your rolling hard cases.  The charging station is up against a main wall behind the camera station.  Like many it is a little small and you may want to bring your own power strip.  220 and 110 are available.  The camera table has room enough for all but if you had 12-16 full DSLR and video rigs things would be very tight. 

I shot the Nikon 17-55mm 2.8/f the majority of the time.  IMHO the Sigma 17-70mm would also be a good choice.  I brought my 60mm but never put it on.  At Darwin I did “risk” the Tokina 10-17mm in hopes of seeing a whale shark and that paid off.  Of course the sacrifice was it was way too wide to shoot the hammer heads.  Viz ran a decent 25-50ft but I failed in getting any of the classic massive schools, with sunball shots.  We found these hammer heads to be a little shyer than the ones at Cocos and did not get as many close passes. 

I rolled in with my camera about 70% of the time due to current.  IMHO long, multi piece strobe arms are not practical.  Currents ran strong enough that at times when I would pop up to take a shot it would push my large Subtronic Nova right over, putting both strobes on one side, lol.  To be clear  this was only an issue for about 30-40% of the dives. 

Galapagos Islands vs. Cocos Island

When we visited Cocos we spent 10 days, 4 dives per day looking at sharks.  So you have more opportunities to see sharks up close.  So if you are truly a shark crazy photographer, the odds are just in your favor at Cocos.  That being said, we felt the schools we saw were larger in the Galapagos, the hammerheads and especially the Galapagos sharks were more massive.  In 20 days of diving at Cocos, we saw only one whale shark; at Darwin’s Arch we saw 6 of them in 3 days! 

Dive Site Highlights

Seymour

This site is where you will do your checkout dive.  Sandy bottom and shallow this is a quick dive to get your weighting right.  What makes it an enjoyable dive is the opportunity to dive with the sea lions.  On both dives several came out to play in our bubbles, zoom around and make you feel inadequate underwater.

Gordon Rock 

This is your best chance to see mantas.  We saw mantas on each dive but due to the viz, the theme could have been called “mantas in the mist”.  We did have some close passes with some very large mantas, 4meter or larger range.  This was also a great spot were 2-3 sea lions came out to play. 

Cape Marshall

At this site we had more passes with mantas, most seem to be on their way somewhere.  Another highlight of the dives is a massive school of solema hovering over the rocks in shallow water.  By massive, I mean the school was 5meters across and 50-70 meters in length.

Wolf Island

Currents and conditions were typically the most challenging here but well worth it.  We saw hammerheads, walls of them, in the hundreds if not more.  Again, we were impressed with the size of the hammerheads and Galapagos sharks compared to the ones we saw at Cocos.  There was also a great spot where 5-7 Eagle rays just hovered in the current.  We finished dives with great drifts and one with bottlenose dolphins coming by to take a look.

Darwin’s Arch

Not only the signature dive of the Galapagos Islands but one of the most iconic dive sites in the world.  On our first dive the chop was up, the current was running, but once on the bottom the show started.  The walls of hammerheads were awe-inspiring.  Without a doubt, they numbered in the hundreds, and we could see even more in the shadows After 30 minutes of being hypnotized, we lifted off into the blue looking for other pelagics.  In just moments ,we could hear our dive guide’s frenetic shaker and see him pointing just below us.  Out of the dark blue water materialized the first of 4 whale sharks we would encounter that day.  While we “only” encountered two more whale sharks in our next 4 dives, we tripled what we had seen in 30yrs of diving.  This was a consistent pattern for Darwin’s Arch

In The End

I will keep this simple:   you must go the Galapagos Islands.  ASAP!