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Galapagos - Trip report - Deep Blue June 2006. Galapagos – Deep Blue June 2006
A quote from Galapagos tour web site…
When diving in the Galapagos marine reserve you may see dolphins in some other parts of the world. You may also see sharks or whales. You may well, if you are lucky, see giant mantas. But where else in the world can you see them all in the same area ? Where else in the world can you find such a variety of reef fish, corals, invertebrates, pelagic fish ? hint... Galapagos Islands diving. Where else in the world can you get so close to a sea lion that you could touch it, without it being frightened and dashing away ? Where else in the world can you dive surrounded by sharks, being sure none of them, nor any of the inhabitants of this extraordinary submarine world, will feel threatened by you ? hint... Galapagos Islands diving
It is therefore no real surprise that Galapagos as a diving site has been elected one of the Seven Wonders of Marine World by the prestigious oceanographic organisation Cedam International.
No real surprise either that Galapagos is the top diving destination among the divers' favourites, according to a poll realized by the Rodale's scuba diving magazine Scuba Diving - The Magazine Divers Trust
Quoted from Galapagos scuba diving : scuba diving cruise in the Galapagos islands marine reserve, Galapagos diving cruise, dive live abourd cruise
The geography of the Galapagos Islands is as fascinating as its inhabitants, islands merge into volcanoes that disappear under water, the Galapagos Islands archipelago is an oasis for animals and plants that exist nowhere else.
The rich Galapagos islands marine life is fascinating, a world as wonderful as on the islands, colourful fish in schools, manta rays, sea turtles, hammer head sharks, whale sharks, and magnificent reefs.
The Galapagos Islands are at the equator line, 970 km. (600 miles) west of mainland Ecuador. The Galapagos Islands are a group of thirteen main islands, six smaller islands, tiny islets and rocks covering an area of 8000 sq. Km (3090 sq. miles). Each of the islands has more than one name, four islands in the Galapagos park have inhabited areas. 3% of the Galapagos Islands area is open to tourism. The rest of the Galapagos Islands Park is protected areas.
My trip Report
I hope no one minds, this report is a bit of a ramble. With a number of comments made to assist anyone who is planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Please note any of the negative comments are there for assistance…this was a very good trip, with a great bunch of people with world class Shark action.
June the 3rd
Pics to be found here…Photo album
Living in Chester – Manchester airport was the obvious option for my flight.
That meant a choice of Iberia via Madrid, KLM via Amsterdam or Continental via Newark New York.
I flew Manchester Saturday 11.30am take off – 7 hour flight to Newark (New York). There was an eight hour stop over which I spent in the Presidents Lounge (45 dollars to get in – very nice surrounding, free drinks and snacks, TV, wireless internet access and showers) – The flight to Guayaquil left Newark at 12pm and landing at approximately 6am. (the worst flight of the lot 7 hours on a 737 is not my idea of fun, although I managed to get a fair bit it sleep. Continental are not the best airline in the world…reasonable leg room, but no seat back video. US entry is a pain, and so are the exit requirements mean you have to register that you have left on a machine that records finger prints and takes your picture.
The reason I choose this route was that I want a New York Stop over on the way back, and I wanted to avoid the Continental Houston hub which I had read on the internet has problems losing luggage. Also I left a day earlier than suggested by the travel company to make sure my luggage got to me and to allow for some sleep time prior to getting on the boat.
As mentioned the Newark route means eight hour wait for the stop over. But you can get out of the airport after checking your luggage in and it takes forty five minutes on the train to get into central New York.
Continental charge if your bags weight over 23 kilo. It cost 25 dollars each way. However you are alowed two bags up to 23. Hand luggage size is now being size restricted, but at the mo it can weight 18 kilos. Laptops can be separate bag.
It looked like the best journey was had by the divers who flew with KLM flyers. They had no baggage issues, but you can pre buy extra allowance for a relatively small amount. They were also heading for Bonaire for afterwards which seemed a good idea. However as I wanted to do New York the Newark route was the only option.
At this point I would mention that Continental lost one of the divers luggage for the whole trip, she flew via Houston...she was able to rent kit, but it spoiled her whole trip.
Guayaquil
The Grand hotel is clean tidy and the food is good and very cheap. Ecuador is cheap full stop. There is not a lot to do, a big shopping area by the waterfront. Lots of restaurant by the Salt Macon that looked good. Its a big industrial city, one or two days are enough. Quito has a lot more to do and see if you go via there.
William the agent for Deep Blue picked us up from the airport and took us to the internal airport. Luggage allowance is supposed to be 20 kilos. But William booked us in and looked after us very well and we were not charged. I was travelling on my own and I met the rest of the boat passengers in the Grand.
We then had a one half hour flight to San Cristobal. Not the prettiest Island, under going a lot of development. The airport is a small shed and the bags take a while to be off loaded by what looked like one man and his tractor...but hey this is the Galapagos so I did not care. It a 100 dollars cash for you park fee which you pay at the airport.
The Deep Blue guides were waiting and we were told Deep Blue was late so we had a walk on the beach. Don't get to close to the big bull sea lions - they can chase really fast I can tell you.
Anyway Deep Blue sailed in looking really good. She seems longer than a big red sea boat and definitely wider on the beam. We were took a Panga (Ecuadorian for a small boat) ride across to Deep Blue handled all the luggage. We then were given a talk by the guide.
Unfortunately the very well known guides were on holiday. So instead of top quality dive guides we got one average dive guide who shall remain nameless and his assistant Louis. Louis was a star...and seemed to want us all to have a good time. The nameless on who was the lead diver seemed far more interested in the land trips than the diving. He was good underwater as a diver, but poor on the surface and as a guide running the trip. We were never given instruction on the boats emergency procedures and the nameless ones dive briefing were very poor. Part of the problem is that having dived a few weeks before with Anne Marie and Matt (in the Maldives on Sea Queen) who are top notch dives guides you expect all guides to be that good. My view is that English divers were not viewed as good tippers and we were treated accordingly. They are expecting 250 dollars per person.
The Diving.
So the key stuff you want to know is the diving. We did a check dive in the Harbour, it was cold, 20c. I had taken my dry suit, it had seemed a good idea, but proved not to be so, for the obvious reasons, too much weight required, but I was not cold that's for sure...the other divers were in a mixture of 5 to 7 mills depending how the cold affected them.
On the check dive we had Sea lion playing and a few fish..vis was average to poor. However we would be doing real diving tomorrow at NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND..Well I will tell you now after two more days of average UK type diving..the nameless one getting the currents wrong, three very average dives some white tips. One nice hammerhead..a freezing cold room because of uncontrollable AC..things we not feeling so good.
So by the end of day three I was really beginning to wonder if this was not going to be fun. The nameless one made a good decision at this point and suggested we head to Wolf early and only do one dive that day, he said as there was no current about the vis and the diving would not get.
The bright point of the whole trip so far had been the land trips..we went on a Panga trip to Black Turtle Bay and saw the most amazing site of hundreds of Boobies - Blue-footed, red-footed, and masked boobies can be found on most islands in the Galapagos archipelago -- the blue-footed and masked being the most commonly seen. They're incredible divers, plunging to a depth of 8 meters to catch their prey. Well the blue footed ones were diving for fish right by the boats it was truly memorable...
We also had a walk on ESPANOLA ISLAND. This 61 square km. island is the most southerly one and one of the best islands to see birds in the Galapagos. The visitor sites are: "Punta Suárez", where a wet landing is necessary and Gardner Bay, a beautiful, white sandy beach at the east end of the island, where there is a good swimming area, a sea lion colony and great snorkeling offshore. Walking along the 2 km. path of Punta Suárez, on the western end of Hood, you can find masked and blue- footed booby colonies as well as marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus Cristatus). The main attraction is the waved albatross colony (Diomedea Irrorata), do not nest on other islands. Also, just beyond the islands colony, there is a blow hole through which the waves force water spouts about 29 meters into the air. Here, lava lizards (Tropidurus Delanonis) can also be found as well as other important species of the island such as the wood mockingbird (Nesomius Macdonaldi), swallow-tailed gulls, red-billed tropic birds, oyster catchers and the large cactus finch (Geospiza Conirostris).
Well back on the boat things were variable, the food swung between very good to average, and there was not enough at some meals for all divers. Definitely not as good as good as Sea Queen or Sea Spirit. We also ran out of Coke Cola after about day three. Oww and the water cooler did not cool the fresh water...not a good picture really..a ten day trip seemed a very long time..plus while we were eating the nameless one would put on a Spanish language Dvd and take over the lounge. Also there was no attempt to mix with the divers...however I will say that the rest of the crew were great...Eric the waiter worked none stop..the Panga drivers were excellent and helpful. The transfers to the Panga were well organised. Louis the other dive guide was great to have around. Once the guides saw the divers in the water they let us dive with or without them. But asked people to stay in buddy pairs because of the Silkys..awwwwwww now they were fun !!!
DARWIN AND WOLF ISLANDS.
Wolf and Darwin Islands, sometimes called Wenman and Culpepper Islands, are two eroded volcanos located on a volcanic ridge (the Wolf-Darwin Lineament). Wolf island reaches a maximum elevation of only 250 m and Darwin only 165 m above sea level. The islands, though, are only tips of massive volcanos that reach over 1000 m above the sea floor. Both islands volcanos are now extinct, ranging in ages from 400,000 to 1, 600,000 years old.
So were where we..aw yes no coke to drink...average cold diving, a few fish..and it was overcast...well what happened next...well first the sun came out on the trip to Wolf which took about 12 hours. We woke up at Wolf after an over night sail..its quite impressive. Someone mentioned there were lots of shark fins in the water...funny thing is I have done a few trips but I have never seen lots of shark fins at the surface. Things were looking up. Well off we went...vis was good to average...current was whipping along and that was it, except for one thing –
Hundred of sharks...Big hammerhead schools..lots of a Glapagos Sharks..mean and big and lots and lots of shark action The pattern tended to be drop in. Drop fast. Crawl over and around find a rocks perch and hang on. Gloves are a must (you will need two pairs)..I went through one pair of light gloves and was on my second pair after the twelfth dive.
The buzz on the boat was very good..we had four top dive..the water temp had risen between 26 – 28c...I had bought my 1mm skin..so I took a load of weight off my belt and put my dry suit away..all I needed now was some coke to go with the rum I had..I will tell u now rum and fanta is horrible..ow and then we ran out of fanta..After one day at Wolf we do the 12 mile trip to Darwin…the Arch and Darwin itself are amazing.
We did eleven dives, even dive guides said there were lot of hammerheads about..they were wrong...there were hundreds...by dive eleven u could have got blasé. There were hammerheads below, above, two or three feet away...owww and five whale shark sighting...my first whale shark ..just came out of the blue straight at me. There is no doubt that the dive guided tried to find Whale sharks on every dive.
At this point one of our Panga picked up an Aggressor diver...someone asked him if he had any coke to spare on his boat, but he said no. It was not till the end of the trip we realised he probably went back to the Aggressor and said that there were some drug crazed Brits looking to score some coke on the Deep Blue..maybe we should have said Coca Cola instead.
After three days at Darwin we headed back towards the main group of Islands..a 14 hour trip.
We had two days of diving back in colder waters.
We did four more dives two at Cousins island Dive site, this Galapagos dive site is on the northwest side of Santiago Island; and this dive site includes diving on walls, slopes and ledges.
And two at Gordon Rocks Dive site, this Galapagos dive site is off the east coast of the Island of Santa Cruz is considered to be one of the best diving sites of the central group of islands.
These dives were not up to the standard of Wolf and Darwin…but we did have current so there was plenty of activity including Manta and Hammerheads
What can I say about Darwin..if you like Hammerheads..it the place to be.
We also saw lots of dolphin both from the boat, diving and on the safety stops.. Mullet, Grouper, King Angelfish: black colouring with vertical white stripes and a orange yellow tail. Usually found near rocks at most snorkelling sites. Creole fish: Red belly usually found by reefs such as the Devil's crown. Damselfish: yellow-tailed damselfish, sergeant major (yellow and silver body with dark stripes), giant damselfish (blue with large fins). Found throughout the whole archipelago. Flying fish. Usually spotted while cruising. Yellow-tailed Grunts, Moray Eels, Parrot fish: In the Galapagos, the types of parrot fish found are the blue-chin parrotfish, azure parrotfish, bicolor parrotfish, and the bump head parrotfish. There teeth have the form of a parrot's beal. Concentric Pufferfish: Puffed up and usually found in shallow waters, there skin is poisonous. Yellow-tailed surgeonfish: They travel in schools. Yellow Bellied Triggerfish. Wrasses: Rainbow wrasses with multicolor stipes, sunset wrasses with orange to pink heads, and streamer hogfish with bumpheads; these three are the most common amongst the many assortment of these fishes. Rays: Cow-nosed rays, manta rays, spotted eagle rays, sting rays. And many Sea Lions…I had my fins attacked on one dive and watched two seas lions take huge pleasure in ruining a great formation of small eagle rays.
Did I mention the silkies..well these little brutes like to play. Even with a cluster of divers we would have six or eight with us on the safety stop, the brave ones came in very close.
Buddy pairs..one of our divers got separated. He was adrift for a little while and was bump twice by Silkies and had 10 in all circling close. The Deep Blue provided locator beacons...which you are supposed to turn on after ten minutes if you are not picked up and cannot see a Panga. The dive guide who shall remain nameless forgot to mention the ten minute rule in his very poor briefing.
Deep Blue
Deep blue is a good boat. Very stable. If you put plastic bags in the ac vent, the cabins are warm and spacious..good dive platform, great crew...just check who the dive guides are..Deep Blue is cheaper than the Aggressors and Peter Hughes Sky Dancer...so maybe you gets what you pay for...just don't expect that to include coke..lol funny thing is I don't drink coke at home..unless its diet..but I like it on a dive trip.
Deep blue has nitrox..if you are not nitrox qualified...do so before you go if you can..its hard diving and very tiring..and the Nitrox definitely eases the tiredness.
We then headed to and visited the Darwin Centre on Santa Cruz, which is a really nice island and worth a visit..followed by a great night in a bar…
SANTA CRUZ ISLAND
This 986 km2. island is the second largest and the most populated of the Galapagos Islands Archipelago. Puerto Ayora is the main town on the southern coast of the Galapagos Islands. A 20 minute walk, northeast by road leads you to the Charles Darwin Research Station, which is one of is the main centre of research and conservation of the Galapagos Islands species, especially the 11 surviving species of Galapagos Islands tortoise.
Well it was the end of the trip…lol Just had a long flight home now.
As mentioned I stopped of in New York in a severe canning of the plastic..and a couple of very late nights. New York Girls are fun.
Finally
I cannot wait to get back to Wolf and Darwin, and plan to re-visit in June 2008. I would go on the Deep Blue again with different guides as she is a good boat.
The YD team due next year will have a great time I am sure…wish I could make it too.
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Don't fancy getting "the nameless one" much as a guide.
Reef Hook 
Originally Posted by adrianwd75 
