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Unfortunately, no. I actually asked that very question of our naturalist guide today. He told me that back in 2005, scuba diving was offered on Xpedition. Back then they had a dive master onboard and the ability to refill scuba tanks with a compressor. According to our naturalist, government regulations now require that only boats dedicated to diving can offer diving.

We did an afternoon snorkel this afternoon at 2:45pm. We saw several sea turtles feeding which was pretty cool. I will post those photos later. Soon thereafter we did another zodiac ride at Punta Moreno (Isabela Island) to close out the day. The other option was to do a short walk over a lava field which we passed on. Although a zodiac ride sound kind of tame, it never disappoints as we saw a lot of impressive stuff including swimming iguanas and this huge iguana colony located on a rock. Here are some photos:

We are underway to our next stop at Isabela Island to do some snorkeling. Here is a view from our starboard balcony:

The zodiac ride this morning started at 8:30 am so we were able to sleep in a bit. The zodiacs took us past lava flows and into several mangrove areas around Elizabeth Bay (Isabela Island). The water was very calm and clear. The ride was quite peaceful. We say a lot of wildlife including for the first time: flightless cormorants and Galapagos penguins.

Yesterday took a lot out of me as we did 2x hikes + 2x snorkelling + 1x kayaking at Floreana Island. When you get back on the ship after each excursion, there are multiple Celebrity personnel welcoming party waiting for you with smiles. Crew to assist you with climbing back onto the ship, someone to instruct you to stand with shoes on their welcome mat moistened with disinfectant, a person to collect your life jackets, someone to assist with getting your snorkeling equipment cleaned, and an crew member who hands out the cold moist face towels. Then you go up to the Beagle Grill which is one deck directly above the receiving area for some food and refreshments (although yesterday I wanted an IV).

Here is our Expedition Director, Cristina Bonilla, at her desk right outside Guest Relations on Dec 4.

Another photo from yesterday’s late afternoon walk. This is a day at the beach for our cruise.

Very astute question. I will get a photo of the ladder from above and below water. The ladder is located on the port side of the zodiac near the rear close to where the pilot stands. My wife had a little trouble getting back into there zodiac after yesterday’s long snorkel around Champion Island. She’s done it a million times because we have done many dives from a boat. This one time yesterday was a problem. She said that it was due to getting too much help as the guide and zodiac crew were all giving her commands at the same time. I also will try to photographically document the entry and or exiting of a zodiac during a wet landing. This is done on either side of zodiac but near the front. There is a wooden one step ladder that they hang on the port side near the front. Long legged agile people don’t need the ladder and they get back on the zodiac from the starboard side. Getting back into a zodiac during a wet landing has its moments and has some similarities to getting back in after snorkeling. Yesterday we had a young woman who fell onto the sand and water while trying to get back on.

Here are the slides that were presented regarding the activities on Isabela Island tomorrow:

Today's late afternoon hike to us to a beach where we saw several sea turtles chilling on the sand. Once we got back to the ship, we were treated to yet another beautiful sunset. Today's activities really wiped me out physically. I was barely able to make it through tonight's presentation about tomorrow's activities.

At Floreana this morning, we took a Zodiac ride to see wildlife, got off at the beach (wet landing) to see the famous post office. We then did some snorkeling and then kayaking. The sun was out which made for a beautiful day but it quickly sapped your strength as well as the soft sand which made it difficult to slog over to the post office. Although I didn't get any good photos, we saw rays, sea turtles, and sea lions swimming around us. We have to get ready for our afternoon snorkeling around Champion Island activity. Here are some pictures from this morning.

Dinner is usually 730pm. A couple of times it is 7:45pm. Here is a link to the schedule for our entire sailing: link

One of the things that impressed me with our sailing is that Xpedition circumnavigated Kicker Rock today. The timing and ship's route was such that we were given views of the beautiful sun setting between the two main rock features that make up Kicker Rock. It was like a Galapagos Stonehenge moment. We were all encouraged to go out on deck to watch Kicker Rock. My wife and I watched it from the public area on Deck 5. With the small number of passengers on board (47), it was easy to find a nice quiet spot for viewing.

This morning we saw one of three breeding centers in the Galapagos for Giant Tortoises.

So we had our informal Cruise Critic roll call gathering this morning. @rickb (Rick and Laurie) are the only other two people on this sailing's roll call. I sat next to Rick yesterday on the zodiac ride back to the ship and we talked a little. Neither one of us at the time recognized each other. However we both figured it out this morning and made a point of seeking each other out while we were lining up to be called for our zodiac. So I'd say the informal and impromptu Cruise Critic gathering took about 1 minute long before we went on our separate zodiacs. However it was enough time for me to give Rick and Laurie their Meet and Greet name tags. Here is the 4"x3" name tag design (front and back) for this sailing:

Here is today's talk about tomorrow's activities at Floreana Island. It will be a busy day. A couple things to note: 1. Celebrity provides the post cards in case you want to participate in the tradition of dropping off a post card (no postage stamps needed). You can pick one up, if you like, to personally deliver it to an addressee near you. 2. There was some confusion on my part on how to sign up for one of the limited spots available for kayaking tomorrow that I want to pass along. When this evening Floreana lecture was over, you could walk up to any one of 3 Celebrity people on the ship to sign up for the different excursions at Floreana. However only one of them could take your name for kayaking--that was Cristina, the Expedition Director, who was seated at her desk just outside of Guest Relations. So by the time I lined up in the correct line, the first 16 spots for the 8:15 am kayaking was full and Cristina was now taking names for the 16 spots for the alternate kayak time of 10:30am. BTW, the 10:30am kayaking was only offered if the 8:00 spots were all taken.

According to our welcome letter that was in our Xpedition Suite, we are entitled to these two perks: 1. One complimentary bag of laundry (20 items max) per guest. This is a perk for being in suite. 2. One 30 minute complimentary massage per guest. This is a perk for being Captains Club Elite. I was permitted to "give" my wife my free massage so she was able to book a free one hour session for herself.

All 3 of yesterday's activities went well. The snorkeling was good, but the visibility was not impressive to me--something like 20 feet. We saw 2 sea turtles, a dozen spotted eagle rays, and half a dozen sharks. There were several schools of fish, too.

A couple photos from today:

Here is the orientation lecture for tomorrow.

There are variations in the different itineraries, but there appears to be some overlap

The "experienced" description caught my eye, too. But during the kayak part of the briefing, we were told that "experienced" = you have done it at least once before. It has been a great day today. I haven't felt this tired since we did a 3 tank dive at the Great Barrier Reef.

Here is today's lecture on snorkeling and kayaking. One thing note, because of the limited number of kayaks, they can only take 16 passengers per kayak excursion. It sounded like they will make sure that the opportunities are distributed evenly for those that want to do it.

This was last night's talk about today's activities at South Plaza and Santa Fe. It discusses the landing site, the terrain, what you are going to see, and the schedule for getting your snorkel gear.

This morning's walk at South Plaza Island was 1 mile long over rocky terrain. It was another dry landing. More birds, iguanas, and sea lions. The naturalists are very good and patient.