Galapagos

[smokinmike]

Anyone with experience diving liveaboards there?  Thinking of a January/February timeframe and 10/11 days as opposed to a week.  Opinions on operators welcomed - accomodations, operational aspects, staff, cuisine, etc.  Also, please let me know how you would rate the difficulty of the diving itself in terms of current and water temps.  Very familiar with drift diving and the currents around Cozumel and St. Lucia.  I have a 7mm suit, hood, and gloves - don’t like the stuff but I have it.  Never used a reef hook and line or done a negative entry but I can practice that stuff the next time I go to Coz. Any pointers are welcome. 

 

Thanks!

[jamacka]

Sorry, this is too late probably.  You've probably gone and returned by now. 
I can only answer your question with a "I heard it from a friend who has never actually been there" response. It was actually my cousin who is an experienced diver and has done dives in many places around the world.  My husband and I are headed to Galapagos on Celebrity Xpedition in November 2019.  She told me that she has heard that the current is quite strong in Galapagos and that divers need to pay attention to location, especially if it is not a drift dive that you are on.  Also, she said the water is not warm like Caribbean water (I was not expecting it to be warm) and that wet suits are highly recommended.  I believe Celebrity provides shorty wet suits.  When I found this post I was actually looking for information on whether or not people wore anything under the shorty wet suits (other than bathing suits, of course).  My cousin recommended a Thermocline Fourth Element shirt  or even a hydroskin layer under for added warmth.  We wont be doing any scuba on this trip although we have scuba in Jamaica and Bahamas.  For those dives we only wore a rash guard.

I hope you had a good trip if you made it there.  If you could let me know how you found the water and if you would recommend we wear an added layer under the wet suits, it would be greatly appreciated.

[bbwex]

Like the previous response, this is likely too late to be of any value.

 

The waters around the Galapagos are quite cold due to a cold water upswell.  We did some snorkeling and though others new to snorkeling thought is was great, I was fairly unimpressed.  You would be able to dive with penguins and lots of turtles, but the growth on the bottom is fairly uninteresting.  I snorkeled once, and that was it.  The boat I was on only had a wet suit jackets, and that left me a bit chilly.  As stated, there are some strong currents as well.  To my mind, and this is coming from someone who has been diving, mostly in the Caribbean, since 1966, I would skip the liveaboard or any other diving, and use my time to go to the Galapagos to see what's on the surface.  That is what is truly most amazing down there, and I wouldn't trade the week we spent down there for anything.  Save the diving for a more interesting place.

[smokinmike]

Thanks for the replies . . . 

 

I haven't been to the Galapagos yet - this trip will be in the future.  I'm still trying to get views on specific liveaboards that operate in the area because that seems to be the way to dive most effectively.  For now, I'll be training on negative entries and the use of reef hooks while on Coz in November and December.

 

Thanks again - if anyone else has any other input regarding liveaboards that operate in the Galapagos, please relate your experience.