Galapagos Islands

[boydski]

We just returned from two weeks in Ecuador and an incredible ten day charter in the Galapagos Islands.

The extra days on the live-aboard ( Galapagos Aggressor 1 ) allowed us to visit some rarely dived sites on the West Coast of Isabella island. Punte Vicente Roca was amazing, with penguins, hundreds of turtles and rays, Mola Molas, diving Comorants, sea lions, swimming iguanas, red-lipped batfish and Lush, coloful walls.

The extra days also allowed us to get nine dives in at Darwin Island and we were fotunate to swim with Whale Sharks on 7 of those dives (sometimes we'd see two or three per dive). Darwin's Arch has to be one of the best dive sites in the world (if not THE best). Ripping currents and heavy surge make it challenging, but the amount of marine life there is simply staggering.

Other highlights from the trip were dozens of Manta Rays at Cabo Marshall, friendly spotted eagle rays at Wolf Island and the usual assortment of sharks, dolphins and enough fish to completely block out the sun on several dives. Here are a few teaser photos:


Young Whale Shark at Darwin's Arch


Spotted Eagle Rays at Wolf Island


Hammerhead Shark at Wolf Island

More photos can be found at http://www.boydski.com/diving/trips/Gal ... /index.htm

You should definitely plan on diving the Galapagos Islands at least once. This was our second trip and it just gets better every time we go.

[Zen Diver]

Wow, simply stunning Scott.

-Valerie

[spatman]

i'm so jealous. i'd better start planning (and saving for) a trip in a few years...

[Ken G]

Great Shots. Thanks for sharing with us. It is a dream of mine to get down to Galapagos someday.

[Joshua Smith]

That looks freakin' amazing. Thanks for showing us those pics, Scott!

[Tangfish]

As always, Scott, fantastic shots. One day....... !

[Jan K]

As they say in Ecuador: FANTASTICO! Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos,for the time being, I will just dream about Galapagos looking at your gallery

[WylerBear]

WOW!!!!! Beautiful photos as always.

[Scubak]

Wow!!!
I am so jealous...as this is one of my "dream trips"...
And beautiful photos as always...
Thanks,
Kirsten

[4ster]

Great pictures, thanks for posting.

My favorite dive trip was on the Galapagos Aggressor II. Every dive was fantastic. If you go, make sure your live aboard has Darwin and Wolf islands on the itinerary. I had one dive at Wolf island where I could have just turned the video camera on and not bothered to frame anything, everywhere there was something happening from sharks to turtles to rays. Amazing. And the whale sharks at Darwin....

It is an expensive trip....but it is a great value. Go if you can.

Steve

[BDub]

Wow. Scott, those pictures are amazing!

[boydski]

Thanks for all of the positive comments!

To reinforce Steve's comments - we went on the Galapagos Aggressor II four years ago, and on the GA I for this trip. The boats are identical, and the crews switch back and forth frequently, so the level of service on both is top notch.

The Galapagos Park Service is slowly, but surely, restricting diver access to many of the park resources. For example, we were allowed to snorkel with the Penguins four years ago, but this is no longer allowed due to the endangered status of the birds. This trend will likely continue, so plan a trip to the islands sooner rather than later if at all possible.

As I indicated above, Darwin is my favorite site. Wolf used to be a close second, but this trip was eclipsed by Punte Vicente Roca. If your budget allows you to get on one of the ten day trips (they typically are only allowed one per boat per year), I highly recommend it. I could have spent a week on the west coast of Isabella and never been bored!

BTW, there are still a lot of penquins swimming around at Punte Vicente Roca that very rarely see divers so do sometimes get curious.




The wall at Punte Vicente Roca on the West Coast of Isabella Island.

[Tom Nic]

I could have spent a week on the west coast of Isabella and never been bored!

WOW! That wall looks fantastic!

Yeah, I bet I could spend a week on the west coast of Isabella and never get bored! Of course I dive at TTN all the time and never get bored either!!

Scott, could you give us a few details about the Agressor? Nitrox? Was this a tech friendly trip? Were you on Al 80's the whole time or did you have access to steels? Did you dive your own profile or follow a DM?

[boydski]

Scott, could you give us a few details about the Agressor? Nitrox? Was this a tech friendly trip? Were you on Al 80's the whole time or did you have access to steels? Did you dive your own profile or follow a DM?

Hi Tom,

I'd love to give more details. Everyone on the boat was diving Nitrox. The boat has a membrane system and they charge $150 for "all you can eat" Nitrox. All diving was done with Aluminum 80s.

The Park Service requires that you have a DM in the water with you, but they are very good about allowing everyone to dive their own profiles. Dives are supposed to be limited to 45 minutes, but we often went for an hour or more and they didn't complain a bit, even when the DM had to surface before we did due to lack of gas.

We occaisonally had to push our partial pressure limits while chasing whale sharks, and the DM's were right there with us (even at 140 feet). I found the DM's to be a huge asset. They would typically station one up-current and one down-current at Darwin, so you get a head start on notification when a whale shark swims by. Chasing whale sharks for photos is gas-sucking, exausting work that will make your dive computer very angry at you. The only time I wished that I had a larger tank was when the third whale shark of the dive came swimming by and I was down to 500 psi in my tank (can't miss those photo ops!).

One thing I did forget to mention is that the live aboard Big Blue has hired one of the Aggressor's best Dive Master/Naturalists and tasked him with bringing their service level up the same standard as the Aggressor boats. So they may soon be an additional option for those heading down to the Enchanted Islands!