Your Travel Experience with Galapagos PRO
Day 1
Arrival to San Cristóbal
Morning:
You will be met at the airport by your tour guide and escorted to the ship. On board, the staff will show you all the services on board and cabin assignment will take place.
Test dive in front of Lobos Island
Afternoon:
After lunch, there will be an equipment check and a personal meeting with the dive guide to discuss the details about your diving experience. This is followed by a safety briefing and emergency drill with the yacht crew. The check dive will take place at Lobos Island where you may see whitetip sharks, sea turtles, rays and schools of reef fish.
In the evening there will be a welcome cocktail and introduction of the boat crew, followed by a first dinner on board.
Day 2
Test dive in Punta Carrion
Morning:
Punta Carrion is located on the island of Santa Cruz. Sometimes we get lucky and see mola molas here. It’s a good first dive to acclimatize to Galapagos diving.
Dive in front of Seymour Island
Afternoon:
Seymour is an island known for having great dives. Sightings include mobulas, white tip reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, sometimes Hammerheads and many fish species.
Day 3
Dive in front of Wolf Island
Full day:
Wolf is one of the reasons Galapagos is on most divers’ bucketlist. Scientists have designated Wolf and Darwin (together as they are so close together) as the sharkiest place on earth because they have the largest biomass of sharks on the planet, 17.5 tons of sharks per hectare (2.47 acres). Only divers visit Wolf. There is no chumming in Galapagos. This is where sharks come naturally. There are no land visits. Wolf is located 115 miles north of the central islands.
Sightings include huge schools of Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks,Whale sharks (in season), Silky sharks, Eagle Rays, Sea Lions, Fur Seals, Mantas, Turtles, Jacks, Trumpetfish, Butterfly fish, Morish Idols, Moray Eels and Dolphins. Some sites at Wolf are covered in coral and all of the tropical fish species that live on coral reefs. Dive sites include Shark Bay, The Landslide, La Banana and Islote La Ventana. On the island itself, there are hundreds of thousands of seabirds including all 3 types of boobies in Galapagos – Red footed, blue footed and Nazca. There are frigates, pelicans, lava gulls and red billed tropicbirds.
Day 4
Dive off Darwin Island - El Arco
Full day:
Darwin’s Arch is an icon, the symbol of diving the Galapagos. It is located 229 km / 142 miles north of the central islands. In addition to Wolf, this is where we find massive schools of Hammerheads. Huge, pregnant Whale sharks pass through Darwin each year for reasons unknown. Darwin is the warmest dive site in Galapagos due to the tropical Panama current. You spend a lot of the dive stationary, on a platform that drops into the blue where Hammerheads swim against the current. It’s like being on the side of a Hammerhead highway watching traffic pass. You leave the platform to swim out into the blue when a Whale shark is spotted. That sometimes means swimming through the Hammerheads, a truly magnificent experience you will carry with you forever.
Day 5
Dive off Darwin Island
Morning:
Darwin Island - We have 2 more dives in Darwin in the morning.
Dive off Wolf Island - (El Anchorage)
Afternoon:
Wolf Island - In the afternoon we have 1-2 more dives at Wolf. There is an optional night dive at the Anchorage dive site. Anchorage has a sandy bottom where you may see garden eels and red-lipped batfish.
Day 6
Dive off Isabela Island (January - May)
In the following months we have special routes according to the months listed below:
January - May:
Full day: Cabo Marshall is located on the eastern side of Isabela Island. Giant mantas, large schools of barracudas, Galapagos sharks, Sea Lions, Flightless Cormorants and enormous schools of Black Striped Salemas in Galapagos. These tiny fish can be so numerous, a diver inside the school cannot be seen, only the bubbles rising above the school. 4 dives at 2 Cabo Marshall dive sites.
Dive off Fernandina and Isabela Island (June - December)
In the following months we have special routes according to the months listed below:
June - December:
Morning: Cabo Douglas (Fernandina Island). The westernmost island in Galapagos, Fernandina is an active volcano. It has erupted twice in the last decade. It is the ‘hot spot’ in Galapagos. This is the only site on liveaboard itineraries where you can see diving Marine Iguanas feeding underwater. You also see Penguins feeding on tiny silver Sardines using schools of Black Striped Salemas as cover. Turtles are especially abundant at Cabo Douglas which is probably why this is a likely location to site Orcas.
Afternoon: f you look at a map, Isabela Island looks uncannily similar to a seahorse. Punta Vicente Roca is located on the northwestern side of Isabela just below the ‘mouth’ of the seahorse. Isabela has 5 active volcanoes. Punta Vicente Roca is a Mola Mola (Sunfish) cleaning station, has large turtle populations, the endemic Galapagos Bullhead shark, Penguins, Sea Horses, Sea Lions and many species of fish not found elsewhere in Galapagos. It is not uncommon to find yourself diving with an endemic Flightless Cormorant.
Day 7
Dive off Santiago Island - Cousins Rock
Morning:
Cousins Rock - Cousins is a small rock, the remains of an eroded crater that juts out of the sea. On the east side, the rock slopes down in a series of recessed ledges, with black coral underwater, bright green. In the corals you can find the following: Seahorses, frogfish, octopus, turtles and the elusive longnose hawkfish. It is not uncommon to see pelagic animals such as manta rays, eagle rays, mobulas and hammerhead sharks off cousins. Sea lions and fur seals can also be found at Cousins. 1-2 dives depending on the mood of the divers.
Shore leave on Santa Cruz Island - Highlands / Puerto Ayora
Afternoon:
We disembark and travel to a reserve in the Santa Cruz highlands to see the legendary Galapagos Turtle in its natural habitat. After the highlands, we descend to the largest city of Galapagos, Puerto Ayora. Our farewell dinner will be at a restaurant in Puerto Ayora.
Day 8
Departure from San Cristóbal Island
Morning:
After breakfast, disembarkation on San Cristobal Island for the return flight to the mainland.