WHY THIS TRIP
This is the perfect trip for divers to get in a day or more of Scuba diving before joining a naturalist cruise, multisport adventure, or other trip in the Galapagos Islands. You’ll have daily excursions to fantastic diving sites with loads of incredible wildlife, and nights in a comfortable hotel in the lively town of Puerto Ayora.
TRIP DESCRIPTION
Scuba Diving in the Galapagos is known as some of the best diving in world, but access to dive sites is limited by the Galapagos National Park. Diving is not allowed from a naturalist yacht trip, and the very best diving is only accessible for intermediate and advanced divers on a week-long live aboard dive cruise (our top recommendation for this is the M/V Galapagos Sky).
If you’re interested in doing a few dives, but not a week-long dive trip, then this is the trip for you! You stay at a hotel on Santa Cruz Island for a few nights, and you go diving during the day, taking a boat ride out to underwater sites to see the incredible marine wildlife.
It’s really easy to add this onto a naturalist cruise or land-based multisport trip. We recommend diving before the rest of your trip, rather than after. The reason for this is that you shouldn’t fly on an airplane until more than 24 hours after your last immersion.
This trip can be 3, 4, 5, or 6 days long. On any of these lengths of trip, the first day you will either arrive in the Galapagos, or arrive from another island or trip and spend the night in the town of Puerto Ayora.
On the last day of any of these lengths of trip, you will have breakfast at your hotel and then have a transfer or speedboat to meet up with your next trip or travel to another island. Therefore, on a 3 day trip, you will have 1 full day of diving; on a 4 day trip, you will have 2 full days of diving; etc.
For each full day of diving, you will be picked up at your hotel in the morning, and taken to the boat where you will meet your dive master and naturalist guide, and the rest of your fellow divers. You’ll have two immersions each day, with plenty of time to experience the incredible marine wildlife of the Galapagos Islands.
Common sightings on dive trips are reef sharks, sea lions, sea turtles, marine iguanas, tropical fish, eels, sting rays, sea stars and other invertebrates, and more. Penguins are possible to see, but are only found in specific sites. It’s also possible to see hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, and wale sharks, but these are rare.
Please note – Diving in the Galapagos is not great for beginners. We highly recommend that you have your Open Water Certification and some dives under your belt before you dive in the Galapagos. Currents are strong, and the water is cold, so the diving can be challenging. It’s possible to get certified in the Galapagos, or to do some beginner dives, but the diving at the really easy sites isn’t great.
We recommend taking this trip before you go on your cruise, or join a land-based multisport adventure. It’s not possible to depart the Galapagos the day after diving, because you need at least 24 hours between your last dive and your flight. So it fits with your overall trip better if you go diving before the rest of your trip starts.
LOCAL OPERATOR
Andean Travel Company was set up in 2001 as a tour operator specialized in Incoming Tourism and focused on providing unique itineraries and services that surpass expectations of the most demanding customers.
Strong foundations based on respect and cooperation have ensured a steady growth of the company, both in size and reputation. Nowadays, Andean Travel Company arranges all services for travelers from around the world so they can enjoy and get to know the diversity of the vast destinations that South America has to offer.
The main compromise for Andean Travel Company is to work in the field of sustainable tourism and interact with communities in conservation projects, coaching it’s members and sharing their knowledge about preservation of natural resources.
With that in mind the company offers this approach as part of the interaction with the local communities in lodging conditioned to serve with high quality services and strong conservation policies, ensuring the decimation of unfavorable impacts on the nature surroundings.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.