GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
The Galapagos Islands; world renowned by divers and non-divers alike. Diving there is on almost every diver's bucket list, and in 2016 I was lucky enough to cross it off mine. I was able to join a weeklong liveaboard on the Humboldt Explorer.
I was living in Australia at the time, but the last dive shop I worked for in Canada was
hosting a trip to go. I found out about it in 2015 and signed up right away.
Liveaboards in the Galapagos are very expensive, and this trip was - and honestly still is - out of my budget. However, it was an amazing opportunity to join divers I know, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. While I do hope to go again one day, my budget probably won’t allow it. I also figured since I was flying all the way from Australia to Ecuador, I'd travel around Ecuador for a bit before the liveaboard. So, on November 9th, 2016, I landed in Quito, Ecuador.
I spent the first week and a half exploring Ecuador. If you ever have a chance to go, I advise it. The Andes make for amazing hikes and stunning scenery. There are cute tiny villages all over, and the architecture in the cities is beautiful. The people are friendly, but in many villages they don’t know any English, so be sure to brush up on your Spanish should you ever go. One thing I forgot to take into consideration though, was the cold. All the places I visited were up in the mountains, and the elevation makes it very cool at night. While I did bring a hoodie and a light raincoat, it definitely wasn’t enough in the evening.
On November 20th I arrived back in Quito and met up with the group from my dive shop. They were all staying at a hotel, while I (true to my usual travel style) was in the dorm of a lovely hostel, called Community Hostel. We all met up for dinner and good, excited conversation. The next morning, we met up again at the airport. We left Quito and briefly stopped in Guayaquil to pick up more passengers, then onward to San Cristobal.
San Cristobal is the second most populated of the Galapagos Islands, and hosts the capital of the archipelago, Puerto Baqerizo Moreno. There are only two airports in the Galapagos, one here and the other on Baltra Island. You can only fly to these airports from Quito and Guayaquil, no international flights are allowed there. From the tiny airport we had a shuttle waiting for us to take us to the docks. We had some spare time at the docks before small shuttle boats brought us to the Humbolt Explorer, our home for the next seven nights.
Once we were all onboard and our luggage stowed in our rooms, we did a quick 22-minute test dive. The dive was only 6 m deep and was just to ensure all our gear was good to go. I’m not even sure I would call the area an actual dive site; just an area near the marina but away from boat traffic. As the sun began to set, we went through a thorough safety briefing, then we were off.
The boat was full with sixteen excited divers. I shared a room with two twin beds with a nice lady I hadn’t met before. Each room had two people and its own bathroom. The lower deck, which I was on, had four rooms for us guests, and the rest was for crew and the engine. The main deck had two “master bedrooms”, the galley, dining area, the “saloon” or living room, and the dive deck. Finally, the upper deck was the sun deck. It had a half roof and was open on the sides. It also had a bar and a hot tub. I don’t recall anyone using the hot tub, but we certainly used the bar! For the most part our travelling was done at night so during the day we could dive. There was some transit during the days, but not much.
Our first full day on the ship started with two dives at a site called Punta Carrion, which is just off Baltra Island. All the dives during this trip were done with nitrox, somewhere around 32%. To get from the liveaboard to the actual dive location, we were split up among two zodiacs. We geared up on the dive deck and then crew helped us climb onto the zodiac. It was a short zip out to our dive location, then a backwards roll into the water. I was wearing my drysuit with a lighter layer underneath, as were a few others from my shop, but most people opted for wetsuits. I was at a very pleasant temperature for the dives, so I would definitely take my drysuit were I to go again. One of the guys was only wearing a 3 mm and he was also comfortable, so it really just comes down to your thermal characteristics though. I also wore a hood and was the only one to do so. I tried without it for one dive and was more chilly than I’d like to be, so put it back on for the rest of the dives.
These first two dives were with exactly 32%. Both dives were just under 30 m deep, one for 50 min and one for 45. The dives were easy and we saw rays, and, most notably, a white snouted searobbin, which is apparently fairly uncommon. However, these weren’t the pelagic dream dives we were waiting for. That would start tomorrow.
In the afternoon, instead of diving we did a land excursion to North Seymour Island. This is a small island uninhabited by humans. We walked around the island seeing some of the iconic
Galapagos critters and plant life. We saw many blue footed boobies, including some still in nests, all sorts of huge marine iguanas, and my favourite, seals! For the most part the creatures we encountered didn’t care about us. Because the area is entirely protected, all these birds, reptiles and mammals have grown to not be afraid of humans, meaning we could get up close for photos. We even came across a baby seal, that was likely only a day old. The momma didn’t worry as we knelt near her and her baby to get a closer look. I’ve never been able to get so close to so many wild animals before. It was utterly amazing to see firsthand the results of fully respecting nature.
That night we had a long and bumpy journey to Wolf Island. The weather out in the middle of the Pacific was rough. This was my first experience being out completely in the open water, so far from any land or natural barrier. The waves didn’t concern the crew, but I was lifted about a foot out of my bed as we crashed over one particularly big wave. Despite the rough seas we were all still up early and ready for our dream dives to finally happen. A few people onboard had gotten badly motion sick through the night, but I’m lucky to not have issues at sea.
Wolf Island and Darwin Island (which we would go to the next day) are the two furthest islands in the archipelago. Neither allow any human visitors on the land, so the only people who go out this far are experienced divers. Because they are so far away from everything, there is some serious current and depth which brings along the pelagic (or open sea) life we hear of when we talk about the Galapagos. It is here you see the schools of sharks and rays. Here is where the whale shark and mola mola thrive. Here is where our Galapagos dreams would come to life.
Our first day at Wolf Island we did four dives at two different dive sites; Landslide and Shark Bay. All our dives here had heavy current. I've done many drift dives before, but none like this. Instead of allowing the current to send us where it will, we descended and tucked behind some rocks and held on and watched all the life go by. The marine life did not disappoint. There were schools of hammerheads circling all over, countless eagle rays in huge schools making the current look like it wasn’t even there. Galapagos sharks darted all over, and nothing seemed concerned that we were there. Every so often we would let go of our rocks and let the current take us down further. As we sailed with the current we saw morays poking their heads out, assorted nudibranchs and even a seahorse! All over there were also endless schools of assorted fish. These dives were what we’d dreamed of.
The next day, we did two dives at Wolf Island. These were similar to the day before; lots of current, and schools of sharks and rays. This time I saw a turtle and a few lobsters when we let the current take us further down the site. After these two dives, we had lunch while the boat moved on over to Darwin Island. All our dives at Darwin Island were done at the site Darwin’s Arch, now called Darwin’s Pillars as on May 17th 2021 the iconic namesake arch collapsed. I count myself very lucky to have seen it while it was still standing.
All the dives at Darwin Island had an even stronger current. Again, at this location there were endless schools of hammerheads, huge groups of eagle rays, Galapagos sharks, and so much more. Even though we were holding onto rocks to prevent us from sailing away from each other, all the marine life looked as though they could sit perfectly still with no effort. It was magical.
The following day was all Darwin Island. During one of the dives the current pulled me away from the group. During my time alone I had a hammerhead and turtle get up close and personal with me. It was great! I guess with all of us in a group they gave us a bit more space, but by myself they wanted to visit. I did end the dive early as I was concerned our guides would worry about me, but I would have loved to stay down with them for hours. Between dives that day we jumped on the zodiac to get close to the arch. We all got some good photos and video of the landmark.
Overnight we moved back to Wolf Island. In the morning we did one dive at Elephant Rock, and another at Landslide. At Elephant Rock we had two different currents mixing, so there was a stunning and distinct strip of beautiful blue current and a strip of green nutrient rich current. It was amazing to see how the two currents came together but their water didn’t combine. Back at Landslide during our safety stop we had a friendly seal darting around us. The little guy was having a great time showing off for us, and we were having a great time filming him.
After our two dives we jumped on the zodiac and went on an adventure into a cave. The zodiac zoomed up to a tiny barely noticeable hole in the side of the island, and in it went. As the zodiac slowed and entered, the ceiling was low, so we all had to duck down. Then the cave opened to a large cavern. We used our dive lights to see in the blackness of the cave. The water here was a clear pure and perfect blue and there were stalactites and stalagmites all over. It was breathtaking and totally unexpected.
For the rest of the day and overnight we slowly headed back towards the rest of the archipelago. Our journey was coming to an end. By this point my dry gloves were in ruins. They were torn in a dozen places from holding onto all the rocks in the high current around Wolf and Darwin Islands. I would recommend wet gloves for anyone else going. In the morning we did our final two dives at a site called Cousins Rock, which is near Santiago Island. There was no current here, allowing for an easy couple of wall dives. Here was saw rays resting in the sand, a cute little octopus and sealions.
After these two dives we headed to Santa Cruz Island where we went ashore. Some of our group were doing an extended land trip in the Galapagos, so those people took their luggage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford the additional excursion, so I was just on the island for the day. During that time however, our group headed to Charles Darwin Reasearch Station, a tortoise sanctuary in Puerto Ayora. Here we saw endless giant Galapagos tortoises in their natural habitat. They were huge! Way bigger than me, and again like all things Galapagos, they didn’t care at all that we were there.
After that we had a final dinner together as a full group in Puerto Ayora. We exchanged contact information and reminisced on our epic journey together. Those of us that weren’t going on the land excursion then headed back to the boat. Overnight the boat slowly moved back to San Cristobal. In the morning we said our final goodbyes to the Humboldt Explorer and her crew and headed to the airport. This was a trip I'd never forget.
