Dive Review of Humboldt Explorer in
Galapagos Islands/Trip to Darwin's Arch

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Humboldt Explorer: "Galapagos Islands - Bucket List Trip", Mar, 2018, by Louie Tonry , TX, US ( 1 report with 2 Helpful votes). Report 10643 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	So, the basic information is that Galapagos diving isn’t for everyone. There are strong currents. All the dives are drift dives. The water is brisk, and a 5-mil suit is necessary. Many people wore 7-mil suits. Gloves are a must. This is the only place I’ve every gone where you were instructed that you had to have gloves. The reason is that on many of the dives you needed to hold onto rocks to stay in place. The wonder of this place is that there are TONS of sharks. The Hammerheads were present on every dive. There were also Silky and Galapagos sharks. There were also many, many fish, eels and nudibranchs. There were sea lions and a huge pod of Bottlenose dolphins. It was very impressive. The dive operators did a really spectacular job in ensuring safe diving. When we got further out in the archipelago, we were provided with GPS transponders and air horns on our high-pressure hoses. No one got lost! The dives were done from a Zodiac using a back roll into the sea. Only 8 people went in each boat and of course the dive master. When we returned to the Zodiac, the boat operator took cameras, weight belts (pockets) and your BC. Then you could either do a slide over the side or climb the ladder. I always climbed the ladder. The only comment I would make regarding the entry into the water is that it is important to not hyper-extend your back when entering the water. The idea was we all went in at the same time and would immediately drop to 30 feet to group together. My error was I’d go over the side and immediately twist around to get into a head-down attitude to begin to descend. This move did end up causing me some back pain. If I had put my arms around my knees and rolled, I wouldn’t have had the problem. Lesson learned. The other amazing thing about this trip was one of our dive masters was also a naturalist. She was incredibly knowledgeable and took us on two island tours: one to see the Blue Footed Boobies and Frigate birds, the other to see the massive Galapagos tortoises. The interesting thing about the birds is since they have NO natural enemies, they have no fear of people. Photography was wonderful. The only thing that I wasn’t too happy about is the food on the boat was good, certainly not bad, but not excellent. Breakfast was pretty much the same each day. There wasn’t a great selection for lunch and dinner. Overall, this was a really great trip.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Great Barrier Reef, the ABC islands, and all over the Caribbean.
Closest Airport	San Cristobal	Getting There	Fly from DFW to Quito Equator then on another flight to San Cristobal
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	surge, currents
Water Temp	65-75°F / 18-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Enforced and needed. Rather strong currents so getting separated wasn't a good idea.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	When I went, the visibility wasn't the greatest for stills. Video photography was much better especially for the sharks. There were a great number of other opportunities for stills though where you could get closer to the objects so the visibility wasn't as critical. Macro work was really good though a bit trick with the current but there was lots to shoot.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Humboldt Explorer in Galapagos Islands/Trip to Darwin's Arch

Humboldt Explorer: "Galapagos Islands - Bucket List Trip", Mar, 2018,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Humboldt Explorer in
Galapagos Islands/Trip to Darwin's Arch