Hi SD fans, and welcome back. We are all longing to jump on an airplane and jet off to some
tropical warm-water destinations, and more and more locations are opening up and travel
restrictions are being relaxed, so today I am going to be giving you a whistlestop tour
of the Galapagos, surely one of the most-famous ‘bucket list’ dive destinations on the
planet. For those here for the first time, my name
is Mark, I am the editor-in-chief of the Scuba Diver media brand, and welcome to the Scuba
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more content for you to enjoy. Now, let’s dive into the video!
The Galapagos Islands almost need no introduction – even new divers will have heard of the
phenomenal diving opportunities that exist at this truly iconic destination. The Galapagos
Archipelago is a group of 18 major islands, three smaller islands and some 107 islets
and rocks that lie about 600 miles west of South America, and they are renowned for their
large number of endemic species, many of which were studied by Charles Darwin during his
second voyage of HMS Beagle. The islands are volcanic in nature, and in June 2018, Sierra
Negra, one of five volcanoes in Isabela, began erupting for the first time since 2005.
The undoubted stars of the Galapagos are Darwin and Wolf, which lie to the north of the main
collection of islands. At these remote outposts, you can expect to be sharing the water with
schooling hammerheads, marble rays, Galapagos sharks, silky sharks, sea lions, barracuda,
and occasionally whalesharks and even orca. Another top dive site is Cabo Douglas off
Fernandina Island, where you can dive with sea lions, Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas
and flightless cormorants. As you can tell, diving off the Galapagos
is characterised by encounters with the big stuff, so it is proper adrenaline diving.
There are few places in the world where you can be buzzed by so many pelagic creatures
– I have even heard people describe the never-ending wall of hammerhead sharks as
a sort of ‘moving wallpaper’ behind the whalesharks and manta rays. Incredible.
On paper, the Galapagos is one of the more protected places on Earth. In 2016, Ecuador
created a marine sanctuary in the area of Darwin and Wolf that includes 15,000 square
miles as off-limits to all fishing to conserve the sharks that congregate there, and the
ecosystem that supports them. Some 32 percent of the waters around the Galapagos Islands
are now supposed to be protected from fishing, but they are still under threat from foreign
fishing fleets which are targeting the pelagics living in their waters.
The Galapagos offers awesome diving all year round, but from June to November, when the
water is cooler – between 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit – you can expect more whaleshark
encounters, and from December to May, when you get warmer, clear water – between 70
to 86 degrees Fahrenheit – you will encounter larger schools of hammerhead sharks, manta
rays and eagle rays. It is always difficult to judge what exposure
protection to wear in the Galapagos, as you can hit thermoclines and different temperatures
as you move around to different dive sites, but a 5-7mm full suit is recommended. I’d
suggest taking a 3mm hooded vest with you that you can use to layer up as and when you
are diving in a colder spot. Diving in the Galapagos can be extremely full-on,
with strong currents to contend with, and choppy surface conditions. All diving is carried
out from dive tenders. I’d say you want to be a reasonably experienced diver to get
the most out of your time in this legendary location.
We have teamed up with Aggressor Liveaboards for this series of short video tours around
some of the world’s best diving destinations, and here in the Galapagos they have the Galapagos
Aggressor III, which offers week-long charters running Thursday to Thursday that take in
some of the best dive sites around this iconic location. Expect four dives a dive – two
in the morning and two in the afternoon – plus two night dives and two land excursions per
week are on offer. The Galapagos Aggressor III is 100 feet long,
and has eight staterooms for its 16 passengers. It has a large salon, spacious sun deck, shaded
cocktail deck, bar, grill and hot tub. There is so much more to the Galapagos than
we have shown here, but it gives you a taster for this fantastic diving destination. Have
you dived the Galapagos? What were some of your most-memorable moments? Leave your comments
below, and if you have a question, fire away – if we can’t answer, maybe someone in
our community will be able to. Remember, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe
to our YouTube Channel, and check out our playlist for more educational, informative
and, hopefully, entertaining videos. As always, stay safe – and if you are going
diving, enjoy!