Galapagos Sky and a trip of a lifetime for Lee
The Galapagos – so exciting all I could think of before I went was sharks, sharks oh and more sharks but here I am – I’ve been and gone and I’m back. And it was as amazing as I thought it would be! I had a great time, met great people and enjoyed some fantastic diving.
My day started early for my departure to Heathrow. I’d already checked in on line and bagged my seat so only had to make my way to the bag drop, deposit my bag and that was it, the adventure began. After a short flight to Madrid, I changed flights onto Guayaquil. My luggage had been checked straight through so this left me time to grab a coffee and relax before boarding the onward flight. Before I knew it I was in Guayaquil (actually about 12 hours later but who’s counting) where I was met by the representatives and transferred to the Hotel Oro Verde. This is just a 15 minute ride away. After a quick bite to eat and a read through the welcome card left for me by Galapagos Sky it was time for bed. The following morning I was transferred from the hotel back to the airport where I was met by the boat representatives. They had my boarding card ready so off I went to the check in lounge for the final part of my journey to The Galapagos. The flight is a short 1.5 hours and went really quickly and before I knew it I was disembarking in San Christobel. You can only imagine how excited I was at this point – at last I was really there – I had reached The Galapagos.
I made my way through the Galapagos Park check in area. This is where you pay your park fees and meet the guides from Galapagos Sky. How fantastic! They collected my luggage giving me chance to meet the rest of the group. After a short (5 minute bus trip) we were at the waterfront where our Pangas (zodiac/ribs that we would dive from) were waiting to take us over to Galapagos Sky. Once on board we had a quick drink, our luggage was delivered, we were advised of our cabins, introduced to the rest of the group and then set our kit up, a quick bite to eat and it was off for the check dive.
Galapagos Sky’s check dive is at an area known as Isla Lobas, and this provided us a with a fantastic opportunity to check our kit, sort out our buoyancy and play with the sea lions. They seemed to join in the dive with us, always there and happily playing with everyone’s fins. They are so graceful and quick under water. It was amazing to watch. This was one check dive I really didn’t want to be over.
Divers are divided into 2 groups for the week, the Sharks and Dolphins. You stay within your group and the guides Natasha and Fabricio alternate between groups. A great idea as you get the experience of both and never miss out with each group taking it in turn of being first in. Once your kit is set up that’s it for the week. You have your own station where you can leave everything and each group has it’s own box for your fins, which are passed onto the Panga’s for you, as are camera’s
Day one’s diving completed and after a great dinner it was time for an early night, ready to start diving in earnest tomorrow. Our first ‘proper’ diving was at North Seymour, where we had an unusually mild current, although we still managed to see eagle rays, white tip reef sharks and sea lions. A short crossing to Baltra Island enabled the boat to be refuelled and then we were off to Bartolome Island. Here we had the opportunity to snorkel with Galapagos penguins before going ashore and climbing to the top of the Island. At all times we were accompanied by Fabricio, our dive guide and naturalist for the week.
Having sailed over night we woke the next day at Wolf Island – this is where we were hoping for the big stuff and lots of it!!! 4 dives later I wasn’t disappointed. We’d seen a large school of hammerheads (my first encounter with them …… how amazing), lots of tuna, jacks, several Galapagos Sharks, hundreds of tropical fish (although I do have to admit I really wasn’t paying attention to them!).
The next couple of days were spent at Wolf and Darwin where we were really hoping for a sighting of whale sharks and we weren’t disappointed. Between the group we saw 16 whale sharks – ranging from small (approx 4mtrs) to large (approx 12mtrs). They are so majestic as they appear out of now where and just sail past you. Words can only just begin to explain how fantastic these couple of days diving were… black tip sharks, more hammerheads, white tip sharks, a couple of bull sharks, eagle rays, large turtles, wahoo and huge schools of tropical fish. Darwin’s Arch definitely goes down as my favourite place to dive. Everywhere you look there is something to watch and in large numbers – this was heaven.
From Darwin we sailed back to Cape Marshall on Isabela Island (approx 18hours) and did what felt like a very calm and quiet dive, although we still saw yet more eagle rays, white tip sharks and turtles although it wasn’t anywhere near as adrenalin packed as the previous dives we’d encountered. The afternoon was spent on Puerto Egas on Santiago Island where we had a chance to get up close with some of the land species, hundreds of marine iguanas lay basking in the sun, alongside sally lightfoot crabs and sea lions soaking up the sunshine, all the time accompanied by Fabricio. He is a font of knowledge and it was really interesting to hear about the natural plant and animal life on the Islands.
All too soon it was the last day of diving and we were at Gordon Rocks, a partially collapsed volcanic crater where we experienced our last 2 dives of the week. These were amazing with schooling hammerheads, golden rays and white tip sharks. On our safety stop we were joined by a couple of friendly sea lions that kept us entertained and certainly passed the time. Although I must admit I am genuinely upset that I chose to dive not snorkel (I never thought I’d say that!) as one of the group decided to snorkel and spent 20mins in the company of a whaleshark while we were happily diving below and didn’t even spot him! How frustrating…
The last night came round way to quickly for me. The week had been phenomenal. I dived with a great group of people, stayed on a wonderful liveaboard, where the crew were fantastic who couldn’t do enough to help and enjoyed the best diving I have ever experienced. Every time I think of The Galapagos now I smile. I have some great memories and experiences and can thoroughly recommended it. Yes the diving can be ‘difficult’, you do have current to deal with but the sightings made it all worthwhile, my only question really is when can I go back…..!
