Galapagos - a story from Anders Salesjö

A diving trip to the Galapagos

"In the middle of November, we were 16 expectant travelers who left a windy and rainy Sweden. We flew to Ecuador for a diving trip out to the Galapagos. We were there for a total of 12 days; five land-based days followed by a week live board on the Galapagos Master liveaboard. For the vast majority of us, the Galapagos was a dream destination that we had long hoped to experience someday. Well in place on San Cristobal Island we immediately went out to a local beach called Playa Loberia. It felt almost like a fairy tale as we immediately found sea lions, marine iguanas, beautiful red crabs and various fearless birds. The days continued in a similar fashion. In addition to beach life, many of us also took the opportunity to experience Galapagos large adult land turtles.

After a couple of days of snorkeling, some of us felt that we wanted to go below the surface properly. So we therefore booked scuba diving at Kicker Rock just outside of San Cristobal. We were surprised by how chilly the water was. But we quickly forgot the cold as we saw plenty of Galapagos sharks and sea turtles. Some of us were even lucky enough to see lumpfish.

On board the Liveaboard

After these days on land, it was finally time to set out the Galapagos Master liveaboard. We headed straight north towards Darwin and Wolf Islands. Up at Darwin we had some great dives. Hammerhead and Galapagos sharks were plentiful. Visibility was unfortunately not the best and the whale sharks were unfortunately absent. We therefore decided to leave Darwin earlier than planned and instead went down to Wolf Island. There we were welcomed by large groups of dolphins that we saw from the surface. Down in the water we had hammerhead sharks, silky sharks and galapagos sharks. After Wolf it was off back south, down towards the biggest Island; Isabella.

On the northwest side of the island is Punta Vicente Roca. Here some of us got the absolute best dive of the entire trip: four large lumpfish at the same time! They were completely fearless and visibility was really good. The lumpfish congregate at this location to be cleaned by grooming wrasse. This day started absolutely fantastic and it continued in the same spirit. The next dive was at Douglas Cape on Fernandina Island. Here everyone had the opportunity to experience marine iguanas grazing on algae underwater. They were completely fearless and you can push the camera right up in their face without them caring in the slightest.

Summary of a diving trip to the Galapagos

In conclusion, we probably pretty much agreed that it was a diving trip to the Galapagos that was just as amazing as we all had imagined in terms of wildlife. Even if you are a die-hard diver and perhaps mainly think of a diving trip to the Galapagos, an unusually large part of the treasure is the wildlife on the shore and on land. The diving is superb, but relatively demanding, often with very strong currents. Galapagos definitely does not offer tropical, relaxed diving in crystal clear waters, despite the fact that the archipelago is located in the middle of the equator. The low water temperature and limited visibility mean that diving conditions are actually more reminiscent of Swedish summer diving than the tropics.

However, the constant presence of sea turtles, sea lions, marine iguanas and sharks makes diving in the Galapagos truly unique! Something that simply has to be experienced!" By marine biologist, underwater photographer and Scuba Travel ambassador Anders Salesjö.

Next time it might be your turn to go on a diving trip to the Galapagos! Contact Scuba Travel with your request.