Skill Level for the Galagapos

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czuba - 11 Nov 2004 16:23 GMT

I have a question for those of you that have dove the Galapagos Is.

I'm currently planning a dive vacation for my husband & I to celebrate
him earning his Ph.D. I have been looking into the possiblity of the
Galapagos. So far, everthing I have read says "experienced divers
only", but I noticed from, well, experience that that word often means
different things to different people.

We live in Wisconsin and do dive fairly regulary (5+ dives between Apr
& Oct/ year)here when the water isn't hard, so we are used to cold
water, low vis dive environments. In the last two years we have made
trips to St. Lucia and Cozumel. We were both quite comfortable with
the drift diving w/ some cross currents that we experience in Coz, and
the surging we saw saw in St. Lucia. Additionally my husband did some
diving in Monterary, CA Apr 2004.

Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
over our heads.

Thanks in advance for your help.
-Christine

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Greg Mossman - 11 Nov 2004 17:20 GMT

> Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
> there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
> over our heads.

If you don't want to get in over your heads, you should stick with
snorkeling.

The water certainly isn't going to be as cold as midwest quarries or
Monterey. Expect mid-60s to low-70s depending on where you're diving (it's
a bit warmer up at Wolf and Darwin islands). There are challenging ocean
conditions, i.e. strong current and surge and big surface swells, but most
of the diving is find a spot and hold on to the rocks while you watch the
show. I don't think we got any deeper than 95', to see the red-lipped
batfish. The most challenging part might be climbing back in the zodiac
after you hand up your gear. It's not glamorous, but you can usually get
enough thrust to kick yourself up and then grab the ropes and pull yourself
into the boat and there's always a DM or fellow divers to help if you lack
the arm strength.

So with your experience of both cold and ocean conditions, you'll probably
be fine. If you had just done quarry diving before, it might be over your
heads, but you've experienced current in Cozumel. The main difference,
especially at Wolf and Darwin, is that it's not some flat Caribbean idyll.
We had 10' seas when we were there, so if bouncing up and down on the
surface waiting for your pick up freaks you out, it may not be for you.

Here's a shot of surface conditions at Darwin, for example:

http://users.adelphia.net/~gmossman/Galapagos/jpg_Diving_Darwin's_Arch.htm

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Nigel - 12 Nov 2004 01:38 GMT

> > Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
> > there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
> > over our heads.

Been there in '99. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that Galapagos
diving is different to what you could expect anywhere else in the
world. The conditions underwater can be challenging, to say the least.

There are up- and downcurrents, as many as five thermoclines on one
dive (lovely as you're coming back up!), and, as the previous poster
rightly said, topside swell can be interesting if one is not au fait
with it. The variety of life is excellent, both tropical and
temperate. Panamic green morays out in the open oblivious to all
divers. Fifty plus hammerheads circling a diver at a distance of ten
to fifteen feet. Shoals that blot out the sun.

The land trips hold a special memory for me.

All in all, it's a trade-off. The return is a beautiful set of
memories to be treasured for a lifetime.

To qualify my opinion, I can say that my yearly average is 74 dives
(over nineteen years), that I am a coldwater/drysuited diver used to
swells, currents, and RIBs - that's Rigid Inflatable Boats. Been to
four oceans and twelve seas, hence my appraisal of Galapagos as being
"different".

I mention this, not as an ego-booster, but to emphasise to you that I
do know where I am coming from, and that this post may serve as
helpful in your making the correct choice for you.

I will say that it would be a crying shame to visit this part of our
planet and not derive the best experiences from it. But to do so, one
should adequately prepare. Five dives in six months may not constitute
adequate preparation. Leaving aside fitness levels, the main advantage
of being thoroughly "dived-up" before such an expedition is that one
is totally familiar with gear/sea/skills.

You don't mention your experience level, but, and I am guessing here,
if you both are not Rescue Divers then completing that would be good
preparation for the trip, from a self-rescue point of view. Your
confidence would soar, and, should anything untoward happen, your
trained reaction would immediately kick in.

So it's your call. The above is an honest account with no
exaggerations. BTW I researched my trip, going on a ten-day liveaboard
"Mistral". Check out Quasar Nautica on Google for prices, then book
same through a local/semi-local operator. Should save some bucks that
way. Boat/food was lovely, three dives/one land trip a day.

As I said, it's a trade-off. The less prepared you are the more effort
the trip will require. Increased preparation will mean better returns.

Hope this helps.

Stay Wet

Seadeuce

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Greg Mossman - 12 Nov 2004 04:43 GMT

> Panamic green morays out in the open oblivious to all
> divers.

There's another danger I didn't warn about. It's definitely important to
check one's hand placement when crawling across the rocks. I looked down at
one point and saw my hand was only a couple inches away from a gaping
toothed mouth and I would have fed the monster had I continued my path in
oblivion.

Reply to this Message

H. Huntzinger - 12 Nov 2004 12:51 GMT

> > Panamic green morays out in the open oblivious to all
> > divers.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> toothed mouth and I would have fed the monster had I continued my path in
> oblivion.

Its not just Moray's...there's Scorpionfish too.

-hh

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H. Huntzinger - 12 Nov 2004 12:50 GMT

> > Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
> > there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
> > over our heads.
>
> If you don't want to get in over your heads, you should stick with
> snorkeling.

Many of the non-diving liveaboards do offer a couple of afternoons at
beaches where there's good snorkeling. Some boats offer free gear to
use (bring your own, including a shorty).

> The water certainly isn't going to be as cold as midwest quarries or
> Monterey. Expect mid-60s to low-70s depending on where you're diving (it's
> a bit warmer up at Wolf and Darwin islands).

True, although this still often means a FJ or Drysuit for many.

> There are challenging ocean conditions, i.e. strong current and
> surge and big surface swells, but most of the diving is find a
> spot and hold on to the rocks while you watch the show.

Generally speaking, its not too hard to get down...you just divebomb :-)

Holding on to the rocks definitely requires heavy gloves for protection,
and a tolerance for "washing machine" turbulence at times.

> I don't think we got any deeper than 95', to see the red-lipped
> batfish.

We hit 120-130 a couple of times. The batfish was one; there's also a
deeper tunnel at Wolf that's deep enough that most of the divers in our
group switched off of Nitrox back to Air to keep the PPO2 from spiking
too bad. I know that our one DM/cameraman/guide hit 150+ chasing deep
after some HH's.

> The most challenging part might be climbing back in the zodiac
> after you hand up your gear.

IMO, there's around 3 challenges to the dive exit. The first is getting
to the surface, as you need need solid free ascent skills -- there ain't
no anchorline to hold onto. Cheating by cueing your ascent rate off of
a nearby rockface works OK when there's no dangerous surface chop/surf,
so the deal here is to use it to ascend to 'shallow', and then swim away
from the rocks while doing your safety stop.

After doing your safety stop, you now get to do a surface float of 5-45
minutes while the chase boat finds you. BYO DiveAlert and Sausage; some
boats even issue EPRIB's. As Greg alluded to, the surface conditions
aren't glass, so you need to have gear that allows you to float without
a lot of effort...IMO, this is not really a place where you can roll
onto your back with a BP/W, and after 10-20 minutes after a dive where
you've been through the rinse cycle, this gets pretty fatiguing
quick...and expect conditions to include chop that breaks over your
head, so bring a snorkel along too.

[RIB reentry]:

> It's not glamorous, but you can usually get enough thrust to kick
> yourself up and then grab the ropes and pull yourself into the boat
> and there's always a DM or fellow divers to help if you lack
> the arm strength.

Hand the weightbelt, camera and gear up, but leave your fins on. Grab
high, dip down, pull, dip, pull, dip and pull and KICK and you can build
up some momentum to get a leg up 'n over and then roll gracefully in on
your a.s (watch hitting your head).

> So with your experience of both cold and ocean conditions, you'll probably
> be fine. If you had just done quarry diving before, it might be over your
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> http://users.adelphia.net/~gmossman/Galapagos/jpg_Diving_Darwin's_Arch.htm

Looks like a pretty nice day :-) One final hint: if you get a sharp
pain in your shoulder, before assuming its DCS, check to see if you've
been sitting on the same side in the RIB on every trip and holding on
with that arm that's now complaining.

-hh

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czuba - 12 Nov 2004 15:33 GMT

<snip some very useful info>
Greg,

> If you don't want to get in over your heads, you should stick with
> snorkeling.

I had a feeling I was setting myself up there.

Thanks for your response. The information is very helpful. The
surface condition information is particular useful. I'm not
particularly off put with the idea of 10ft swells, but it is food for
thought.

Thanks Again,
Christine

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Ramone Cila - 12 Nov 2004 21:57 GMT

> <snip some very useful info>
> Greg,
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Thanks Again,
> Christine

Christine, a lot of it depends on your itinerary. Roca Redonda is notorious
for being a difficult place to dive. I have been there only once when the
currents were manageable, all the other times it was hold on for dear life.
Darwin, on the other hand is usually gentle, but my last trip there the
current was raging and it was hand over hand on the bottom in order to not
get blown away.

After 4 trips to Galapagos the one thing I know is that the conditions
generally include lots of current, but the amount of current is
unpredictable. After having dived the Pinnacles at Wolf 9 times, on my last
trip I was picked up, pulled over the rocks and dumped into the Washing
Machine (others here will know what I am talking about) which is the one
occurrence you must avoid if possible. I did everything right...I stayed
close to the wall, I stayed deep so the wave action and current would not
get me, but on this trip there was a vertical current running and it grabbed
me and tossed me up and over.

I don't say any of this to scare you, but only to indicate to you that the
conditions there change dramatically and much of what any of us say is
limited in that regard. You could be there when everything is nominal or you
could be there when the seas and currents are highly active. I'm not sure
there is anyway to tell either because the crews often say last week it was
raging or last week it was clear and clam. It's just the ocean and the
Galapagos are right out there in the middle.

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Dan Bracuk - 13 Nov 2004 02:59 GMT

"Ramone Cila" <dontw@nt.spam> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:

:After 4 trips to Galapagos the one thing I know is that the conditions
:generally include lots of current, but the amount of current is
:unpredictable.

I've been to a lot of places and I think that current is sort of a
wild card in every ocean, including the Carribean Sea and Gulf of
California.

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

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Dan Bracuk - 13 Nov 2004 02:55 GMT

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:

:Here's a shot of surface conditions at Darwin, for example:
:
:http://users.adelphia.net/~gmossman/Galapagos/jpg_Diving_Darwin's_Arch.htm

Here is another one ==>
http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/other/Darwin.htm

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

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Dan Bracuk - 13 Nov 2004 02:53 GMT

czuba@charter.net (czuba) pounded away at his keyboard resulting in:

:Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
:there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
:over our heads.

Trip report here ==>
http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/galapagos.htm

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

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davis AZ - 16 Nov 2004 18:49 GMT

Question for the group?

I had been to Cocos and I suffered during the up journey. Once the
Hunter boat stopped I was Okay as they had Panga dive boats which
takes 5 to 20 minutes for any dive site.

My question is for people who dived Galapagos, the mother boat moves
around everyday and the zodiac takes to dive sites. A person like me
can be prone to seasickness more than the COCOS. So how should I
prepare for this trip and what season to avoid?

Thanks
Davis AZ

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hlongworth - 17 Nov 2004 21:23 GMT

> I have a question for those of you that have dove the Galapagos Is.
>.....
> Can you shed some light/your experiences with the dive conditions
> there? We are looking for challenging diving, but don't want to get in
> over our heads.

Christine,
We dove Galapagos Islands with the Aggressor in August 2002. I had
read about the challenging diving conditions there and spent at least
a year preparing for the trip (swimming, weight lifting etc.) along
with getting more rugged equipment (Kevlar-palm gloves and dry suit).
In looking back, the physical conditioning was needed not so much for
the diving but for the short bout with 'Montezuma's revenge' bug
(picked up on the second day by eating an unpeeled fruit at a fancy
hotel breakfast table!) and the high-altitude adjustment at Quito.
As other divers had posted, the current could be quite strong at
Wolf and Darwin. The best way to move around was by grasping rocks or
clawing the ocean floor. I had a bit of trouble getting down quickly
(not sure because of the high salinity, waves or just the thick
wetsuit - chose to wear 7mm suit + hooded vest instead of the bulky
dry suit for the low 70's temp). At one point, I came face to face
with a Galapagos shark at less than 10' below the surface and had to
exhale like mad trying to get down quickly. Getting back to the
Zodiac was not a problem (for 100lbs frame + maybe 30lbs diving gear)
but trying to surface swim back to the Zodiac against the surge was
enervating at times.
Amazingly enough, the dive master told us that he had a 70ish old
lady who did the trip with only the minimum new-diver experience (5
dives?). She got the diving lessons as a birthday present. She liked
diving so much and decided to go for the 'ultimate' Galapagos diving
experience after certification. According to Cris, she was quite a
trooper, never missed a dive and actually dove twice as often as other
divers. She was accompanied by the other dive master and both hovering
at less than 40' deep. Of course, the current was stronger so they
both got swept way past the group then they went back for the second
round!
In comparison with other challenging dive trips which I had
experienced (high waves, surge, extreme cold water), my Galapagos trip
did not stand out as a difficult one and the reward was right at the
top. We saw schools of hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, eagle
rays, golden rays and tons of fishes. The most memorable creatures
were the whale sharks (saw them 7 times in 5 days of diving - missed
two diving trips due to the aforementioned illness). We also had lots
of fun diving with the sea lions. They were everywhere, lethargic on
land but agile and playful like dogs underwater - kept circling
around, upside down and all checking us out! Snorkeling with
Galapagos Penguins was also great fun & of course the land tours were
incredible. I would come back to Galapagos Islands every year if I
ever win the lottery ticket or inherit tons of money ;-)

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