Most diving in the Galapagos is considered advanced due to the depths, currents, and temperatures. Before the guests completed even one dive, all gear was prepped and inspected for proper operation. Here is Jim with our local instuctor Pati reviewing a new full face mask that jim will use on his dives
When scuba diving in the Galapagos there are many regulations. The Park does not allow diving from any private vessels. This means all dives must take place from dive charter boats. The main islands have smaller day boats that you can hire to take you out for the day. The problem with the day boats is they cannot reach the outer islands. The outer islands like Wolf and Darwin are where the best diving takes place. In order to reach these islands our group chartered a live aboard dive boat that would shadow Warbird for the first half of the trip. This vessel is named “Majestic.”
The dive vessel “Majestic”
Along with the 8 crew members aboard Majestic we have two Dive Guides/ Instructors. Meet Pati (aka Stuka) and William !
Darwin’s Arch
Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat)
Sullivan Bay lava flow.
At last! Our communications have returned! Since our last post almost a week ago we have been without an internet connection fast enough to upload anything to this blog. We knew data signals would be limited, but not nonexistent. We are on day six of the trip since departing from Cristobal. we are happy to report that our Galapagos experience so far has exceeded expectations. The overall abundance of wildlife and scenic beauty is hard to describe. Most of the creatures here do not shy away from human contact, but in fact become curious. We have seen sharks, rays, turtles, sea lions, eels, red footed boobies, blue footed boobies, tuna, just to name a few. The scuba diving has truly been both world class and advanced. Each island is different than the last and each day is a truly new experience. We are not sure how long our internet connection will last. While we have it we will try to upload some snapshots of out adventure at the half way point. We apologize for the abrupt blog silence and hope to continue sharing with all!!
We are 24 hours away from the beginning of our Galapagos adventure. We have received our final itinerary and were able to place it on a nautical chart. The total 13 day cruise will take us to many different islands covering a total of 763 nautical miles. Each day is split into an AM and PM activity. These will mainly consist of scuba diving sites and land excursions. The line on the chart is our intended route. Most of the miles will be covered overnight so we arrive at the next days destination before sunrise. The park has very strict regulations on the movement of vessels. We have to stick to our itinerary by the hour without any changes. The park only wants a certain amount of boats at each site so the wildlife isn’t disturbed. Looking at the chart you will see the long line that goes to the upper left. This leg will take us 100 miles up to two small “rocks” called “Darwin” and “Wolf. These are considered to be two of the premier dive sites in the world. They are only accessible by the few live-aboard dive boats licensed by the Galapagos to make the trip. We will have one of these boats accompany “Warbird” for 6 days of our trip. More to come on that! We will post info on each site daily as internet allows. We look forward to transforming all of the months of planning into a reality!!!!
Warbird bids farewell to Jim Ambrogi
Night ops!
Are they happy or mad?
The Galapagos version of a homeless man!
We had a few stowaways on the swim platform the first few nights. What started out as cute turned into a bit of a problem when we woke up to 8 of them this morning!! We had to take some evasive measure to keep them in check!
Catching some rays!
We nick-named this little guy “Pedro.” He had a little eye infection, but still seemed to be in good spirits!
High tech “Border Wall!” Unfortunately, the Mexicans didn’t pay for this one!
Warbird would like to welcome Chef Lise back to the boat. Lise has been down for the count for the last 6 months after suffering a broken hip. This is her first trip back on the boat. Her great cooking and big smile was definitely missed!
