 Your underwater adventures aboard the Galapagos Eco Explorer I will encompass everything from sharks to nudibranchs, penguins, blue-footed boobies and more. The islands are best known for amazing shark diving around Wolf and Darwin Islands, and your trip will include an opportunity for at least twelve dives in this area. These small and remote islands are best reached by liveaboard vessels for divers. Your diving experience here will always include Galapagos sharks, silky sharks and lots of schooling hammerheads being cleaned by king angelfish. Seeing marine turtles, schools of tuna, eagle rays, sea lions, and penguins is very common and seeing a whale shark is very possible from June through November. Occasionally, divers can experience a tiger shark, black and blue marlin and even killer whales. All the islands you travel to are amazing sites for underwater photographing.
 Macro photographers will have their fill of sea horses, frogfish, arrow crabs, cup coral, coral hawk fish, and many others. An abundance of rays are at many of the dive sites (including spotted rays, marble rays, golden eagle rays and stingrays) along with sea lions, sea turtles schools of grunts and snappers. The variety of life in these water is unlike any other place, with thick schools of the native brown stripped salema, snappers, groupers, Chevron barracuda and huge sea turtles.
 There are also many unique things to view on land. North Seymour has the largest colony of frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies anywhere in the world - if that isn't enough to take in, there are also marine and land iguanas and colonies of sea lions. A visit to Bartolome Island will give you an opportunity to snorkel with Galapagos Peguins, the only penguins found north of the equator - they are small and very tolerant of humans. And of course, a trip to the Galapagos would not be complete without taking time to watch their most famous inhabitants - the giant tortoise!
Make your reservation today for a once in a lifetime experience in the "Enchanted Islands."
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Galapagos
- Itinerary: 8 day/7 night
- Departing: San Cristobal/Baltra on Monday
- Accomodates: 16 passengers in 9 air-conditioned staterooms
- Water temperatures: Vary greatly, range from 65 degrees F to 85 degrees F, depending on currents, season and location
- Visibility: The average is around 40 feet, but can range from 10 to 80 feet depending on season and currents
- All diving done from the pangas
The Galapagos Eco Explorer I, launched in early 2007, is a large and stable 16-passenger power catamaran, custom-built for divers visiting the Galapagos. Departing each Monday on 7 night/8 day itineraries, the vessel offers from 3 to 5 dives daily. Large, comfortable staterooms are located on the main and upper decks; each has extensive storage and a private bathroom and seating area, with large sliding windows offering a panoramic view. The exquisitely appointed interior includes a larger dining room and salon; an open-air salon on the upper deck, as well as the expansive sundeck above, provide more areas to relax. All diving is done from large, stable pangas (tenders) in order to facilitate dive planning and site selection.
Days aboard the Galapagos Eco Explorer I generally involve an early morning dive followed by breakfast, 2 dives before lunch, one in the early afternoon and a possible night dive.
Optional island nature tours and hikes will be offered during the week on board, at all islands except Darwin and Wolf, where land access is not allowed.
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