scuba diving information

Daily Diving Information Galapagos Scuba Diving Tours

scuba diving informationIf you are interested in staying in a hotel on Santa Cruz and just do daily dive tours, you are right on this site. Here you can find different daily dive tours starting from Santa Cruz to the surrounding dive sites. These dive sites have something to offer for each level of experience. You will reach most of the islands between 1 and 2 hours boat ride but first you will have to cross the highlands to the Itabaca Channel which takes about 45 minutes. The tours start in the morning and you will return in the afternoon to Santa Cruz.

Where and when

All day trips leave from Pto. Ayora, Santa Cruz Island crossing the highlands and then starting from the Itabaca Channel. Normally the tours start around 8h30am and, depending on the navigation distance to each site, you return approximately at 4h30pm.

What is Included

Dive gear (complete wetsuit, BCD, regulator with octopus, hood, scuba tuba, tanks, weight belt, gloves, mask, snorkel, fins and booties), 2 dives, Divemaster diving in the water with customers (max. Divemaster to diver ratio 1:6), transfers to/from the dive center in Pto. Ayora and the dive sites and drinking water. Programs outside the Academy Bay also include box lunch.
Information required before confirming a daily diving tour.
Safety comes first and therefore we require the following information about each passenger’s dive experience in order to make the program that fits the customer’s skills and interests:
What type of divers license (level and training agency)
How many dives
Date of last dive
Experience with drift and wall diving
Experience with diving in cold water and with 6mm wet suit
What would the customer like to see in the Galápagos
With this information we, can put together the program and the you are off to experience one of the most fantastic dive adventures.

The Dive sites for Daily diving tours

The Academy Bay area is a short navigation from the dive center. This area is great for introductory diving, beginner and intermediate divers. We usually request that each person spend a minimum of 1 day diving in Academy Bay to get acclimated to our water, thick wetsuits and the visibility.
We recommend that beginner certified divers do at least 3 dives in Academy Bay before heading to the more distant spots. The Academy Bay area is easy diving with very little current. The following are some of the Academy Bay diving sites; dive sites will not be specified when confirming an Academy Bay dive trip.

Punta Estrada

Sea turtle canyon in Academy Bay. Invertebrates, tropical fish, stingrays, green sea turtles; possible encounters with golden rays and some whitetip reef sharks. There are interesting geological formations here.

Caamaño Islet

Offers a chance to swim and play with friendly sea lions, many tropical fish and marine iguanas.

Punta Nuñez Cliffs

Wall diving with a cave. At this site, you can see turtles, stingrays, tropical fish, whitetip sharks and – occasionally – manta rays.

El Bajo

This submerged shoal at Academy Bay has an impressive amount of fish, whitetip sharks, morays, invertebrates, caverns, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles and sea fans. A great diving site for intermediate as well as for experienced divers.

Outside Academy Bay

The dive sites outside Academy Bay have navigation distances of between 20 to 38 miles. The approximate travel time is 1 hour to most sites. Galapagos Sub-Aqua always has at least three crew members on board when diving outside of Academy Bay(Captain, deckhand and dive master). These areas are spectacular world-class diving sites, best suited for intermediate to experienced divers.

Floreana

Enderby Islet, Punta Ayora, Champion Islet and Devil’s Crown are the dive sites where you will experience sea lions, turtles, exotic fish, thousands of tropical fish, barracudas, black coral, whitetip and Galapagos sharks, moray eels, some hammerheads and eagle rays. You will have an excellent opportunity for dolphin watching during the boat trip to and from Floreana. You will also enjoy watching the local marine and bird life such as sea lions, blue footed boobies, frigatebird, penguins and marine iguanas from the boat.

Gordon Rocks

Here you will experience turtles, big fish, hundreds of tropical fishes, hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, white tips, large morays, spotted eagle rays, golden and stingrays as well as fur sea lions. This is the best one day trip for experienced divers, when done in combination with Seymour or Mosquera Islet.

Seymour

Schools of hammerheads, loads of snappers and other fish, turtles, morays, manta rays and white tip sharks, sea lions, garden eels.

Cousins Rock

An intermediate dive combination of shoal and wall diving with sea lions, large amounts of fish, white tip sharks, hammerheads, eagle rays and manta rays. There is a breathtaking vertical wall with a profusion of black corals and other invertebrates. It’s possible to find seahorses and frogfish here as well. This dive site is always combined with diving in Bartolome.

Bartolome

Stingrays, turtles, white tips, plenty of fish, invertebrates and interesting rock formations with crevices. During the surface interval between Cousins and Bartolome dives, we snorkel to look for penguins.
Mosquera Islet

Largest colony of garden eels, mantas, sea turtles, white tips and maybe hammerheads schools and eagle rays, as well as plenty of tropical fish and sea lions.

Daphne Islet

Wall diving with morays, white tips, eagle rays, stingrays, sea lions, Galapagos sharks , hammerheads, turtles, black corals and many other invertebrates, and hundreds of fish.

Santa Fe

Easy diving with little current. Whitetips, turtles, stingrays and occasionally a couple of hammerheads. snorkeling with sea lions at surface interval.

Guy Fawkes

Combination of wall and shoal diving. Great side for seeing a lot of sea horses and fishes. Whitetips , sea lions, turtles, Galapagos Sharks.

Included in the price:

All transfers from/to Puerto Ayora, box lunch, multilingual dive master guide, diving equipment, purified water free for drink.

Not included in the price:

Flights mainland to/from Galápagos USD 420.-, Galapagos National Park fee USD 100.-, Hotel Accommodation, tips, personal items, transfers and meals not detailed in the itinerary, International flight airport tax (USD 41.- per person).
Departs:
Daily