Galapagos Aggressor III

Firstly, a representative greeted each passenger at the Guayaquil airport - which is very helpful! My Spanish is terrible, and Ecuador isn't Mexico - not nearly enough tourism or economic overlap to bridge the language divide here. (It's not impossible, but Guayaquil is not like big American tourist towns.) From there we were herded over to the small plane, reserved as a group, to take us to Isla San Cristobal. I could go into tons of detail about the port town - Puerto Baquerizo Moreno - but suffice to say it was clean, quiet in its own little bustling way, and very pleasant.The Aggressor yacht was about what I expected, nothing more or less - roomy dive-deck where we all set up our rigs for the week, with stowage areas for gear, a smallish camera table with some shelves and a compressed air gun by the main cabin door, and an enclosed battery-charging station/closet with multiple US-style outlets.The cabins were decently sized, with comfy bunks and enclosed shelving for personal items, clean bathrooms and lots of air conditioning. The main lounge was a little tight but very comfy, with videos, books and plenty of dry snack & candies. The crew clearly knew little English, but were very helpful and friendly. The food was what I expected from my liveaboard experiences - excellent and filling.I won't go into a dive-by-dive description, but an overview:The waters are temperate, which some might say means "cold", but actually in the middle; about 65-75F, depending on currents & thermoclines. The last day at Punta Vicente Roca was the coldest, at about 60F or so; most people were cold in their 5mil suits with no hoods, but I wore a 7mil and a hooded vest underneath as I like to stay warm for the whole week - which I recommend. Better to be a little warm at first, since you'll do a lot of diving and will get progressively colder. Temperate water also usually means poorer visibility, which ranged from 60' on a good day to about 15' (at Isla Wolf - which also thrashed us with powerful surge). We didn't hit any massive currents, like I've experienced at Cocos, but it can happen anywhere so bring strong legs and strong fins.All diving is done from Zodiacs, so gear is doffed before hauling yourself out of the water - which can take a few tries, to the amusement of everyone. It's Adventure Diving all around, which is what I liked best about it.As for wildlife, we saw pretty much everything you would hope to see (though photography proved very challenging and frustrating due to aforementioned conditions). Whalesharks, Galapagos sharks, hammerhead schools, marine iguanas, penguins, massive mola mola, seahorses, Galapagos horned sharks, sea lions, stingrays, eagle rays, batfish, sea turtles like an infestation, orcas, octopus, & almost every other fish imaginable. Even some pea-sized nudibranchs. It's one of the most jam-packed, vibrant areas I've seen, much to its reputation.My "overall value" rating is less than perfect simply because it's very expensive and more logistically involved than most other destinations. Also, as a native California-coast diver who has dived the Channel Islands, Mexico, Cocos and the Revillagigedos, the topography and conditions presented by the Galapagos are frankly nothing new. Still awesome, but nothing new; I feel that land-locked or tropical dwelling folks will get the most benefit and enjoyment from this region. I doubt I would return unless I wasn’t paying for it, but not because of the boat, crew, fellow divers or Ecuadoreans – the waters and topography are just too similar to my local area to justify the expense a second time.

Dive guides are exceptionally outstanding, very knowledgeable and professional. They take care of the needs of every single one diver in the group, including the one who has special needs. Even when we were out on excursion on the second to last day, they had special arrangement for the pangga and bus just for that one diver. Choice of food was diverse and fantastic, not boring at all. It's the best liveaboard I have been on so far.

The Aggressor II sails from Baltra, which is a small island located north of Santa Cruz. We were greeted at Baltra airport by Walter and Ruben who would be our dive guides for the week. The yacht was anchored a short drive from the airport.The dive deck was clean and spacious. It has 2 fresh water showers for after dives, separate rinse tanks for cameras, storage area under each divers' station for your dive equipments and sufficient space for all divers to kit up at the same time. Adjacent to the dive deck, there are camera tables, battery charging stations, warm towels and tea/ coffee making facility. Very handy for some of the shorter surface intervals.There is a library of books, DVDs and Blu-rays in the air-conditioned lounge. There are Galapagos wildlife and marine ID reference books which were very helpful.The guest rooms are sufficient but not luxurious in terms of space. The rooms and toilets are clean, hot water shower works and beds were comfortable. Our large suitcases were stored elsewhere on the boat and there is a small wardrobe in the room for clothes etc. Basic toiletries, robes, bath and hand towels, drinking water bottle were provided. The crew leave chocolates and biscuits in our room everyday!There are fresh fruit juice, cereals, muesli and fruits that you can help yourself to for breakfast. Pancakes, french toast, bacon and eggs are available as well. Lunch comprise of a starter, a selection of local and international dishes served buffet style and dessert. Dinner is a sit-down 3 course affair, starter, main and dessert. Some of the highlights were a BBQ, roast turkey, grilled slipper lobster and some popular Ecuadorian dishes. There are light snacks and warm drinks after each dive. The food were delicious and the portions generous. There are fresh fruits, chocolates, candies and various snacks available in the lounge at all times. Did I mention that sodas, beer and wine are available at no extra cost?Each diver was issued a dive flag, air horn and ENOS GPS diver locator. There are 2 dive guides for all 15 of us on this trip. One guide would lead and the other follow at the end. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive at first but there was not one dive where I felt unsafe. When we surfaced after each dive, the panga was never far. Most of the 9 men crew would always be on deck to help us get in and out of the pangas and help with our cameras and equipments. Both our guides, Walter and Ruben were attentive and were always ready to answer any questions we may have. All crew were very knowledgeable of the area and are the friendliest and warmest lot i've met on a liveaboard so far.Some of the best dives we had on this trip were at Wolf Island, Cabo Marshall and Punta Vicenta Roca. There were a lot of hammerheads and galapagos sharks at Wolf and Cabo Marshall. We saw lots of mantas, eagle rays, large schools of salemas, barracudas, sea lions, seahorses and white tip sharks at Cabo Marshall as well. There were a few mola molas, red lipped batfish, galapagos bumphead sharks, marble rays, sea lions and cormorants at Punta Vicente Roca. I really liked Aggressor II's itinerary and felt each day's diving was better than the last. 2 land trips were included in the trip as well.One of the big plus diving with Aggressor in Galapagos is you get 35kg allowance for check in luggage for your domestic flight to Galapagos. Aerogal only allow 23kg per passenger. Overall, my friends and I were very satisfied and would not hesitate to dive with Aggressor again.Total dives: 21Water temp: 17 – 26CRecommended for: Experienced divers with 100+ dives or moreDive conditions: Mainly drift dives, blue water safety stopNitrox highly recommended

Diving on a live aboard in the Galapagos should be considered to be on everyone's bucket list. I returned here after a decade away.The boat is great and the accommodations are comfortable but not lavish. My son and I had plenty of room for sleeping and storing our clothes. Room care was great. The food was very good. In the top quartile of liveaboards that I have been on. They had great snacks after diving which is always appreciated.Diving is now very restricted so liveaboards cannot dive in the central islands, only the north. The north includes Bartolme, northern Isabella, Fernandina, Wolf, and Darwin. We started out with a couple of days in the Bartolme area which is famous for its view. The diving in that are is full of fish and turtles. Of course, the core of the trip was in Wolf and Darwin. The Wolf conditions were quite harsh and challenging. Even at 60 foot depth, the surge was upwards of 10 feet so it was very hard to hold on. Hammers were in abundance though, so it was worth the effort.The highlight was Darwin. We saw a pair of orcas which came right along side our boat. We saw hundreds of dolphins surrounding the boat. And we got to see whale sharks underwater. And then of course we saw hundreds of hammers above and below us as well as Galapagos sharks and silky sharks. The silkies can be a little scary as they circle you whir waiting for the boat.In general, the water temperatures and visibility are not too bad. The exception are the dive sites on the NW corner of Isabela where it is freezer cold and visibility is very low. Fortunately you see lots of cool things like giant seahorses. The picture I have of the seahorse there is the most popular photp I have every taken.This is just an incredible experience for anyone who likes to dive and loves nature. From the moment you arrive and get on the boat you will have fun. It really does not get any better than this.