Galapagos Aggressor III Liveaboard
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.
