Our love of the Galapagos is part of the reason we’ve opened another company in Quito, Ecuador with our partner Ivonne Ledesma. Many of you remember Ivonne from your past trips to Ecuador. She will be handling all the inbound traffic and any tours and overnight accommodations needed by guests heading off to Galapagos. EcuaUltimate can set up any tours in and around Ecuador.

What will make these boats stand out over all the others?

1. Quality of the ships! All the cabins can be adjusted to fit either couples or singles. Of course there are NO bunk beds; bunk beds went out of style 10 years ago!
2. Price – at only $4500.00 per person with Free Drinks, and Free Nitrox and did I mention you’ll be sailing on Brand New Boats?
3. Crew – simply the best, friendly, professional and with plenty of dive experience.
4. Warming Area right off the Dive Deck. YES this is True Luxury, and will make many happy divers!

The boats will have 8 deluxe cabins, all with private bathrooms and showers. Every cabin is air conditioned. For the photographers in the group – a dedicated camera area. These boats are truly built with the diver in mind.

The itinerary will feature a minimum of 3 full days diving the fantastic waters between Wolf and Darwin islands. Ultimate Dive Travel is the most experienced scuba travel company in the USA to provide tours in this region, and we’re the only company with our own inbound tour company in Quito, Ecuador. This means we’re uniquely positioned to look over your every need from the moment you arrive until you’re safely on your way home again.

So what are you waiting for? Start calling us now about booking your next Galapagos Dive Vacation! Whale Sharks, Hammerheads, and Galapagos Sharks abound in these waters, guaranteed to be a photographer’s dream and sure to create memories that will last a lifetime!

Call (1-800-737-DIVE) or email us now about booking your next Galapagos Dive Vacation!

Things our divers need to know

Dive Conditions

Water Temperature – The range of surface temperature of the sea is from 18ºC to 30ºC. September to November are the cooler months, and February to April the warmest. Thermoclines are present, between 10 to 30 meters depth (30 to 100 feet) and the temperature can drop from one to five degrees Celsius.

Current – You will probably dive in the Galápagos in medium to strong currents. We understand medium currents to be between one and three knots (between 1 and 4 miles/hour or between 2 and 6 Km./hour), and strong currents are more than three knots (more than 4 miles/hour or 6 Km./hour). Galapagos diving can be tricky if you are caught in an unexpected current on the surface. Just relax, get positive buoyancy and call the boat (panga). If you are in a group, get close together. In the garúa season (from July to December) the Humboldt current coming from the southeast is present. In the warm season (from January to June) the Panamá current from the northeast arrives in the Galápagos.

Visibility – 100 feet or 30 meters of visibility is very normal in the Galápagos waters. You shall expect a visibility from 50 to 80 feet or 15 to 25 meters in most of the places. In some areas and in some seasons due to the richness of phytoplankton, visibility can be a little less. This planktonic algae is the first step in the trophic chain and is necessary to sustain all marine life at the islands.

Drift Dives – Many of the Galapagos Islands dives are drift dives. The group will enter and will be drifted down current. With medium currents, you should not wait more than a few seconds at the surface before descending, so you don´t drift from the group. During your dive the boat will follow the bubbles and will pick you up in the place you appear at the surface. Safety stops are often made in blue waters, swim away from a wall, so the pangas can come right to you.

Deep Dives – More than 20 meters or 60 feet is considered a deep dive. We make the deep dive first in the morning. Consider the possible thermocline and expect temperatures to be cold, use sufficient thermal protection and wear gloves to protect your hands from sharp Barnacles, attached to large rocks, we often grab to watch passing marine life. Often dives in the Galápagos are deep and wall dives, making Galapagos diving more complicated.

Night Dives – Night diving is not allowed by the Marine park reserve of Galapagos.

Dive skills

The diving in the Galapagos is for advanced divers and we recommend that divers have around 100 logged dives and did dives in different water conditions. Please note that safety is key. If you have doubts please ask your local instructor that is aware of the conditions in the Galapagos and is able to judge your diving skills or call us and we can talk about your experience. All divers should be able to handle rapid descents, diving in stronger currents and able to dive from a panga (small zodiac). Each group of 8 divers will dive together with a dive guide that is certified by the National Park Marine Reserve of Galapagos. Again safety is key and the dive guides have the final discretion about your ability to dive in the Galapagos waters. This is not a destination for brand new divers.

Dive Equipment

Due to the numbers of dive it’s mandatory to dive with a dive computer. If you don’t have one please contact our reservations department to reserve one. Of course our liveaboards offer a wide range of rental equipment and we highly recommend our revolutionary semi dry wetsuits that will make your experience in Galapagos even more enjoyable.

If your personal equipment fails during your trip our crew will make sure you won’t miss a dive and will complementary provide you with our rental equipment. We do have tools on board but in case of special equipment please make sure you bring your own spare parts such as batteries, o-rings etc.

Dive Safety Equipment

All our BCD’s are equipped with dive emergency horns and foldable stick with a dive flag (better know as SMB/DSMB). Aside from that our BCD’s are also equipped with an Nautilus Life Line, personal locator, that has a radio to communicate with the yacht and the Panga as well as an international distress signal. The Life Line has a display with the coordinates of your location. Please note if you dive with your own equipment we will provide you with these safety devices, and that in case of damaging or losing the safety devices we do have to charge these to your bill upon check-out.

Dive Tanks/ Air/ Nitrox/

On board we provide air and nitrox. If you are not nitrox certified please be aware that if requested upon your reservation we can arrange the nitrox certification on board. Our standard tanks are 80 cubic feet (12 liter). In case you prefer diving with smaller tanks 63 cubic feet (9 liter) or bigger tanks 100 cubic feet (15 liter). Please request this to our reservation office so we can make sure we have sufficient tanks on board.

Dive Dive valvesalves

All our valves are international (yoke valves). If you dive with DIN we do have those on board to accommodate this. Weight belts and weights are available on board.

Please Note

• To bring your certification card
• To bring the liability waiver and cruise application and give it to the captain
• Dive insurance is mandatory
• Dive alerts and SMB’s are mandatory
• Travel insurance is recommended
• Dive computers are mandatory
• Nitrox certification available on board with advance notification
• 63 and 100 cubic feet tanks available on board with advance notification
• To bring spare parts for your equipment