Galapagos Dive Sites

Dive Darwin offers specialised itineraries to stay 4 or 5 days with the Whale Sharks and Hammerheads at the optimum time of the year so if they are there we WILL see them!

Saturday Morning:  Arrive at Baltra, Galapagos    The flight from Quito (via Guayaquil) to the Galapagos islands is approximately 2 ½ hours on a Boeing 727. Upon arrival at Baltra travellers pass through an airport inspection point to insure that no foreign plants or animals are introduced to the islands and to pay the park entrance fee of $100. Your dive master, who are also naturalist guides of the Galapagos national park will meet you, collect your luggage and escort you on the short bus ride to the harbour. Motorized rafts, called ‘Pangas’ will transport you to the Mistral and our crew will welcome you onboard.  After departure and lunch, your checkout dive will be made. 

North Seymour Island (equipment test)    Check out dives are very important; you will be surprised to discover you need more weight in the Galapagos Islands. This check out dive will take you to approximately 50 feet alongside a short wall. Lots of reef fish to be found here along with thermo-clines, Scalloped Hammerheads and yellowtail grunts. 

 Cousins island Dive site This Galapagos dive site is on the northwest side of Santiago Island; and this dive site includes diving on walls, slopes and ledges.  Here you will see a wall full of Galapagos ‘endemic’ species, black coral with lots of life on it, sleeping Green Sea Turtles and the biggest Sea Horse of the Pacific - more than 10 inches long.  You are likely to encounter small schools of Hammerhead Sharks, Eagle Rays and very often-Pacific Barracudas; but for sure, one of the most incredible experiences will be seeing playful Sea Lions together with Fur Seals.

 Bartolome island  - land visit    Bartolome is a small island that has beautiful white sand beaches, luxuriant green mangroves and a colony of Penguins.  Activities will include swimming and snorkelling and a climb to the summit of the island for one of the most breathtaking views in all the Galapagos islands  From the summit you will have the best view of the often-photographed Pinnacle Rock.

 Wolf Island Dive site   This Galapagos Islands dive site is one of the main attractions for us as divers, these two islands are the highlight of any Galapagos diving trip, It is an overnight 14-hour navigation to get to Wolf and Darwin Islands, considered the best diving in the Galapagos islands, some say in the entire world... as you approach Wolf island the boat will be surrounded by the big Pods of Dolphins that seem to be residents to the Island.  Wolf is a very small island with high cliffs full of bird life: such as red footed boobies, Great Frigate Birds, Swallow Tailed Gulls, Nazca Boobies & Terns.  The underwater topography is either boulder slopes or walls that offer the most outstanding number of tropical fish of the Galapagos waters. This island, along with Darwin, are magnets for Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks which normally have a lot of parasites, and the fish from the slopes will swim to the Hammerheads and remove and eat their parasites.  Wolf and Darwin islands are cleaning stations and feeding stations for all fish, big and small including Amberjacks, Whale sharks, Trumpet and Coronet fish, Butterfly fish, Tangs and Marbled rays.  Rocky cliffs reach below the surface of the water, the unusual currents that are found in these nutrient rich waters make the site as unpredictable as it is exciting.  Amazing diving here! 

 Darwin Island Dive site   This Galapagos Islands dive site is the main attraction for us as divers, these two islands are the highlight of any Galapagos dive trip, Darwin is even smaller than Wolf and a further 3 hours sailing time,  it is here that you find the beautiful arch formation, appropriately named ‘Darwin’s Arch’.  It is from Darwin island & Darwin's Arch that I chose the name for this website, from July-December encounters with the biggest fish of the ocean, the Whale shark, can almost be guaranteed.  The Whale Sharks here are Big!  no...  VERY BIG!  Next time you look at a London bus.... well these Whale Sharks are bigger than the bus...  just to give you some idea of BIG. There is just about anything you want to see here, large schools of Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, Silky sharks, Manta rays, Blue spotted jacks, Rainbow runners, Streamer hogfish, Spotted Morays, Sea turtles, Hawksbill turtles, Bottle nose dolphins, Sailfish... simply some of the best diving in the world.You can literally see anything here...  almost all the main species of Great Whales inhabit or visit these waters and that includes Killer Whales.  

 Roca Redonda Dive site   This Galapagos dive site is located off the north-western tip of Isabela Island, is the tip of an active volcano that rises several thousand feet from the sea floor and emerges from the water as an island.  Bubbles of hydrogen sulfide percolate through the sandy bottom as proof of the ongoing volcanic activity here.  At an average depth of 60 feet, this diving site is sometimes considered a difficult diving experience because of strong currents and heavy surge.  At this site you can observe Sea lions, Scalloped Hammerheads, Yellow tailed surgeon fish, Galapagos grunts, and even Whale sharks. Other fish forms include red and dog snappers, amber jacks, pacific barracudas, tuna fish, groupers, scorpion fish, rays and several species of eels.  This is one of the few sites where you will see cold-water fish swimming side by side with warm water fish. 

 Punta Vicente Roca Dive site   This Galapagos dive site is one of the best dive sites... in the day at the right time of year this place has lots and lots of Sunfish... It  is a wall dive that will take you in and out of a shallow cave with a big variety of invertebrates ranging from sponges to octopus, red lipped batfish, frogfish, sea horses and port Jackson sharks.  This will be the only chance to get a free ‘manicure’ given by the hinge-beak prawns.  In the night time it  is the sleeping place of lots of huge Green Turtles in the overhangs on the wall, it will also be the scariest night dive that you have ever done!!!  due to the fact that you will have Sea lions whizzing around you and hunting by the light of your torch - This dive site will long remain in your memory.... it is certainly one of my favourites!!!

 James - land visit    This island has several sites to visit at the western end of James Bay. Puerto Egas with its black sand beaches was the site of small salt mining industry in the 1960s and a hike inland to the salt crater is an excellent opportunity to sight land birds such as Finches, Doves, and Hawks.  A walk down the rugged shoreline, especially at low tide, will turn up many marine species as Iguanas basking on the rocks and Sea Lions lazing in the tide pools.  At the end of the trail there is a series of grottoes or sea caves where Fur Seals and Night Herons are found resting on shady ledges. Just north of James Bay is Buccaneer Cove, a particularly scenic area of steep cliffs and dark beaches. 

 Gordon Rocks Dive site   This Galapagos dive site is off the east coast of the Island of Santa Cruz is considered to be one of the best diving sites of the central group of islands. The rocky conditions are made up of a volcanic crater that is about 300 feet across and you can dive on all sides of the crater, both inside and out: it is an excellent example of an eroded ‘tuff’ cone.  At 90 feet you can find a colony of burrowing garden eels on the sandy bottom alongside Hammerheads, Stingrays, White-Tipped Sharks, Sea Lions, Moray Eels, Horse Conches, Sea Turtles, Rays, large Jacks Groupers, and Snappers.

 South Plazas - land visit    South Plaza is one of the smallest islands visited, 426 feet wide (130 meters) and just over ½ mile (1 kilometer) long.  Here there is a large colony of Sea Lions, numbering about 1,000 bulls, cows and pups, occupying the smooth rocks. The small cactus forest is populated by Land Iguanas, which can be seen sunning themselves or feeding on Opuntia pads and fruits. Along the cliff edge nesting Swallow-tailed Gulls are the predominant seabirds, along with Tropicbirds and Shearwaters.  Generally between the months of January to June, the dormant ground cover undergoes a drastic change; the red Sesuvium turns bright green and the leafless evening-blooming Portulaca bursts into large yellow flowers relished by the Land Iguanas.

Hood Island-Gardner Bay  Dive site & Walk  Gardner Bay is on the eastern shore and has a magnificent beach. This beach is frequented by a transient colony of Sea Lions, and is a major nesting site for marine Turtles.  Around the small islets nearby, snorkelers will find lots of fish and sometimes Turtles and Sharks. On a trail leading to the western tip of the island you'll pass the only nesting sites in the Galapagos of the Waved Albatross, huge birds with a 6-foot wingspan.  These huge birds nest here from April to December and represent the majority of the world’s population of this species.