Like everything else, diving is quite expensive on the Galapagos. Two dives go for 150 US dollars - compare this to the 60 I paid in Cuba!
There are at least fifteen dive centers in Puerto Ayora, most of them located along the main walk in town, Av. Charles Darwin.
Of all these dive centers, only one had a boat going out today. Apparently it's not high season at all, contrary to what my guidebook tried to make me believe.
They were going to a dive site called Gordon's Rocks, supposedly the most difficult dive site around. Usually, there are quite strong currents that can cause problems for inexperienced divers such as myself. They asked a series of questions about my experience, especially with currents and diving along walls, and finally decided to let me go. On the boat, they briefed us thoroughly, and then we discovered that we were lucky: hardly any currents around today!
The diving was really amazing and I'd almost say, well worth the money. Perhaps the most spectacular sight was a school of hammerhead sharks - so amazing! And they were pretty close, too. Here's one of them (the in-dive pictures were not taken by myself, but by the dive guides from the dive center Albatros):
We also saw about ten white-tip reef sharks, some of them sleeping close to the ocean floor.
There were many turtles around, some swimming around, some sleeping - and some getting really close:
And I also saw two sea lions - the first time ever I got to swim with sea lions! Despite all the hammerheads, the sea lions really made my dive :-)
We also saw many angelfish, schools of barracudas, a lobster, and many smaller fish. Beautiful!
For the first time ever, I had taken medicine against sea sickness for this dive. I had read that the waters south of Santa Cruz were particularly rough, and since we were going in that direction at least partly, I didn't want to ruin my experience by being sick. And or seemed to have made the right decision: almost everybody was sick either on the way to the dive site or before the second dive - but not me! At this point, I was quite happy I had taken the pill. The way back to Puerto Ayora was even rougher - now I understand what they mean when they talk about "choppy" sea - and about 15 minutes before we got back to town, I started being sick too. And then the side effects of the pill (Anautin, containing 50mg of Dimenhydrinate) hit me. About an hour after we got back from the dive, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and had to lie down to take a nap. I was out for three full hours! And at this point, I decided not to take any more pills on the cruise awaiting me. What use is not being sick if all you can do is sleep?
In the evening, I went to pick up the CD with pictures the dive guide had made for us. On the way back, I saw this cute sea lion lying around close to some fishermen, apparently hoping for scraps:
There are at least fifteen dive centers in Puerto Ayora, most of them located along the main walk in town, Av. Charles Darwin.
Of all these dive centers, only one had a boat going out today. Apparently it's not high season at all, contrary to what my guidebook tried to make me believe.
They were going to a dive site called Gordon's Rocks, supposedly the most difficult dive site around. Usually, there are quite strong currents that can cause problems for inexperienced divers such as myself. They asked a series of questions about my experience, especially with currents and diving along walls, and finally decided to let me go. On the boat, they briefed us thoroughly, and then we discovered that we were lucky: hardly any currents around today!
The diving was really amazing and I'd almost say, well worth the money. Perhaps the most spectacular sight was a school of hammerhead sharks - so amazing! And they were pretty close, too. Here's one of them (the in-dive pictures were not taken by myself, but by the dive guides from the dive center Albatros):
We also saw about ten white-tip reef sharks, some of them sleeping close to the ocean floor.
There were many turtles around, some swimming around, some sleeping - and some getting really close:
And I also saw two sea lions - the first time ever I got to swim with sea lions! Despite all the hammerheads, the sea lions really made my dive :-)
We also saw many angelfish, schools of barracudas, a lobster, and many smaller fish. Beautiful!
For the first time ever, I had taken medicine against sea sickness for this dive. I had read that the waters south of Santa Cruz were particularly rough, and since we were going in that direction at least partly, I didn't want to ruin my experience by being sick. And or seemed to have made the right decision: almost everybody was sick either on the way to the dive site or before the second dive - but not me! At this point, I was quite happy I had taken the pill. The way back to Puerto Ayora was even rougher - now I understand what they mean when they talk about "choppy" sea - and about 15 minutes before we got back to town, I started being sick too. And then the side effects of the pill (Anautin, containing 50mg of Dimenhydrinate) hit me. About an hour after we got back from the dive, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and had to lie down to take a nap. I was out for three full hours! And at this point, I decided not to take any more pills on the cruise awaiting me. What use is not being sick if all you can do is sleep?
In the evening, I went to pick up the CD with pictures the dive guide had made for us. On the way back, I saw this cute sea lion lying around close to some fishermen, apparently hoping for scraps:
