Galapagos

The Northern Galapagos Islands family dive adventure trip to Darwin and Wolf is rated #1 for diving, education, adventure, and diversity

This dive trip is genuinely for the intrepid traveler.  If you want to honestly share a memory to last a lifetime, join Kids Sea Camp for our 15th Family Dive Adventure week to the Galapagos Islands. We have privately chartered the luxury 16-passenger Tiburon Explorer liveaboard and 11 Crew Members, including dive instructors and private park guides. 

Reasons to go

• You will learn about and experience the Galapagos Islands' staggering array of marine life, nearly 20 percent of which is found nowhere else on Earth.
• You will learn about and experience with your kids the ocean surrounding the Galapagos Islands, diving with sea turtles, sharks, sea lions, and over 500 fish species, out of which 25% are endemic.
• You will sail through these majestic Islands of the Galápagos located 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland of Ecuador and are considered the crown jewel of scuba diving worldwide.
• You will visit the Charles Darwin Institute. This archipelago was made famous by Charles Darwin's publication The Origin of Species in 1859. The Galapagos is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 
• Only 14 permits a year are issued to dive in the Galapagos Islands, and you are one of the very few that will ever have the opportunity to dive and explore these islands above and below at a time of year, which is considered the peak whale shark season.

Just give us a call today at 1.803.419.2556. We will assist you with trip preparations for Ecuador and gear needs for your family, hotel stays, pre and post-cruise tours, and information. We are experts in family travel and look forward to meeting your expectations and needs.

Finding Whale Sharks
The Galapagos Islands are located at the confluence of three great oceanic currents: the cold South Equatorial Current (source is the Humboldt Current), the warm Panama Current, and the cold, deep Cromwell Current. Every July, the tradewinds freshen, and the South Equatorial Current lowers land and water temperatures, providing a perfect environment for whale sharks.

Whale sharks are filter feeders, extracting plankton from the water, and often small fish. They are migratory and travel the oceans on regular routes to feed. The islands of the Galapagos provide numerous areas of natural upwelling during Whale Shark season – and the plankton loves this. And Whale Sharks love plankton!

Our underwater guides are the best sources for finding whale sharks. They know how to watch the wind, current, and water temperatures to determine the best spots to see whale sharks. While this is often at an underwater point facing the upwelling (but sometimes not the current – the upwelling and current may be different) it is often close to the reef.

Once you are on the yacht, it's all covered!

Main deck Staterooms (1-6): Twins or queen beds, dresser, closet, and private ensuite bathroom with shower. Lower deck suites (7-9): large port windows, twin or queen beds, lounge area with sofa bed, and private ensuite bathroom with shower.

Price for the July 5th to 12th Kids Sea Camp: $7,395* (80% increase for single occ.) All pricing is in US Dollars, per person double occupancy.

Plus: Galapagos National Park Fee ($200), Chamber Support Fee ($35), Tourist card ($20), and fuel tax. Airfare to Galapagos Islands and land options before/after cruise additional. Guaranteed Single Occupancy is billed an additional 80% of the retail stateroom/suite price. *Fuel tax included as of July 2021.

Package includes

• Seven nights/8 days aboard the vessel
• Three meals daily, plus between-dive snacks
• 2-4 dives daily – a total of 18-19 dives
• Use of tanks, weights, and belts
• All domestic alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
• Airport transfers between GPS and boat for same-day arrivals and departures

Packages do not Include

• Hotel accommodations
• Flights to/from Galapagos
• Last evening dinner
• Rental, instruction, nitrox, and retail charges
• Crew gratuities
• Trip cancellation & dive accident insurance
• Premium alcoholic beverages
• Hyperbaric chamber fee

Sample Itinerary: please note changes can be made due to weather. 

Saturday: Baltra (1 check-out Dive at Punta Carrion)
Guests fly to the Galapagos Islands from Mainland Ecuador in the late morning. The dive guides will meet the guests at the airport between 11:30 am and 12 pm and escort them to the Galapagos liveaboard, Tiburon Explorer. Guests will board the vessel, have lunch, and listen to the briefings. After the briefings, the guests will do a check-out dive at Punta Carrion. After dinner, the vessel will depart to the next scheduled destination.

Sunday: Baltra North (2 Dives)
6:30 and 9:30 dives
Sightings include rays and schools of fish.
Afternoon North Seymour land visit. Walk the path around North Seymour Island to see the large colonies of Blue Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. Sighting of Sea Lions and Marine Iguanas is also common.
Depart for Wolf Island (long transit)

Monday: Wolf Island (4 Dives)
6:30, 10:30. 2:00 and 4:30 dives. Possible night dive.
Sightings often include hammerheads, the whale shark (in season), eagle rays, sea lions, Galapagos sharks, and silky sharks.

Tuesday: Darwin Island (4 Dives)
6:30, 10:30, 2:00 and 4:30 dives
Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks (in season), eagle rays, Galapagos, and silky sharks.
Transit to Wolf Island

Wednesday: Wolf Island (3-4 Dives)
6:30, 10:30, 2:00 and 4:30 dives
Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks (in season), eagle rays, Galapagos, and silky sharks.
Transit to Cabo Douglas (12 hours)

Thursday: Cabo Douglas (1-2 Dives)
Sightings include marine iguanas.
Transit to Punta Vicente Roca

Punta Vicente Roca (1-2 Dives)
Sightings often include mola mola, turtles, and macrolife
Transit to Cousins Rock (10 hours)

Friday: Cousins Rock (2 Dives)
6:30 and 9:30 dives 
This is great macro diving, with an excellent chance of seeing sea horses, sea lions, and eagle rays. Lunch will be served while transiting to Santa Cruz (3 hours). Travel by bus to the Santa Cruz Highlands to visit the giant tortoises in their natural habitat. Transfer to the town of Puerto Ayora. Dinner on your own in Puerto Ayora. Return to the Tiburon Explorer at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday: Baltra
Depart the vessel by 9 am. Transfer to the airport.

Sleep in luxury on the open ocean

After an exciting and awesome day of diving in the Galapagos, you might be a little tired. The Tiburon Explorer has just the cabins to refresh and recharge to dive again the next day. 

Master Stateroom cabins: 1-4 are located on the Dolphin deck (deck plans) and have two twin beds (that can be joined together), private facilities, window view, mirrored cabinet, wardrobe, bathrobes, hairdryer, biodegradable toiletries, fresh towels daily, air conditioning and volume controls.

Deluxe Stateroom cabins: 5-8 are located on the Iguana deck (deck plans) and have two twin beds, private facilities, a Portlight view, a mirrored cabinet, a wardrobe, bathrobes, hairdryer, biodegradable toiletries, fresh towels daily, air conditioning, and volume controls.

Rates include

• Cabin accommodation
• All meals, snacks, beverages (including beer and wine with dinner)
• Air or nitrox-filled tanks
• Weights, weight belt
• Up to 4 dives per day on 5.5 days for 7-night cruises
• 8.5 days of diving on 10-night cruises
• 3 land excursions, service of naturalist guides and dive masters
• Transfers in the Islands between airport and dock from flights arriving before 1:00 pm 

The Tiburon Explorer specifications

• Length overall: 125ft (38 meters)
• Beam: 24.6 ft (7.5 meters)
• Maximum Speed: 12 knots
• Accommodations: 16 passengers in 9 air-conditioned staterooms on main and lower decks, all with private bathrooms and showers. All nine staterooms have twin beds and the staterooms can be converted to queen beds for couples. Up to 9 crew and 2 guides in the Cruise Director Cabin.
• Safety Equipment: Life rafts (2), life rings/strobes, life vests/strobes, emergency position locator, flares, oxygen, and first aid equipment
• Air Systems: 2 electric Bauer compressors with a nitrox membrane, producing 32% nitrox
• Tenders: Rigid hull inflatables (2), used for passenger transport and diver pickup
• Accessories: Diving Equipment

GALAPAGOS GALLERY (SEE LINK)        

Diving in the Galapagos

The Galapagos Islands feature about 30 available dive areas, and this is why Galapagos is definitively the best location for Ecuador scuba diving adventures.

Northern Galápagos Islands dive adventure: The best and most abundant marine life is around the archipelago’s northern islands, especially Wolf Island and Darwin Island. Live-Aboard Only can access these islands.

Education and learning: The waters around the small, remote islands of Darwin and Wolf contain the largest biomass of sharks on the planet.  You will learn about the most important species for the survival of our oceans.  Sharks are found here like no other place on earth.  Many come here, migrating from around the world to reproduce.  This makes them vulnerable to commercial shark fin poachers and long-line fishermen.  Although the numbers decreased yearly due to worldwide shark finning, diving in the Galapagos still yields massive schools of Hammerheads, rays, and other marine life. You will see and experience what may not be around for other generations to come.  Upon arriving in the Galapagos, each person pays a $100 park fee in cash.  This goes to support, protect, and care for this remarkable preserve.

At Wolf Island, divers are rewarded with many reef fish, including schools of angelfish, after the long twelve-hour trip from Santa Cruz. The sea depth ranges from 12 to 20 meters. The area known as El Derrumbe is reputed to be the best place in the Galápagos to see hammerhead sharks. The caves around the island offer opportunities to observe white-tipped reef sharks, hawkfish, sea turtles, and pufferfish.

Darwin Island is just two hours north of Wolf Island. The shelves drop from 15 to 22 meters. Various sea life lives here, including moray eel, surgeonfish, serranid, carangid species, and triggerfish.

Courses offered:

• PADI Underwater Naturalist: Learn critical differences between the terrestrial and aquatic worlds, major aquatic life groupings, interactions, and information that dispels myths and responsible interactions with marine life. For more info...
• PADI Digitial Underwater Photographer: Learn how to choose the right underwater camera system for you, the PADI SEA (Shoot, Examine, Adjust) method for getting great shots quickly, principles for good composition of underwater images, practical techniques to take great photos with your digital camera. For more info...

Sample Itinerary

Saturday: Baltra (1 Check Out Dive at Punta Carrion) Guests fly to the Galapagos Islands from Mainland Ecuador, arriving in the late morning. The dive guides will meet the guests at the airport between 11:30 am and 12 pm and escort them to the Galapagos liveaboard, Tiburon Explorer. Guests will board the vessel, have lunch, and listen to the briefings. After the briefings, the guests will do a checkout dive at Punta Carrion. After dinner, the vessel will depart to the next scheduled destination.

Sunday: Baltra North (2 Dives) 6:30 and 9:30 dives. Sightings include rays and schools of fish—afternoon North Seymour land visit. Walk the path around North Seymour Island to see the large colonies of Blue Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. Sighting of Sea Lions and Marine Iguanas is common. Depart for Wolf Island (long transit)

Monday: Wolf Island (4 Dives) 6:30, 10:30. 2:00 and 4:30 dives. Possible night dive. Sightings often include hammerheads, whale shark (in season), eagle rays, sea lions, Galapagos, and silky sharks.

Tuesday: Darwin Island (4 Dives) 6:30, 10:30, 2:00 and 4:30 dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks (in season), eagle rays, Galapagos, and silky sharks. Transit to Wolf Island

Wednesday: Wolf Island (3-4 Dives) 6:30, 10:30, 2:00, and 4:30 dives. Sightings often include hammerheads, whale sharks (in season), eagle rays, Galapagos, and silky sharks. Transit to Cabo Douglas (12 hours)

Thursday: Cabo Douglas (1-2 Dives) Sightings include marine iguanas. Transit to Punta Vicente Roca. Punta Vicente Roca (1-2 Dives) Sightings often include mola-mola, turtles, and macro life. Transit to Cousins Rock (10 hours)

Friday: Cousins Rock (2 Dives) 6:30 and 9:30 dives. This is great macro diving, with an excellent chance of seeing sea horses, sea lions, and eagle rays. Lunch will be served while transiting to Santa Cruz (3 hours). Travel by bus to the Santa Cruz Highlands to visit the giant tortoises in their natural habitat. Transfer to the town of Puerto Ayora. Dinner on your own in Puerto Ayora. Return to the Tiburon Explorer at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday: Baltra, Depart the vessel by 9 a.m. Transfer to the airport.

Food aboard the Tiburon Explorer 

• The Tiburon Explorer, lunch and evening meals usually consist of salad, potatoes, rice, chicken, beef, pork, and fish. Breakfast is the usual fare of eggs, cereal, toast, and fresh fruit. If you have any dietary restrictions or requests, please indicate so on your KSC application form.

• Please note that specific brands of soft drinks, dressings, and foods are often unavailable on the islands, and it can be very difficult for a remote liveaboard to find low-fat or soy products and other items common elsewhere. While the Tiburon Explorer will do its best to accommodate your requests, please be realistic and consider bringing some of your own items if the lack thereof may constitute a health risk or seriously compromise the enjoyment of your vacation.

Bucket lists diving takes some time. Getting to the Galapagos.

First a note about having a current Passport: Passports with a minimum of 6 months remaining before the expiration date are required for all arriving foreign nationals. If in doubt about visas, contact the Ecuadorian Consulate for specific requirements from your country. Transfers between the airport (Baltra/GPS) and vessel for same-day arrivals & departures are included. If you are arriving early and staying on Santa Cruz Island or arriving from another island, please meet the Tiburon Explorer representative at the airport arrivals area at 11:30 am. Departure from the Baltra airport to Tiburon Explorer is at 12 noon.

If you miss any of your flights and are not able to make it to Ecuador or the Galapagos on schedule, please contact Galasam, our Ecuadorian partner, at 011-593-99703-1382 or 011-593-99529-7471. Notify them of your updated arrival time and where you may be reached in the meantime. The vessel will leave port on Saturday at approximately 2:00 pm. Retrieving lost luggage after the vessel departs on charter is impossible. It can be retrieved when the vessel returns to port at the end of the charter. The vessel arrives at its final destination port on Saturday morning. The Friday evening meal is on the island and is not included in the price of the trip. Transportation is organized and included for transfer to the airport. The departure tax from Quito and Guayaquil is now included in international flight prices.

Please note: Flight times, prices, and the Galapagos airport of arrival are all subject to change with little or no notification, and flights often run late. We strongly encourage our guests to plan on arriving at least one and preferably two days prior to their flight to the Galapagos Islands, to ensure that their luggage is with them or to make up for any travel delays.

We also recommend that guests plan on an extra night in Quito or Guayaquil before departing Ecuador. The earliest time a guest can reliably expect to connect to another flight is 5 pm on the last Saturday of the trip from Guayaquil or 7 pm from Quito. Ticket holders have required to check in a minimum of three hours prior to flight time for all international departures, even when connecting from an Aerogal or Tame flight. If you are booking your own domestic flights, the Tiburon Explorer departs from Baltra (GPS), not San Cristobal (SCY). Passengers flying into San Cristobal must arrange their own transportation to Baltra.

Quito Hotels

• Hotel Mercure Alameda Quito
• Casa Jimenita
• Wyndham Quito Airport

Guayaquil Hotels

• Wyndham Guayaquil
• Hotel Macaw

San Cristobal Hotel

• Galapagos Eco-Friendly

Santa Cruz Hotels

• Galapagos Suites Hotel
• Hotel Pelican Bay
• La Isla Hotel

It's all about diving!

There really isn't anything else to do on the Galapagos Sky but dive. Yeah, we will take some afternoon walks on some of the islands, but is a liveaboard. This is a "Bucket List" adventure, let's go diving! So here's more diving information for the trip.

Gear on The Tiburon Explorer (See video of what you could see!)
We highly recommend that divers bring their own gear. Advanced diving conditions that are common in Galapagos truly call for divers to be on their own, known, and properly fitting gear. Keep in mind Limited Sizes & Quantities are available. Please note that The Tiburon Explorer doesn't rent or sell gloves, torches/underwater lights, or dive knives. The vessel provides tanks, weights, and weight belts for your use. If you prefer to rent the rest of your equipment from us, we have all of the equipment that you will need. Please indicate on your application form what equipment (and size) you will require. Otherwise, the following items are the diver’s responsibility:

• Certification Card
• Diving Log Book (strongly encouraged)
• Mask *
• Snorkel
• Fins/Booties *
• Buoyancy Control Device (required) *
• Regulator w/alternate air source, submersible pressure, and depth gauges (required)*
• Dive computer (required) *
• Dive light
• Wet suit: 5 mm to 7 mm *
• Hooded vest or hood
• Gloves
• Repair kit w/ spare parts
• Safety flag *
• DiveAlert air horn for regulator *
• Nautilus Lifeline *

* Available for rent onboard. Rental/Course Pricing (PDF) Most of our guests bring their own complete set of dive gear. This is the ideal situation; however, due to weight limits or additional travel plans, some of our guests choose to rent gear. We strongly recommend bringing your own mask, gloves, booties, fins, hood or hooded vest, and computer. A personal wetsuit is also a good idea if you have space. Diving in Galapagos can be challenging, and it is important that you are comfortable. Gloves are suggested as the rocks can be sharp and can damage hands