Central Galapagos, Wolf & Darwin
Trip highlights: whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, shark action, dolphins, manta rays, seals/sea lions, turtles, schooling fish & big pelagics, non diving activities
Diving environment: advanced divers, drift diving, off the beaten track
Dive sites and activities: Isla Lobos, Punta Carrion, Baltra North, Wolf Island, Darwin Island, Cabo Douglas, Punta Vincente Roca, Cousins Rock, plus 3 land visits at North Seymour, San Cristobal and Santa Cruz.
Day 1
Board the Galapagos Master in Baquerizo Moreno harbour and dive straight into your adventure. You’ll start with a concise boat briefing and crew introduction to get you up to speed on safety and layout. Share a freshly prepared lunch with your new dive buddies, then slip into the water for an afternoon check dive to sharpen your skills. Back on deck, enjoy dinner as the Galapagos Master raises anchor and heads out to the archipelago’s premier dive sites.
Core Days
Expect to do 4 dives on most days of the liveaboard tour, except on days that require a long journey between islands, when you can expect 2 or 3 dives. From the moment you cut through the surface at Wolf Island, scalloped hammerheads spiral along the walls, Galapagos and silky sharks patrol the blue, and marble rays and green turtles slip between cleaning stations.
At Darwin Island, enormous whale sharks - some over 12 m - glide past at arm’s length from June to November, while silver cyclones of bigeye trevally swirl with playful sea lions and Galapagos sharks, and hammerheads silhouette your slow ascent.
Cabo Marshall’s volcanic walls draped in black coral become a theatre for oceanic mantas performing graceful somersaults in the current, their shadows dancing over anemone gardens as long-nosed hawkfish peer from gorgonians and barracuda hover in tight spirals.
At Cabo Douglas, marine iguanas graze algae off rocky ledges, reef sharks nap in sunlit shallows, and Galapagos penguins torpedo through sardine schools in a ballet of predator and prey.
Punta Vicente Roca blends macro and mega - red-lipped batfish hop across sandy slopes, bottlenose dolphins race alongside divers, and the Cave of Sleeping Sharks reveals white-tip reef sharks lying motionless in crevices, their gills pulsing like hypnotic metronomes. Dive after dive, the archipelago’s pelagic giants leave you breathless long after you’ve resurfaced.
During your trip you will also take part in a land tour of North Seymour island and a visit to Santa Cruz island to see the giant tortoises.
Final Day
Start the day with a continental breakfast and then it is time for goodbyes to the fantastic Galapagos Master, its skilful crew and your new scuba diving friends. Upon disembarkation, there will be a visit to the Interpretation Center in San Cristobal before you will be transferred back to the airport.
[Information is best estimate in ideal circumstances and subject to changes beyond our control. The itinerary is a guide only and may be adapted to best suit the weather, tides, currents, availability and other prevailing events. Price is for the cruise, not for an exact number of dives].