I will be visiting the Galapagos Islands in August. I kept hearing how the diving is amazing so I broke down and became scuba certified. Now I am hearing that Galapagos isnt really friendly to inexperienced divers due to the strong currents. Has anyone been diving there and if so - is there anywhere you would recommend that would suitable for me to dive. I can get to Florida a few times between now and August to get a few open water dives under my belt but in no way would I be "experienced" by August. I will be staying on Santa Cruz island. Thanks!

We were in Galapagos in February 2006 - certified divers for over 20 years but only dive every 3/4 years. A really well respected dive master advised that the currents were too strong and the water too cold for divers of our expertise. We took his advice.

We did a lot of snorkeling and it was fine.

This is way not the place to begin diving. The water is cold! at the southern islands the currents were not too bad, and it was great to dive with so many iguanas, penguins and sealions.

I was there on a liveaboard several years ago and transponders were handed out to each buddy team ("I'll hold that Mitch&quot. We did however, spend 2 days at Darwin's Arch with 30 whale shark encounters, so the chance of floating away to China seemed worthwhile.

Thanks for the info but you all are breaking my heart. I will however take your advice and stick to snorkeling. One last question - do the sea lions really swim with you if you are snorkeling?

yes if you are lucky! we had sea lions, penguins and sea turtles all around us (not at the same time) when we snorkeled. i was so thrilling! the sea lions were very curious & playful. there is such amazing sea life! aew you doing day trips from santa cruz? try and get out to the devil's crown near floreana. one of the best snorkeling sites.

Yes, we are doing day trips from Santa Cruz each day. I believe we have 4 full days of the day tours with snorkeling each day and one free day (when we were going to scuba... but will now do something else). Floreana is on our itinerary but I didnt see Devil's Crown listed specifically. I will contact my tour operator to ask. Even without the diving I am getting excited. I travel a lot but the two "dream" trips were the Serengeti and Galapagos. I was able to go to East Africa a few years ago so now Galapagos is my #1 "dream trip". I cannot wait to see it! Thanks again for the info.

I had an incredible time snorkeling with sea lions. The water was cold! (This was early Dec) or you could say, "invigorating." I wore a wet suit, still felt like my circulation was going to cut off, yet so worth it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The sea lions were very playful, swimming between your legs, doing flips under water, tapping my mask as if to say hello.

An amazing experience.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences with me. Maybe not being able to dive wont be so horrible afterall. I would love to see pictures of anyones trip if you would like to share.

Not to worry - snorkeling is wonderful. Everytime we got in the water to snorkel the sea lions zoomed over to play......we desperately wished we had brought a tennis ball to toss to the sea lions (probably frowned upon but I'd still say toss one in your luggage!)

Here's a link to our blog - lots of photos there

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...gos/index.html

here are my snorkeling pics. click on the above links to see any of the other pics too:

http://web.mac.com/quimbymoy/Site_2/SNORKELING.html

Elizabeth - I just looked at your pictures and read the blog. I dont think I can wait until August!!! OMG - thanks for sharing.

quimbymoy - Just looked at your pictures! You all are making me want to leave today!

syclark - i wish i were back there too! you will love it. it's like the land before time!

Liz - hey yvonne was our guide in puerto ayora! isn't she the cutest? we loved her, such energy!

quimbymoy - we LOVED Yvonne...she made our trip!