kkv

Hi,

I am looking for a reliable Galapagos tour operator. I would appreciate if you can provide some comment about "Sharksky Galapagos Adventures".

I am a budget traveller, planning to travel to Galapagos Apr/May 2009.

I am looking for both scuba diving and land adventures, it does not have to be a cruise, but I would like to experience the most popular islands and scuba diving sites in a 2-week trip

Any recommendation on reliable tour operators are welcomed.

Thanks

karen

Treepol

Hi kkv,

I've been checking out the Galapagos cruise operators too and have decided that there is no such thing as a budget cruise! Companies like GAP and Explore Worldwide offer a range of itineraries, however, they don't do a single supp. (which is important to me) and I thought that most of them were very short and didn't go out to Tower Island where I really want to go.

Have you thought about a land based trip - here are some links to threads that discuss land-based vs. cruising http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...os+land+cruise
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...os+land+cruise
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...os+land+cruise

FWIW, I am looking at this itinerary for 2010 http://www.naturexp.com/detailed_iti..._galapagos.htm

Happy planning,



Pol

kkv

Thanks for the info.

The camping option in one of your links was really interesting.

I have got the following quote from Sharksky, any comment is welcomed. Not sure whether Sharksky Galapagos Adventures is reliable and provide good service though

I am looking for a scuba diving and land adventure trip, but not a lot of tour operator offer that.

The scuba diving cruise is very overpriced (~US$5000), because there are now only 2 cruise ship approved by the government to operate scuba diving.

So, I have been looking at other options

Day 1: (flight to San Cristobal island)- transfer to hotel tourist superior and lunch. Afternoon check dive in Wreck Bay-
Overnight in hotel Leon Dormido or similar
Meals included: -/L/-


Day 2: Day trip diving Kicker Rock (2 dives)
Overnight in hotel Leon Dormido or similar
Meals included: B/L/-

Day 3: Land trip discovering the highlands. The Junco laguna, the Galapaguera (where giant tortoises are)..part of the trip is donde by mountain bike.
We end the day with some snorkel at the Loberia beach.
Overnight in Leon Dormido or similar
Meals included: B/L/-

Day 4: in the morning flight to Isabela. Transfer to hotel first class and lunch.
Afternoon visit of the Tintoreras islet (no dive, just snorkel). We can observe white tipped sharks, maybe pinguins, and iguanas-
Overnight in San Vicente or similar
Meals included: B/L/-

Day 5: day dive to Tortuga Islet (2 dives)
Overnight in San Vicente or similar
Meals included: B/L/-

Day 6: early speedboat to Santa Cruz. Installation and morning free to visit the Charles Darwin station by yourself
lunch.
In the afternoon tour of the highlands (Twin)
Meals included: B/L/-
Overnight in España or similar

Day 7: day dive around Santa Cruz (2 dives)
Meals included: B/L/-
Overnight in España or similar


Day 8: daily trip to Floreana, snorkel and land visit
Meals included: B/-/-
Overnight in España or similar

Day 9: transfer out to airport
Meals included: B/-/-

Price per person:
USD 1464.-
Includes dives and dive gear
Meals as indicated
Transfers from/to airport and between islands (includes flight San Cristobal/Isabela)

Elizabeth_S

kkv - we were in Galapagos in February 2006 for a month and wanted to dive (been certified for 20 years/dive every 3 or 4 years) - we were advised that the conditions are not recommended for casual/infrequent divers. I saw on the Australia board that you were certified about 16 months ago......just thought I'd pass that comment on to you.

The reasons given to us were that the currents are strong, water is cold and visibility is low - better for experienced divers. We did a lot of snorkeling which we really enjoyed and in the end thought we had probably seen more animal/marine life because of the snorkeling.

Have a great time - Galapagos is wonderful.

Elizabeth_S

kkv - just realized you and I had exchanged posts on Spirit of Freedom!

kkv

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks for the info. Yes, we certified PADI advanced last Oct in Australia. We are infrenquent divers as well.

May be I should reduce the amount of diving and do more land tour and snorkeling. But I really want to try scuba diving there, at least once.

Any recommendation in which dive site should be good for the one and only one dive in Galapagos?

Do you mind sharing your Galapagos itinerary?

Your suggestion of spirit of Freedom was really great! I love it and the crew was so nice and helpful

Thanks

karen

Elizabeth_S

Hi Karen - we stayed in Puerto Ayora for a month in February 2006 in a rental house. While there we connected with a travel agent and said we were available for short notice cruise departures if there were any deals. We got the 7 night itinerary on the Eclipse (see blog link below) for half price. It was lovely but probably doesn't qualify as budget (at full price)

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...th_/galapagos/

One suggestion that I found helpful was to get the book Barry Boyce's Guide to the Galapagos and read it before you decide on your itinerary, or size of boat, or nights on board, etc. It really explains the various islands and what you'll see - it's how I came to realize we wanted the 7 night cruise as we wanted to see cormorants and they're only on the west side of Isabela. There are also some land based itineraries as well.

Regarding dive sites - we didn't explore it all - we did meet the owner of a well respected dive shop in Puerto Ayora (Scuba Iguana) - you might want to check out their website

http://www.scubaiguana.com/

(It was in face Mathias who told us we weren't experienced enough to dive the Galapagos waters, in his opinion......we thought it was probably good advice considering the source! We met him when we went to Isabela and toured with him for a day - great guy - if you do a land based portion I'd highly recommend hiring him as a guide)

Another boat you might want to consider that is quite reasonable is the Floreana. It's owned by a local family - we met them while there and would have taken it except at that time it didn't have the western side of Isabela on its itinerary. Subsequently (and coincidentally) friends of ours were on it for 5 nights and really liked it. Small, simple accommodations but good food. One of the owners (Jimmy) worked at Scuba Iguana and they used to do dive trips - but you mention there are only two boats doing dive trips now so perhaps that's changed since we were there.

Here's a link to it

http://www.yatefloreana.com/

Whew - long winded today!

kkv

Elizabeth,

Thanks so much for your advice. I have bought Barry Boyce book already, will definitely read it and also go through the information you provided.

Thanks
Karen