A daily diving tour is a perfect option for you to explore the amazing underwater world of the Galapagos Islands. There are over 500 species of fish and many other species. At each dive site you can visit you have an excellent chance of encounter wide variety of tropical fishes, invertebrates, reef fishes, eels, rays, sea turtles and sharks. We offer the possibility to join one of these incredible day tours. Enjoy reading the following information and choose the dive site that suits you best to explore the Galapagos in the way you want to.
Our tours offer first-class Galapagos diving, food, and accommodation at a lower price than the Galapagos live-aboard scuba yachts. With over 500 species of fish in the islands, 17% of which are endemic, there is a lot to see under the sea. At each of our dive sites you have excellent chances of seeing a variety of invertebrates, reef fish, eels, rays, sea turtles, and sharks along with their respective behaviors.
We use only the best dive technology and 7mm wetsuits to keep you comfortable as you encounter thermo clines. Prices listed include all equipment, dive boat, Dive Master Guides, a snack onboard, lunch and clean towel. We dive in dive sites all over the Galapagos Islands. Here we list the Galapagos dive sites in the order of their level of challenge to the divers’ skills, Academy Bay being the easiest.
ACADEMY BAY
This bay is located right next to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island with 4 diving spots all within 20 minutes of distance by boat. Currents are mild and calm ideal for novices, as you know diving pretty much depends on currents and the dive master will be well aware about this and will communicate the current condition to you, before you even get on the water. Frolic with sea lions and marine iguanas, you might also watch some rays and even sharks.
SANTA FE ISLAND
This island is a solid structure of basaltic lava rocks about an hour away from Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. The diving sites on this island generally have excellent visibility and mild currents. The animals and topography make Santa Fe a really nice dive spot for divers, you could have the opportunity to encounter sting rays, eagle rays, garden eels, sea turtles, sea lions colonies, morays and if you’re lucky some white tip sharks or hammerhead sharks.
BEAGLE ROCKS
3 exposed Rocks located to the south of Santiago Island, about 1 hour and a half from Ithabaca Channel. This intermediate dive site starts on a 12-meter platform that lead to a wall, covered with black coral and lots of sea fans that drops to more than 60 meters. You could encounter lots of sea turtles, stingrays, sea horses and hammerhead sharks.
PINZON
The small island of Pinzon is located on the west side of Santa Cruz about 2 hours from Puerto Ayora. This intermediate dive site is quite amazing where 2 tower shaped rocks emerge. A wall covered in black coral that drops 10 meters to a sandy slope that drops even deeper to almost 50 meters. You could encounter the quite interesting red-lipped batfish, sea horses, stingrays turtles and the endemic white tip shark.
COUSINS ROCK
An islet with an enormous drop into the deepest depths, located about 2 hours away from Puerto Ayora. You could encounter strong currents here, Cousin is full of spectacular endemic young black corals and other sightings may include frog fishes, fur seals, sea turtles, sea horses and some hammerhead sharks.
SEYMOUR ISLAND
North Seymour is an uplifted island of lava flow about 90 minutes north of Puerto Ayora. Here you will find 5 dive sites suitable for divers with low and high expertise regarding diving, nevertheless, please notice that you could encounter strong currents. These diving sites count with a high ratio of species per square foot on a sandy bottom. You will watch some cleaning behavior among some schools of fishes, a large eel colony, sea turtles, sea lions, fur seals, eagle rays, yellow tailed grunts and frequently some hammerhead sharks and white tip sharks as well.
FLOREANA ISLAND
The island of Floreana is about 90 minutes south from our dive base. There are 9 dive sites here with generally calm waters. On the occasion that we do find strong currents, we can quickly move to another site, which makes Floreana ideal for all levels of divers. This site is one of the best in the central islands to see significant coral colonies, such as pebble coral and endemic black coral. You might encounter baby birds as they make unsuccessful attempts learning to fly. You may look on as barber fish clean sea turtles of parasites. Floreana is also one of the best sites to dive with sea lions. If that isn’t enough there is the enticing gauntlet of sea horses, stingrays, eagle rays, turtles, long nose hawk fish, barracudas, pelagic fish, white tip reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, and hammerhead sharks.
DAPHNE / MOSQUERA
This is an isolated offshore tuff cone with vertical walls all around it about one hour from our dive base. The main dive site is a shelf of boulders at about 60 feet and the diving can be difficult depending on the currents and surge. We usually see many Galapagos sharks here, some schools of pelagic fish, and multicolored sponges on the rock wall.
GUY FAWKES
These 4 islets are located on the northwest side of Santa Cruz Island, about 1h15’s cruise from Itabaca channel. In general the ocean bottom descends in slopes, some almost vertical. The walls of the islets are eroded, full of cavities in some parts, and big rocks covered in black coral in others. At this intermediate site divers can observe pelagic species such as Galapagos sharks, white tip reef sharks, turtles, and a wide variety of reef fish and sea lions.
GORDON ROCKS (minimum experience to participate is 30 logged dives)
This tuff cone formation is a world famous dive site about one hour from our base. There are 4 dive sites in the area, but only two are for novices. The other two sites are for intermediates and experts because there can be strong currents and surge. The Gordon Rocks dive sites are mostly walls with a deep bottom. Blend in and blow few bubbles and you may be blessed with a hammerhead sighting! Hammerhead sharks are the main attraction of Gordon Rocks, where they often conglomerate in large schools. You won’t be able to stop looking at this aquarium as you’re likely to also see reef fish, large pelagic fish, golden rays, stingrays, eagle rays, turtles, morays.
NOTE:
All Tours operation begins at 08h00 until 16h00 approximately (day-tour). Tour in Academy Bay takes about 5-6 hours and doesn’t include lunch.
THESE DAILY DIVE TOURS INCLUDE:
Two dives, dive boat, transport to/from dive site/dive center, dive master guides, dive gear (complete wetsuit, regulator with octopus, BCD, mask, snorkel, fins, booties, gloves, hood, scuba tuba, tanks and weight belt), snack and hot lunch (Does not include lunch in Academy Bay). **Please note: We need a minimum of two passengers per trip (3 for Academy Bay). Minimum age to dive is 12 years old. Depth limit is 30m/100ft and no one can dive alone. Dive time limit is one hour. Travel time to and from dive sites will vary according to sea conditions. Dive sites can be changed or cancelled depending on weather/sea conditions.