DeepBlue and Galapagos
We started to plan the trip almost 2 years ago, we put a group together and then we had some problems, which meant a few people decided to drop out. So the search was on for people to fill the places. We thought everything was going to plan until 12 months ago when we had problems with the US agent who imposed a mandatory gratuity on to the invoice as they had had “problems” with European guests who where not used to tipping as much as the US guests. In the end we had no choice but to accept the additional imposed costs, we always knew that we might not get the service other guests would receive as the staff wouldn’t really have to try very hard. Then back in July just after we had paid the balance and after reading on Scubaboard there were problems with the National Parks Service and they had suspended all diving from boats, which apparently didn’t have the correct permits. This issue took weeks to resolve and some trips were cancelled, I looked into other locations so as not to miss out on a holiday.
Eventually and only a couple of weeks before we were due to fly the trip was back on, although we had no idea what the itinerary would be and wouldn’t know until we got there. At last it was time to fly and most of the group met up in Amsterdam and boarded the long flight to Quito in Ecuador. I think we had more take off’s and landings than I have ever done before.
We eventually landed in Quito and the transfers were done quite quickly and we were met by the local agent and pilled on to a bus which didn’t seem to have enough luggage space, we got to the hotel and checked in, well I say checked in because we didn’t actually check in as we were just handed our keys, no passport requested, no signatures. We met in the coffee shop for a few coffees to wake ourselves up with and then decided to head off to the cable car to the top of the mountain at 4200m, probably a bit silly having stepped off an aeroplane about 2 hours earlier.
The view from the top of Teleferico was fantastic, even though a little difficult to catch your breath, some of the group went on a little higher but I decided a nice large rock was far enough for me and I decided to wait for them to come down. We had lunch, a burger and fries and a beer, the beer was probably a mistake because when we went out of the restaurant, I felt quite dizzy and had to lean against the railings, it soon passed as we were all on our way down, again the view was spectacular.
The weekend turned out to be election weekend and Quito was “dry” so when we went out to dinner we all had soft drinks – bet that hasn’t been done on a dive trip before. On the Sunday we decided to take in a city tour, a trip to the Mitad del Mundo – Middle of the World (Equatoral line) and lunch.
The Middle of the World was the accurate one, not the tourist one which is in fact not quite on the equatoral line as the French got it wrong. For some reason, I quess we were out of the way, we could have a beer with lunch but again at dinner back in Quito, we had to make do with soft drinks.
We were then off to the airport even though our transfer arrived almost an hour late, which we were not happy with and I think the agent realised this and didn’t speak all the way to the airport, she didn’t even introduce herself. Passports were collected and our bags were scanned and even though it had been suggested we check in as individuals all our bags were whisked off and went as one group, no excess was charged which was a result.
Finally we arrive in the Galapagos and I am somewhat overwhelmed by being there and get a little emotional, silly me. We meet up with the guys from Deep Blue and Gary is taken to one side and advised of our itinerary, we get 3 days at Wolf and 2 at Darwin, I am happy – it could have been a lot worse. We are taken to identify our bags and they are loaded on to a truck, we have to wait for one of the buses to come back from the dock so we sit and wait for a short time. We are soon off to the dock and get off the bus to find sealions on the landing stage, they have no intention of moving so we stand around and are loaded in to the pangas (zodiacs) in two halfs, I find having to put on a lifejacked for a 5 minute trip out to the boat quite amusing.
We arrive on DeepBlue and as usual have to remove our shoes which I am surprised about I thought this was just Redsea boats. We sort our bags and are given a welcome talk but there is no mention of dive qualifications – which seems odd to me, given the conditions we will be diving in, even nitrox certs aren’t requested. We have a weight check dive and I load 6 weights on my kit, 4 on the belt and 2 on the STA in pockets, I thought this would be about right and I asked for another weight, although I soon ditch this on the other dives as I ensure that I suck all the air out of the wing for the negative entries. The water is cold and I surprised at how cold it is, so the check dive doesn’t last very long especially since Jenny finds a fin and is carrying it around so I decide we have had enough an ascend to the boat, Jenny uses the ladder on the back of DeepBlue but it looks very vertical so I opt to dekit in the water and exit via one of the pangas, which have ladders on – very civilized.
That evening we have a boat drill which is a first, although being told you should put your shoes on if the deck is burning when they are all in a box by the door is a little strange. The aircon in the salon is a little chilly on one side and for most of the week I prefer to sit outside on the upper deck despite the air temperature and windy conditions at times, fleecey hats and socks are the order of the day, even scarves were used at times.
The diving around Wolf and Darwin was quite a bit warmer and there were lots of big life, we had 31 whaleshark sightings during the 2 days at Darwin and lots of hammerhead, eagleray and shark action. The currents were strong and a lot of the dives were spent hanging on to the barnacle covered rocks, a good pair of gloves were essential. Water temperatures ranged from 16 degrees on the first dives to between 22 – 26 at Wolf and Darwin, but much colder in the south. I had recently read a trip report about the dive guides spending time in the evening talking about the Galapagos wildlife but we didn’t seem to have any of this and our lead guide spent his evenings in his PC room editing the trip DVD, I even found him to be quite rude at times but I guess like I said before you really don’t need to try very hard when the company have over £3000 in tips already, we wondered how much of the money the crew would see.
The food on the boat was OK if you weren’t a vegetarian although it lacked imagination especially since the head guy dressed like a proper chef. I would have been annoyed if I was a vege person as the food was very limiting. But worse was to come, after only a couple of days the boat ran out of diet coke, then some very suspect varieties appeared. Towards the end of the trip we did actually run out of softdrinks, which frankly is unforgivable when you consider how many times you stock for a trip. It appeared that nothing was going to be done to rectify the situation so I had a word with the one guide we did get on with and that was Luis, I put it to him that it was unacceptable and that as we were in a location with other boats they should go and seek out further supplies, to be fair they did but only 2 cases – not a lot between 16 people especially since most seemed to be going into the kitchen.
The last day we ended up in San Christobel and not Santa Cruz to the Darwin Research Station, I thought this was to do with the itinerary until the wife’s and girlfriends arrived on the boat, incidentally they didn’t seem to have to remove high heeled shoes. One of the wife’s turned out to the be wife of the owner and when she was advised we had run out of soft drink she was surprised as she had put 150 bottles onboard – wow less than one each per day. I thought these people knew what they were doing. All the crew associated with the dive deck were excellent and helpful, Erick was everywhere, so can’t fault them. Luis one of the guides was a really nice and helpful guide. I enjoyed my trip, apart from the niggles with the boat, I am glad I went but would I go back – no.