Calipso

ITINERARY  A

8 DAYS DIVE

Day 1 - Thursday

AM: Arrival at San Cristobal Island on your own. You must be at the dock “Tiburon Martillo” at 1 pm (local time) where our guides will be to greet you and escort you to the yacht.

PM: After getting settled in, we will have lunch and briefings followed by a check dive at Isla Lobos. Lobo is Spanish for wolf and sea lion is Lobo del mar in Spanish. Expect to see sea lions. We sail to Marchena overnight.

 

Day 2 - Friday

AM: Punta Carrion is located on the island of Santa Cruz. Sometimes we get lucky and see mola molas here. It’s a good first dive to acclimatize to Galapagos diving.

PM: Seymour is an island known for having great dives. Sightings include Mobulas, white tip reef sharks, Galapagos sharks, sometimes hammerheads, and many fish species.

 

Day 3 - Saturday

Diving begins early to get in all 4 dives in a 12 hour day. A night dive (optional) where you can see garden eels and the red-lipped batfish on a sandy bottom.

AM: Wolf is one of the reasons Galapagos is on most divers’ bucket lists. Scientists have designated Wolf and Darwin (together as they are so close together) as the scariest place on earth because they have the largest biomass of sharks on the planet, 17.5 tons of sharks per hectare (2.47 acres). Only divers visit Wolf. There is no chumming in Galapagos. This is where sharks come naturally. There are no land visits. Wolf is located 115 miles north of the central islands.

PM: Sightings include huge schools of hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, whale sharks (in season), silky sharks, eagle rays, sea lions, fur seals, mantas, turtles, jacks, trumpetfish, butterflyfish, morish idols, moray eels, and dolphins. Some sites at Wolf are covered in coral and all of the tropical fish species that live on coral reefs. Dive sites include Shark Bay, The Landslide, La Banana, and Islote La Ventana. On the island itself, there are hundreds of thousands of seabirds including all 3 types of boobies in Galapagos – red-footed, blue-footed, and Nazca. There are frigates, pelicans, lava gulls, and red-billed tropicbirds.

 

Day 4 - Sunday

Darwin’s Arch is an icon, the symbol of diving the Galapagos. It is located 229 km / 142 miles north of the central islands. In addition to Wolf, this is where we find massive schools of hammerheads. Huge, pregnant whale sharks pass through Darwin Island each year for reasons unknown. Darwin is the warmest dive site in Galapagos due to the tropical Panama current. You spend a lot of the dive stationary, on a platform that drops into the blue where hammerheads swim against the current. It’s like being on the side of a hammerhead highway watching traffic pass. You leave the platform to swim out into the blue when a whale shark is spotted. That sometimes means swimming through the hammerheads, a truly magnificent experience you will carry with you forever.

 

Day 5 - Monday

AM: We have 2 more dives at Darwin in the morning.

PM: We have 1-2 more dives at Wolf in the afternoon. There is an optional night dive at the Anchorage site. Anchorage has a sandy bottom where you may see garden eels and the red-lipped batfish.

 

Day 6 - Tuesday

We have 2 different itineraries for the western sites due to seasonal visibility…or rather lack of visibility.

JAN-MAY: AM & PM: Cabo Marshall (Isabela Island) Cabo Marshall is located on the eastern side of Isabela Island. Giant mantas, large schools of barracudas, Galapagos sharks, sea lions, flightless cormorants, and enormous schools of black-striped Salemas in Galapagos. These tiny fish can be so numerous, a diver inside the school cannot be seen, only the bubbles rising above the school. 4 dives at 2 Cabo Marshall dive sites.

JUNE-DEC: AM: Cabo Douglas (Fernandina Island). The westernmost island in Galapagos, Fernandina is an active volcano. It has erupted twice in the last decade. It is the ‘hot spot’ in Galapagos. This is the only site on liveaboard itineraries where you can see diving Marine Iguanas feeding underwater. You also see Penguins feeding on tiny silver Sardines using schools of black-striped Salemas as cover. Turtles are especially abundant at Cabo Douglas which is probably why this is a likely location to site Orcas.

PM: Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela Island). If you look at a map, Isabela Island looks uncannily similar to a seahorse. Punta Vicente Roca is located on the northwestern side of Isabela just below the ‘mouth’ of the seahorse. Isabela has 5 active volcanoes. Punta Vicente Roca is a Mola mola (Sunfish) cleaning station, that has large turtle populations, the endemic Galapagos bullhead shark, penguins, sea horses, sea lions, and many species of fish not found elsewhere in the Galapagos. It is not uncommon to find yourself diving with an endemic flightless cormorant.

 

Day 7 - Wednesday

AM: Cousins Rock. Cousins is a small rock, the remains of an eroded crater sticking up out of the sea. On the eastern side, the rock cascades down in a series of recessed ledges strewn with black coral, which is bright green under the water. Taking cover in the coral, you may find seahorses, frogfish, octopus, turtles, and the elusive longnose hawkfish. It’s not unusual to spot pelagics from Cousins including mantas, eagle rays, Mobulas, and hammerhead. Sea lions are fur seals are also at Cousins. 1-2 dives depending on the mood of the divers.

PM: We disembark head for a reserve in the Santa Cruz Highlands to see the iconic Galapagos Tortoise in its natural habitat. After the Highlands, we descend into the largest town in Galapagos, Puerto Ayora. You may opt to visit the Charles Darwin Research Center in the Galapagos National Park or wander about town. Our farewell dinner will be at a restaurant in Puerto Ayora. We then return to Calipso and sail to San Cristobal overnight.

 

Day 8 - Thursday

AM: You will disembark after breakfast.

DIVING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

All people or divers who confirm the spaces on the CALIPSO Yacht need a minimun of 50 Dives of experience and have a diving license (PADI)

PRICE :4.949,00 USD P.P.

ITINERARY B

DIVING CRUISE 8 DAYS

 Day 1: Thursday

AM: Arrival at San Cristobal Island airport, where our guides will be to greet you and escort you to the yacht. Onboard, the staff will show you all the services we have on board and cabin assignment.

PM: After lunch, everyone has an equipment check and a one-on-one with the guide for details on your diving experience. This will follow a safety briefing and emergency drill procedures with the yacht crew. Check dive will be at Lobos island where you may see white tip sharks, sea turtles, rays, and schools of reef fish.

In the evening you will have our welcome cocktail and presentation of the boat’s crew followed by your first dinner on board.

 

Day 2: Friday

AM: Baltra NE. This morning you will have a check dive in Baltra NE where you will have ideal conditions to feel comfortable with the equipment and get ready for diving in Wolf and Darwin areas. You may see some white-tip sharks, Galapagos, hammerhead sharks, schools of reef fish, rays, eels, and barracudas.

PM: Bartolome Island. From the distance, you can see the famous Pinnacle Rock, one of the top iconic sites in the Galapagos Islands. While diving, you may see Galapagos sharks, white-tip reef sharks, reef fish, barracudas, turtles, Mobula rays, and sting rays. This is one of the few places in the Galapagos Islands where you can dive in a coral reef which makes such a colorful topography underwater!

 

Day 3: Saturday

Diving begins early to get in all 4 dives in a 12-hour day. A night dive (optional) where you can see garden eels and the red-lipped batfish on a sandy bottom.

AM: Wolf is one of the reasons the Galapagos is on most divers’ bucket lists. Scientists have designated Wolf and Darwin (together as they are so close together) as the scariest place on earth because they have the largest biomass of sharks on the planet, 17.5 tons of sharks per hectare (2.47 acres). Only divers visit Wolf. There is no chumming in Galapagos. This is where sharks come naturally. There are no land visits. Wolf is located 115 miles north of the central islands.

PM: Sightings include huge schools of hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, whale sharks (in season), silky sharks, eagle rays, sea lions, fur seals, mantas, turtles, jacks, trumpetfish, butterfly fish, morish idols, moray eels, and dolphins. Some sites at Wolf are covered in coral and all of the tropical fish species live on coral reefs. Dive sites include Shark Bay, The Landslide, La Banana, and Islote La Ventana. On the island itself, there are hundreds of thousands of seabirds including all 3 types of boobies in the Galapagos – red-footed, blue-footed, and Nazca. There are frigates, pelicans, lava gulls, and red-billed tropicbirds.

 

Day 4: Sunday

Darwin’s Arch is an icon, the symbol of diving in the Galapagos. It is located 229 km / 142 miles north of the central islands. In addition to Wolf, this is where we find massive schools of hammerheads. Huge, pregnant whale sharks pass through Darwin Island each year for reasons unknown.

Darwin is the warmest dive site in Galapagos due to the tropical Panama current. You spend a lot of the dive stationary, on a platform that drops into the blue where hammerheads swim against the current. It is like being on the side of a hammerhead highway watching traffic pass.

You leave the platform to swim out into the blue when a whale shark is spotted. That sometimes means swimming through the hammerheads, a truly magnificent experience you will carry with you forever.

 

Day 5: Monday

AM: Darwin Island. We have 2 more dives at Darwin in the morning.

PM: Wolf Island. We have 1-2 more dives at Wolf in the afternoon. There is an optional night dive at the Anchorage site. Anchorage has a sandy bottom where you may see garden eels and red-lipped batfish.

 

Day 6: Tuesday

AM: Cabo Douglas (Fernandina Island). The westernmost island in Galapagos, Fernandina is an active volcano. It has erupted twice in the last decade. It is the ‘hot spot’ in Galapagos.

This is the only site on liveaboard itineraries where you can see diving Marine Iguanas feeding underwater. You also see Penguins feeding on tiny silver Sardines using schools of black-striped sales as cover. Turtles are especially abundant at Cabo Douglas which is probably why this is a likely location to site Orcas.

PM: Punta Vicente Roca (Isabela Island). If you look at a map, Isabela Island looks uncannily like a seahorse. Punta Vicente Roca is located on the northwestern side of Isabela just below the ‘mouth’ of the seahorse. Isabela has 5 active volcanoes.

Punta Vicente Roca is a mola (Sunfish) cleaning station, that has large turtle populations, the endemic Galapagos bullhead shark, penguins, sea horses, sea lions and many species of fish not found elsewhere in the Galapagos. It is not uncommon to find yourself diving with an endemic flightless cormorant.

 

Day 7: Wednesday

AM: Cousins Rock. Cousins is a small rock, the remains of an eroded crater sticking out of the sea. On the eastern side, the rock cascades down in a series of recessed ledges strewn with black coral, which is bright green under the water. Taking cover in the coral, you may find seahorses, frogfish, octopus, turtles, and the elusive longnose hawkfish. It is not unusual to spot pelagic from Cousins including mantas, eagle rays, mobulas, and hammerheads. Sea lions are fur seals and are also at Cousins. 1-2 dives depending on the mood of the divers.

PM: We disembark and head for a reserve in the Santa Cruz Highlands to see the iconic Galapagos Tortoise in its natural habitat. After the Highlands, we descend into the largest town in Galapagos, Puerto Ayora. Our farewell dinner will be at a restaurant in Puerto Ayora.

 

Day 8: Thursday

AM: After breakfast disembark on San Cristobal island for your return flight to the continent.

DIVING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

All people or divers who confirm the spaces on the CALIPSO Yacht need a minimun of 50 Dives of experience and have a diving license (PADI) PRICE : 4.939,00 USD P.P.   

The Dive Cruise includes:

• Airport Transfers
• Naturalist Guide Certified by the Galapagos National Park
• 2 Dive Instructor of Galapagos Marine Reserve 
• Full Meals
• Coffee, Tea and Snack
• Diving Equipment (BCD,Full WetSuit 5mm,Fins,Mask,Diving Boots,DIN Adaptors,Weight Belt and DivingTanks 12 and 15 ltrs )
• Private Bathroom With Hot Water
• Air Conditioning
• Dive Deck 

The Dive Cruise does not include:

• Entrance Fee to Galapagos National Park $100 USD
• Immigration Control Card $20 USD
• Dive Computer 
• Nitroxs 35 USD (per day)
• Tips for the Crew and Dive Guide Instructor
• Galapagos Flights ($450 to $550 USD – ask us for a quote!)
• Alcoholic Beverages and Soft Drink
• Dive Pictures Gopro