Highlights

• Dive famous sites around Isla Isabela, Santa Cruz, and Fernandina
• Swim with exotic marine life, like rays, turtles, and reef sharks
• Explore the famous Santa Cruz highlands, home to Galápagos turtles

Brief Itinerary

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive on Isla Baltra, Board Cruise, Isla Baltra Dive

Welcome to the Galápagos! After a two-hour connecting flight from mainland Ecuador, you’ll arrive in this famously biodiverse archipelago. Specifically, the plane will land at the airport on Isla Baltra, an islet just north of Santa Cruz, one of the 13 main islands of the Galápagos.

Upon arrival, a driver will transfer you to the pier. That’s where you’ll find your home for this trip. The M/Y Aqua is an 82-foot (25 m) vessel purpose-built for dive adventures in the Galápagos and will take you to some of the best sites over the next eight days. Once aboard, you’ll be assigned one of the nine comfortable cabins and receive your dive gear. Then, it’s off to your first dive!

The ship will cruise to the northeast side of Baltra, a site known for its moderate currents. After gearing up, you’ll hop in the water and swim around lava tubes and rock formations at a depth of around 60 feet (20 m). This area is home to an incredible number of marine species, and you’re likely to see rays, turtles, and reef sharks. There’s no need to be skittish, as in the entire recorded history of the Galápagos, there’s never been a fatal shark attack. At the end of the day, you’ll return to the ship. 

Day 2: Cruise to Isla Isabela: Cape Marshall & City of the Mantas Dive

This morning, the ship will cruise to Cape Marshall, on the northeast side of Isla Isabela, the largest island in the archipelago. This area offers excellent drift diving and features an almost vertical wall of volcanic rock that drops to the sea floor. During two separate dives, you’ll spot whitetip, hammerhead, Galápagos sharks—and the occasional whale shark. Smaller fish you’ll see include large schools of black-striped salema and barracuda. Don’t miss the fascinating black coral growing on the volcanic wall.

Cape Marshall’s main highlight is a site called Ciudad de las Mantas (City of the Mantas). This name isn’t a misnomer—the area is a popular congregating spot for giant mantas. These otherworldly creatures weigh thousands of pounds and have wingspans measuring up to 13 feet (4 m). They come here to feed on plankton-rich waters, so you may have to contend with lower visibility. After a dive with the mantas, you’ll return to the boat for the overnight journey north to Isla Darwin.

Day 3: Cruise to Isla Darwin: Darwin’s Arch & Theater Dives

The small, uninhabited Isla Darwin is the northernmost island in the Galápagos. Its abundance of incredible dive sites makes this one of the best scuba locales in an archipelago with no shortage of them. That’s why you’ll have a few different options for dives this morning. Marine and weather conditions of the day will determine which sites you visit, as will the opinion of your expert guide. No matter the conditions, today, you’ll enjoy four dives.

One can’t-miss option is Darwin’s Arch. This natural rock archway was an icon of the Galápagos, but natural erosion caused the top to collapse in 2021. Not to worry, as the real treasure was always beneath the rocks. A dive in this underwater menagerie will put you up close with reef sharks, Galápagos sharks, and scalloped hammerheads.

A great nearby site is Darwin’s Theater. Here, two forked ridges run from the reef foundation of Darwin’s Arch beneath the splashing waves. At about 60 feet (18 m), you’ll find a drop-off sea wall forming a grandstand. It’s the perfect spot to relax and hang out as if you’re an audience member witnessing an aquatic performance. The players you’ll see here include massive schools of hammerheads and various species of tuna, including yellowfin, wahoos, bonitos, and amberjacks. Whale sharks are known to pass by here, too.

Day 4: Cruise to Isla Wolf: El Arenal & Shark Bay Dives

After breakfast, you’ll travel to other Darwin sites for four dives. The first stop is at El Arenal. Here, sharks, turtles, and tuna maintain a fascinating symbiotic relationship with the resident barber fish and king angelfish. If the currents aren’t too strong, you should be able to get close to schools of creolefish and perhaps find yourself face-to-face with hammerhead sharks. Eels, starfish, giant mantas, whale sharks, and bottlenose dolphins are other highlights at this site (depending on the season). 

Later, the boat will head south to Isla Wolf, another small islet in the northern archipelago. Like Darwin, it features prime dive sites. You’ll visit Shark Bay, located on the east coast of Wolf. It’s an ideal site due to the shallow water here, which makes it easier to spot the resident sharks. There are also plenty of tropical fish, as well as hawksbill and Pacific green turtles. Be on the lookout for spotted eagle rays gliding elegantly through the water.

Day 5: Isla Wolf Dives: Landslide, Pinnacle & Secret Cave

Three dives are in store today as you continue exploring Isla Wolf. The first stop is at the Landslide, a spot that offers excellent drift diving, where it’s possible to swim with schools of hundreds of hammerheads. Swimming amid the pavona corals here, you’ll also spot moray eels, scorpionfish, Pacific green turtles, eagle rays, mobula rays, giant mantas, reef sharks, and bottlenose dolphins.

In the afternoon, you’ll head over to the Pinnacle. This area offers some of the best diving in the Galápagos, as it features four underwater caves abounding with marine life. All entrances to these caverns are at depths of 50-70 feet (15-21 m), and there’s a sandy ledge that runs below the entrances and is a gathering spot for hawksbill and green turtles. Other sea life you’ll witness include soldierfish, guineafowl puffers, moray eels, reef sharks, marble rays, and cardinalfish.

When the sun goes down, you’ll have a couple of options for night dives around Wolf. The Secret Cave is another underwater cavern where it’s common to see hammerheads. Also, there are nocturnal species like cardinal fishes, spiny lobsters, moray eels, Pacific green turtles, and sea lions. You can also visit Anchorage, a cove that’s the only dive site on Wolf’s sheltered west coast. Along the surface of the waters here, you might spot sharks and reef fish as well as birds like blue-footed boobies. Deeper under the water, you can see more exotic specimens like the red-lipped batfish.

Day 6: Cruise to Islas Isabela & Fernandina: Vicente Roca & Cape Douglas Dives

Enjoy breakfast on board the ship as it cruises back to Isla Isabela. The first dive of the day is at Vicente Roca Point. To get there requires entering a gaping sea cave. The calm waters under this natural archway are protected from the exterior ocean swells and thus are popular with plenty of marine animals. On a dive here, you’ll see various species of sharks, pufferfish, penguins, and even seahorses. It’s also common to spot sunfish. 

The boat will continue to Isabela’s west side and the adjacent Isla Fernandina. Here, you’ll enjoy an afternoon dive at Cape Douglas. Animals found in this area include penguins and marine iguanas. The latter is an interesting species as they’re the world’s only swimming iguanas, and they only exist here in the Galápagos. You’ll also spot flightless cormorants, horned sharks, and perhaps whales.

Day 7: Cousin’s Rock Dive, Cruise to Isla Santa Cruz, Visit the Island’s Highlands

This morning, the ship will travel to the east side of Isla Isabela and Santiago, stopping at Cousin’s Rock. This lone volcanic rock pyramid rises just above the waters off the coast. It’s a habitat for blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans, Galápagos fur seals, sea lions, and (depending on the season) penguins. After riding around the rock formation in a small boat, you’ll discover the underwater wildlife on a dive. The world beneath Cousin’s Rock features terraced walls and ridges where hammerheads, rays, turtles, and tropical fish congregate.

Afterward, you’ll continue to Puerto Ayora, the main town on Isla Santa Cruz. Leave the yacht behind and venture into the highlands to visit the El Chato Tortoise Reserve. This is one of the best places in the Galápagos to see giant tortoises in their natural environment. Besides these majestic creatures, there’s a verdant forest of native scalesia trees you can explore. It’s a birder’s dream, as the area is home to endemic species, Darwin’s finches, vermilion flycatchers, and yellow warblers. In the tortoise pond are also aquatic birds like the paint-billed crake. You’ll stay overnight in Puerto Ayora.

Day 8: Transfer to Isla Baltra, Depart

_x000D_
Unfortunately, your epic diving tour of the Galápagos has reached its conclusion. After an early breakfast, you’ll return to the airport on Baltra and board a flight back to mainland Ecuador. There, you’ll catch a connecting flight home or onward to the next scuba adventure.

More Great Galápagos Itineraries