Galaxy Diver II, Galapagos

Unforgettable week - best diving of my life

Where to even start?! I cannot recommend this experience more. While I know wildlife is never a guarantee, we saw TWELVE (12!!!) whale sharks, hundreds of hammerheads, rays, dolphins, marine iguanas, sea lions, and more. The entire crew anticipated every possible need, and was really kind. One of the panga drivers was celebrating a birthday, and we all sang to him - and the chef made him a cake. The boat has just recently been refurbished and is spotless, spacious, and comfortable. After every dive, Jimmy was there with a warm towel. Carlos made sure we got to dive sites safely, and even the captain was helping with gear. The crew was an awesome team, and our guides Paolo and Jorge were super knowledgeable and fun to dive with. At every turn, there was a new surprise that made the trip even more special. I hopefully have a lot of great diving ahead of me, but I honestly am not sure how anything will ever top this experience. Cannot recommend this boat (and time of year - October) more for a Galapagos Liveaboard. Gracias a todos!

Recommended for

Absolutely epic diving. Incredible, warm, kind, knowledgeable, and safe crew. Amazing amenities and comfortable, clean boat.

Best vacation of my life.

An absolutely incredible experience. I took a chance due to few reviews and not being real sure about the official website, and am very glad I did! An absolutely amazing experience. We saw the whale shark, mola mola, red lipped bat fish, countless hammerheads, tons of spotted eagle rays, and more. Paolo and William were awesome guides finding pretty much everything you could ask for. They both took plenty of great photos as well and provided them for free. The food was outstanding. A lot of Ecuadorian food and a dessert with every meal. I was never hungry. The boat… wow. Is this how millionaires live? A beautiful luxury yacht and the crew cleaned cabin and made our beds in between every dive if we slept in them! A nice hot tub on the top deck. Everything was near spotless. The crew helped us doing literally every task we needed help with. Free very fast wifi from Starlink. I clocked over 60mbps in the middle of the ocean. You won’t regret booking it.

Recommended for

Paolo and William were awesome dive guides. The food was amazing. The boat was spotless and luxurious.

Great experience

The trip was really great! Saw a lot of sharks, dolphins, seals, mola molas

Recommended for

Diving. Nice people. Nice crew.

great experience for my first liveaboard

very nice my first liveaboard. we were lucky 7 divers 11 crew! Food was ok to good, always way too much prepaired. Room was great. The personal service was beyond expectations, from room to food to dive gear assistance. Always a warm towel and snacks ready after a dive.

Recommended for

divemaster Pauolo!. helpfull crew with gear. varied dives with lots of stuff to see.

Awesome

Great experience overall, extreme difficulty with flight bookings and flexibility, would not book flights through them in the future. The food is average except the sushi...this was amazing, the staff make up for the few items that lag. Despite this we will definitely book this specific boat again.

Recommended for

Awesome boat. Great service. Friendly.

Diving the Galapagos

The following is a letter I wrote to a passenger (also a travel agent) I traveled with the week before: Dearest Marianne, It is so nice to hear from you. First, of the 14 guests we had on board, not one was a drama queen, everybody acted their age. Ha ha. (Note: I was senior to all by about 25 years and I was the only American). They were from Australia (transplants from England), Germany, Spain, and France. Most spoke their native tongue, and Spanish and English. I thoroughly enjoyed their company while observing the minute cultural differences. Second, I would rate the trip an 8 or 9 when compared to the “naturalist” trip we took. As you know, the “naturalist” trip was chaulk full of minitrips, hiking, snorkeling and touring, and most educational about the environment and all. Most of the diving in the Galapagos can be found better elsewhere in the world. We did have some special moments with sea turtles and sea lions in and around the main islands. However, we did dive at Wolf and Darwin Islands, Darwin Arch specifically, both of which were spectacular, Darwin Island much more so though. Darwin Arch (now Pillars because the arch collapsed) is the flagship diving spot of the Galapagos. Besides seeing sea turtles and hundreds of hammerhead sharks, as well as other sharks, we encountered not one, not two, but six whale sharks. Most other places in the world, you are allowed to snorkel with the whale shark after chasing them a bit. But the whale shark always just swims away and you cannot keep up with it, then the chase begins again. Here though, we would dive to about 70 feet (about 21 meters) and lay on a ledge and wait for the whale shark to slowly swim by. This is what divers dream about. I shot video and posted the best on my Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/Fourteener ) if you care to see. All in all, I am totally happy with making both voyages on the Galaxy Diver II. Usually, when I travel to go diving I am glad I did it, but also happy to be heading home. While I still had these emotions when this trip ended, I was for the first time, actually tearfully sad because I had exceptionally good experiences and wouldn’t trade it for any other trip. These two weeks have been the flagship trip of my 70 years and I doubt any other trip can beat it. Thank you for getting back to me, I was sincerely surprised. I enjoyed our time together. Yours truly, Robert

Recommended for

the crew. the food. the diving.