Diving
Here you will find a description of some of the most popular diving sites in Galapagos Islands, most of these sites are located near or at navigating distance from Puerto Ayora. Wolf and Darwin are not listed here since they can only be reached by live aboard.
With over 300 different fish species up to date, from which 17% are endemic, 27 shark species, 31 non-reef builing corals, from which 30% are endemic, over 600 of mollusk species and more it is no wonder why Galapagos has been considered one of the best diving sites in the world. This islands hold an underwater paradise waiting to be explored.
Galapagos has some incredible dive sites, some of them close to Puerto Ayora like: Academy bay, La loberia, Punta Estrada and the world famous Gordon Rocks. Our day tours comprise two dives on sites around Santa Cruz island, Seymour, Floreana and Champion Island.
| Academy Bay | Mild to Moderate Currents - Novice |
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This is the closest dive site to Puerto Ayora, only 15 minutes away from port. Sea lions, rays, reef fish, moray eels and white tip sharks are common to this area. Dive sites include La Loberia, Punta Estrada, El Bajo and Macarron’ splace. |
| Santa Fe Island | Mild to Moderate Currents - Novice |
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Famous for the underwater Santa Fe arch. This island is located one hour away from our dive center. Eagle rays, turtles, sea lions, pelagic and reef fish and ocassionally white tiped and hammerheads are spotted here. Dive sites include El Arco, La punta, and others. |
| Beagle Rocks | Moderate Currents - Novice/Intermediate |
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Black coral and sea fan formation, awall formation descends from 12 to 60 meters. Open water species like hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, manta rays are spotted here. |
| Guy Fawkes / Pinzon | Moderate Currents - Novice/Intermediate |
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Beatiful rock formations and slopes that are almost vertical. Species common to the area are the red lipped batfish, sea horses, turtles, white-tip sharks, sting rays and more. Composed of 3 rock islets located south of Santiago Island. |
| Cousins Rocks | Moderate Currents - Intermediate/Expert |
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Cousins´s is full of incredible endemic black coral, a drop off descends from surface to the depths. Other sightings include fur seals, turtles and occasionally hammerhead sharks. It is located about two hours away from Puerto Ayora. |
| Floreana Island | Moderate Currents - All levels |
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Nine dive sites with generally calm waters, it is one of the best islands to see endemic coral colonies. It is considered to be one of the best sites to dive with sea lions. Other species include long nose hawk fish, barracudas, white tip sharks and other pelagic species. |
| Seymour Island | Moderate Currents - All levels |
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Five sites available. This sites are famous as they have the most diversity of species per square foot of sandy bottom. The cleaning stations provide and excellent spot for turtles and shark species. Garden eel colonies, sea lions, eagle rays are common here. |
| Daphne / Mosquera | Moderate to Strong Currents - Intermediate/Expert |
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Daphne is popular because occasionally many Galapagos Sharks are spotted. On Mosquera, sea turtles, sea lions, eagle rays, yellow tailed grunts and pelagic fish are spotted. Currents may sometimes be strong so an intermediate level is required. |
| Gordon Rocks | Moderate Currents - Intermediate/Expert |
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Galapagos most famous dive spot, besides Darwin and Wolf that are only accessible on a liveaboard dive cruise, Gordon Rocks is one of the best places to dive for big open water species. Most of the dive sites are walls with deep bottom, also surge and currents can be strong and the presence of big schools of large species make this a place not suitable for beginners, but desired by advanced diver. Occasionally large schools of hammerheads, eagle rays, reef fish, manta rays and other species make this dive unforgettable. If we are lucky we might encounter the massive and docile whale shark. |
