My Galapagos trip

[Ken Hawk]

We had all the cancelation scares before we finaly got to our trip of a life time
a hell of a lot of scares and a lot of heart ache.
On to the trip.
We got our itinerary, 2 days at Darwin & 3 days at Wolf, now i must say if you are not diving any of these sites it is a waist of money!!!!!!!!!!
We did a check out dive then set off to Wolf, 18 hours sailing on the deep blue, our boat for the 10 day charter.
Wolf was an amazing experiance for us pure shark soup.
Hammers galapagose & silkie sharks everywere.
Darwin was a different story, as we did our negative entry right on top of a school of Eagle rays, we finaly got settled on the reef , to a school of 100s of hammerheads and the usual suspects, to be called out to the most amazing site I have ever had as a diver, Yes a WHALE SHARK.
Now this was no baby like the one I was lucky enough to see on a trip to Egypt, This was 14+m thats 45-50 feet to you guys.
My wife swam with every one we saw, Me and my camera could not keep up, call it old age on my part, but I blame the camera.
Some of the people on our trip counted 31 whale sharks, thats in 6 dives, I never counted but I saw lots.
Anyway heres what you want a few pics, I have a lot more to sort out.
If you have any ? feel free to ask.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/JaneWhaleshark3.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/JaneWhaleshark2.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/EagleRay2.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/Dolfins-1.jpg


Thanks Ken

[sorvju-f]

We had all the cancelation scares before we finaly got to our trip of a life time
a hell of a lot of scares and a lot of heart ache.
On to the trip.
We got our itinerary, 2 days at Darwin & 3 days at Wolf, now i must say if you are not diving any of these sites it is a waist of money!!!!!!!!!!
We did a check out dive then set off to Wolf, 18 hours sailing on the deep blue, our boat for the 10 day charter.
Wolf was an amazing experiance for us pure shark soup.
Hammers galapagose & silkie sharks everywere.
Darwin was a different story, as we did our negative entry right on top of a school of Eagle rays, we finaly got settled on the reef , to a school of 100s of hammerheads and the usual suspects, to be called out to the most amazing site I have ever had as a diver, Yes a WHALE SHARK.
Now this was no baby like the one I was lucky enough to see on a trip to Egypt, This was 14+m thats 45-50 feet to you guys.
My wife swam with every one we saw, Me and my camera could not keep up, call it old age on my part, but I blame the camera.
Some of the people on our trip counted 31 whale sharks, thats in 6 dives, I never counted but I saw lots.
Anyway heres what you want a few pics, I have a lot more to sort out.
If you have any ? feel free to ask.


Thanks Ken

Thanks for the report, Ken!

Sounds like you had great enjoy and why not...made me to WANT TO GO THERE!

...more than 30 whaleshark, hammerhead school, galapagos shark, silk shark, mantas...I think you had nearly all what we have in our greatest dreams...

The pics looks like little dark...your two mantas have great composition...but little unclear...did you have strobe?

May I ask what was the budget for whole trip?

Jukka

[tarczy]

Ken-

Thanks for the Galapagos trip report!

What boat were you on?

18 hours to Wolf?

Hmmmm . . . Aggressor?

[Ken Hawk]

The pics looks like little dark...your two mantas have great composition...but little unclear...did you have strobe?

It was not the best pic , but I liked it for the same reason as you.
I was holding on with one hand due to a strong current at the time.
i didn't use a strobe when I was on the whale shark dives

May I ask what was the budget for whole trip?

It was about £4000 STG, but we spent a week in Bonaire on the way back ;) Jukka

Thanks Ken

[Ken Hawk]

Ken-

Thanks for the Galapagos trip report!

What boat were you on?

18 hours to Wolf?

Hmmmm . . . Aggressor?

Thanks M8
We were on The Deep Blue, They said it was 18 hours I never timed it, but it was worth it .
Which boat are you going on and when?
Thanks Ken

[tarczy]

Thanks M8
We were on The Deep Blue, They said it was 18 hours I never timed it, but it was worth it .
Which boat are you going on and when?
Thanks Ken


Thanks Ken.

I've never been on the Deep Blue. We're scheduled to go on one of the Aggressors in 2009.

18 Hours seemed a little slow to me. I was just wondering if, per chance, you were on the Mistral (http://www.galapagosyachts.com/mistral.html). Some of us had a rather "interesting" experience on the Mistral several years ago, part of which was caused by the boat's slow speed.

Anyway, looks like you had a great time. 31 Whale Sharks?? What's to complain about?

[Neptune7]

Thanks Ken.

I've never been on the Deep Blue. We're scheduled to go on one of the Aggressors in 2009.

18 Hours seemed a little slow to me. I was just wondering if, per chance, you were on the Mistral (http://www.galapagosyachts.com/mistral.html). Some of us had a rather "interesting" experience on the Mistral several years ago, part of which was caused by the boat's slow speed.

Anyway, looks like you had a great time. 31 Whale Sharks?? What's to complain about?

Please Mark, don't remind me of this nightmare. Mistral was the worst liveaboard I ever been on! As for our ruined trip, thanks to the guy who got bent! Still can't believe we where at Darwin and had to go back to land without wetting ourselves in those waters...:mad:

Pierre

[Ken Hawk]

Please Mark, don't remind me of this nightmare. Mistral was the worst liveaboard I ever been on! As for our ruined trip, thanks to the guy who got bent! Still can't believe we where at Darwin and had to go back to land without wetting ourselves in those waters...:mad:

Pierre

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! Thats unbelevable.

Just watch out for what the dive situation is in 2009, as it is to be reviewed after December.
The Deepblue guide said they don't even know what to expect next year.
As I said in the OP if Darwin & Wolf ain't on the agenda DON'T GO.

Thanks Ken

[tarczy]

Please Mark, don't remind me of this nightmare. Mistral was the worst liveaboard I ever been on! As for our ruined trip, thanks to the guy who got bent! Still can't believe we where at Darwin and had to go back to land without wetting ourselves in those waters...:mad:

Pierre


Yeah . . . let's not devolve this thread into a major "b*t*h session" about a particular trip gone awry. S**t happens. I'm sure by now we're all over it. The good news is that a lot of life-long friendships were made on that godforsaken trip - except for one.

The bottom line is that Ken got to see more than 31 Whale Sharks up at Darwin and Wolf . . . and for that I am supremely jealous!!

Please . . . for us armchair divers . . . more pics, Ken!! :D

[Ken Hawk]

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/BoobyHead.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/Chick.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/BoobyFeet.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/Redlippedbatfish.jpg

[tarczy]

Ken-

Nice job in your latest post. What size lens?

Mojito

[Ken Hawk]

Ken-

Nice job in your latest post. What size lens?

Mojito

Thats the 100-400 L IS , as recomended on here.
Must say I am happy I got it instead of the 70-200L IS 2.8, although I would like one of them too ;)

Thanks Ken

[tarczy]

Thats the 100-400 L IS , as recommended on here.
Must say I am happy I got it instead of the 70-200L IS 2.8, although I would like one of them too ;)

Thanks Ken

I kinda thought that the 100 - 400mm IS was what you were using.

I recently acquired the same lens for my own arsenal.

I can't wait for our 2009 Galapagos trip so I can get some unique land shots like yours (if the Ecuadorian Government lets us go on land by that time . . . freakin' Banana Republic). :rolleyes:

Mojito

[Ken Hawk]

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/WhaleShark1.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/JaneWhaleshark.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/JaneShark.jpg


http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d151/buchhawk/Hammerabove.jpg