Galapagos

[Clay Coleman]

Here I am in Guayaquil, Ecuador. After a month of confusion regarding this trip and the Quasar boat, Alta, which hit a reef and is out of commission, we finally seem to have gotten things together. We'll fly out to the islands tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I've been on safari to the wilds of a mid-city park right across the street from our hotel. It's FULL of iguanas!

[Andrew]

Have a great trip Clay and look forward to seeing the pics!:cool:

Safe diving,
Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Staying at the Unipark Hotel? That's where I stay as well. Be careful where you stand in that park...poop rains from the overhead iguanas too!

[Clay Coleman]

Yep, Unipark. We've been on Santa Cruz for 2 days. We've made dives on Seymour Island, Mosquera, and 3 dives today on Gordon Rock. The viz has been awful--10-12 feet yesterday and 20-25 feet today. We've seen lots of stuff--hammerheads, mantas, eagle rays, cow-nosed rays, turtles, etc. However, the viz has prevented much photography. We move to Floreana tomorrow morning, and maybe things are better there. I'll try to attach some photos (very slow Internet connection here)

[sorvju-f]

Here I am in Guayaquil, Ecuador. After a month of confusion regarding this trip and the Quasar boat, Alta, which hit a reef and is out of commission, we finally seem to have gotten things together. We'll fly out to the islands tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I've been on safari to the wilds of a mid-city park right across the street from our hotel. It's FULL of iguanas!

I know that one:D

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Yep, Unipark. We've been on Santa Cruz for 2 days. We've made dives on Seymour Island, Mosquera, and 3 dives today on Gordon Rock. The viz has been awful--10-12 feet yesterday and 20-25 feet today. We've seen lots of stuff--hammerheads, mantas, eagle rays, cow-nosed rays, turtles, etc. However, the viz has prevented much photography. We move to Floreana tomorrow morning, and maybe things are better there. I'll try to attach some photos (very slow Internet connection here)

Sorry to hear abut viz...I can also see it from the pictures. Anyhow your list of potential subjects is impressive, just to get better viz...I really hope you get one.

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Well, chat buddies, the trip did not improve. We experienced the worst viz in the 22-year experience of our dive guide and the coldest weather in history due to La Nina. We never had viz over 20', and most of the time it was much less. Brandon (Cole) will be here for 3 more weeks, and I hope things improve for him. I had some luck with the red-lipped batfish on Floreana, and I got a few sea lions.

[sorvju-f]

Well, chat buddies, the trip did not improve. We experienced the worst viz in the 22-year experience of our dive guide and the coldest weather in history due to La Nina. We never had viz over 20', and most of the time it was much less. Brandon (Cole) will be here for 3 more weeks, and I hope things improve for him. I had some luck with the red-lipped batfish on Isabela, and I got a few sea lions.

I am very sorry to hear your viz problems. Mother nature is so unpredictable. We had warm water eastern side of islands and clearly colder water western side of islands

Your message reminded from our trip 2009. The viz was good specially round Wolf and Darwin.

Which sites were included to your tour?

I love your sea lion picture and red lip.

Looks like that whale shark was huge...15 meters?

Jukka

[tarczy]

Clay-

Nice shots, Buddy!

Hey . . . at least you got some Whale Shark pics. Last Quasar trip I was on . . . all we got were Red Lipped Batfish, some Penguins and pics of one of our passengers suckin' on an oxygen tank as we dead-headed back to the island that had the chamber. :mad:

P.S. Hope the trip was at least "fun" for you, notwithstanding the vis problems.

[Clay Coleman]

@ Jukka: The whale shark was small--15 feet, maybe. I still couldn't get far enough away from it and I cut of its tail. The thing showed up while I was trying to replace a BC weight that had fallen out, and my buddy (David Breidenbach) was holding both of our cameras. How can a 15' fish sneak up on you?

@ Mark: I was glad to finally divorce myself from Quasar, and it was a miracle that Brandon pulled this trip off at all. We weren't on a liveaboard and had long, uncomfortable rides in a little 6-pack with 14 people on board. The weather was pretty miserable along with the poor viz. But at least we got out there, made some dives, and saw some incredible stuff in the gloom.

[Clay Coleman]

Which sites were included to your tour?



We originally planned a liveaboard to Wolf and Darwin, but when Quasar canceled that trip we did day trips around Santa Cruz, Floreana, and Isabela plus a stop at Roca Blanco on our way back to Santa Cruz from Isabela. Our best dives were at Floreana--the funkiest island in the bunch, in my opinion.

[Clay Coleman]

A few more:

[Andrew]

Great photos Clay. Shame you did not get up to Darwin and Wolf, but at least it looks like you got some good dives in. Did you see many hammerheads?

Andrew

[Clay Coleman]

Hi Andrew. We saw a few hammers at Gordon Rocks, but nobody got any shots. The viz was so bad (see the shot of cow-nosed rays at the beginning of this thread) that you had to be right on top of subjects. But the hammerheads were there. Maybe next time.

[Andrew]

Well a good reason to go back again then :D

I remember we dove Gordons as well before our liveaboard and the vis was pretty bad there as well as a serious swell which made the dive a real challenge! :eek:

Andrew

[Jonathan Bird]

Clay, just to make you feel a little better...the viz in the southern Galapagos is always pretty poor. It wasn't just you. I don't think I have ever had more than 30 feet of viz down there (and usually a lot less), at any of the islands in the south. You pulled out a nice whale shark, some great sea lions, batfish...plus all the topside. I think ya done good, man!!

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks, Jonathan. I don't mean to ***** and moan too much. It was a very interesting trip, but it was far from what we had originally planned. Brandon has been sending messages, and things have improved a bit for him.

I put up more pics at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id571.htm

[sorvju-f]

Thanks, Jonathan. I don't mean to ***** and moan too much. It was a very interesting trip, but it was far from what we had originally planned. Brandon has been sending messages, and things have improved a bit for him.

I put up more pics at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id571.htm

It is really nice to see that you are using time to take topsides also...actually trip report without them is jus half report.

I love that shot of bluefoot.

Jukka