Diving the Galapagos – The Trip of a Lifetime

By Ollie Clarke

After sailing through the night, waking up and stepping outside to see Darwin’s Arch, you feel a sense of anticipation, excitement and nervousness. Was the journey worth it? Is my gear ready? Will it live up to expectation? Spoiler alert, it does. 

A trip to the Galapagos Islands should be on every serious divers bucket list. In November 2024, I was lucky enough to make the trip to the islands, aboard the Galapagos Sky Liveaboard. With some gear from Fourth Element to keep us warm in the challenging and changing conditions, we set off to Ecuador and San Cristobal Island for the trip of a lifetime.

It is possible to do a land based trip and dive some incredible sites, but we opted for the liveaboard as this is the only way to reach Darwin and Wolf Islands and you can get the most diversity in one trip. We boarded the boat in San Cristobal the most Easterly Island and here we did a quick check dive with some friendly Galapagos sea lions and started on the long crossing to Wolf Island almost right away. It is a long way to Wolf, so along there way we stopped off in Baltra for some dives where right away you are met with a huge abundance of life. Fever’s of eagle rays and mobulas, massive schools of fish and different species of sharks are just some of the wildlife that can encountered here. Its also a good opportunity to get used to the conditions in the Galapagos.

Currents can be extreme, visibility is often changing quickly and intense thermoclines move up and down through the water column. This is where my 7mm Xenos really started to show how good it was. The surface was a balmy 26 degrees, but at 12m we were hit with 21 degrees, hardly freezing but after descending through 26 I was glad to be in 7mm of Neoprene.

After diving at Baltra we continued on overnight towards Wolf Island, one of the most remote in the archipelago. On arrival, you’re met with ominous towering black cliffs, covered in nesting sea birds who quickly flock to the boat to investigate. Wolf Island is famous for schooling hammerheads and huge adult whale sharks. I tried to keep my excitement to a minimum, maybe we wouldn’t see anything, it is nature after all. However within about 30 seconds I met my first scalloped hammerhead and all the stories I’d heard of legendary diving in the Galapagos were proven to be true. Throughout our first dive we saw hammerheads, with some small schools passing, galapagos sharks and more fish than you can imagine.

As it was so good, we decided to cancel the night dive and attempt a fourth dive to try and get close up hammer schools. The gamble paid off, on this dive we were joined by a massive pod of bottlenose dolphins! And whilst the other divers ascended to watch the dolphins I waited back and got completely surrounded by hammerheads!

Next up was Darwin Island, home to the best dive site in the world – Darwins Arch. Although the arch collapsed in 2021 most local divers still know it as the arch, rather than there newer name Darwins Pillars. We did 7 dives at the arch and each time it was spectacular.

We were outside the usual whale shark season, although they had seen some on the previous trip so we were still in with a chance to spot one of the giants. Truth be told, we weren’t too excited to see whale sharks. After working for 4 years on the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia with one of the largest whale shark aggregations in the world, its safe to say we’d seen our fair share. However, on our 2nd dive at the arch, I noticed a shadow emerging from the depths, the biggest whale shark I’d ever seen! I was left in awe as a bus sized shark drifted by in the blue, with 2.5m galapagos sharks using it as a scratching post. Having seen hundreds of juveniles, meeting an adult 3 times the size of a Ningaloo whale shark is something I’ll never forget.

After 7 dives at the Arch, it was time to move on to cooler and weirder waters, although I’d have happily stayed for another 7 (or 20) dives at Darwin. Next on the agenda was Isabella and Fernandina Islands. These are the most Westerly islands of the Galapagos and where the coldest currents hit, its important to bring layers to the Galapagos, here we found out why. Along with my 7mm Xenos, I layered up with a 3/5mm hooded vest, 3mm gloves and RF socks.

Fernandina Island is one of the best places to dive with the iconic marine iguana’s, the nutrient rich current means there is an abundance of algae for the Iguana’s to feed on, however the cooler water means the iguana’s can only feed once a day. So whilst we waited for the iguanas to sun themselves and heat up, we did a deep dive hoping to spot sunfish (mola mola). Back rolling into 18 degrees after 4 days diving in 26 was a but of a shock to the system! But layered up I stayed comfortable, even after descending to 35m into 13 degree water! It may have been cold, but it was worth it as we were greeted by a brace of mola’s, usually not at this site.

After our morning mola dive, we saw the iguana’s beginning to enter the water for their daily feed, the signal for us to suit up again for our next dive. For me, this dive was one of the most rewarding. I’ve seen so much imagery of marine iguanas in the water, but actually being there amongst them was just so wonderful. The water is fairly cool, about 17 or 18 degrees, but I could have stayed and watched them all day. 

For our final dive of the trip, we sailed to Isabella Island and Punta Vincente Roca, a famous spot for mola mola. Before we even got in the water here, we had seen mola’s flopping around at the surface, schools of devil rays, galapagos penguins and an oceanic manta, so it’s safe to say we were pretty excited. Even after all the schools of hammers, huge whale sharks and spectacular scenery of Galapagos, this was one of my favourites. The dive site is in an ancient volcanic crater and you descend along a sheer cliff covered in soft corals and other worldly sponges, it was one of the most ‘alien’ dives I’ve ever done. We descended to almost 40m where we could see a few mola cleaning, but much deeper than we could go. As we watched, a young sea lion appeared, played with us a little before deciding we were dull and continuing deeper to investigate the mola. 

By this point we were getting low on deco time, so we started to shallow up, luckily joined by a number of mola during our ascent through the different thermoclines!

It’s safe to say if you ever had any doubts about diving the Galapagos, it should remain firmly on your bucket list, it is truly a world class destination. A few last pointers, make sure you’re ready, the diving conditions can be extremely challenging with some of the strongest currents in the world. And layer up! The temperature can be all over the place, during a week-long dive trip, we experienced 13 – 27 degrees celsius and everything in between. The general advice is bring a 7mm and extra layers. Happy diving!

Photo Of Blog Author

Ollie Clarke is an underwater photographer who was named British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2023.

Growing up on the South Coast of England Ollie developed a love for the ocean from a young age, this led him to pursue a career in Marine Biology. After completing his studies in the UK, Ollie spent almost 8 years travelling the world and working in marine conservation, the dive industry and photography. Ollie now lives Western Australia, with amazing access to the Ningaloo Reef and its iconic megafauna.