Dive Review of
Reina Silvia in
Galapagos Islands

Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Belize, Australia (GBR,Ningaloo,Coral
Sea),Palau,Yap,Bonaire,Sea of Cortez,Bahamas, Turks and Caicos

Dive Conditions

Nothing really specified.  Dives were usually close to one hour.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

I took a mid July 2006 trip on the Reina Silvia (booked through Marc
Bernardi of Aquatic Encounters).  This was the best live aboard trip I have
done, and certainly the best big animal experience I have had. Our lead
divemaster was Victor Mendia.  If you have read good reports about him
elsewhere, let me say they are well deserved.  Hands down the best
divemaster I have ever been with on a trip.

In addition to the great land tours and all the top side wildlife, the
diving was incredible.  We were lucky enough to have very light current and
relatively warm water at Darwin Island, where we did three days of diving
after the southern dives at Plazas and Genovesa.  Despite the slack
current, we had dozens of schooling hammerheads on every dive at Darwin. 
And of course the highlight were the seven whale sharks.  Three were on one
dive, which also included the countless hammerheads, plus several large
Galapagos sharks as well as silky sharks.  That dive has the notation
"lifetime best" in my log. The diving at the end of the trip
(Cousins Island and Albany) was also good, although a bit colder water. 
Lots of white tip reef sharks, eagle rays, one manta, seahorses, and young
sea lions that were a blast to dive with.

Diving is all done off of three tender boats.  Each group has color coded
tanks so the mate can spot his people when they surface.  Time spent
getting to the sites was always short, less than five minutes.  The mates
running the boats were very professional and extremely helpful.  The one
minor diving negative is that the gear area is on the level above where you
board the tenders.  However, you don't have to carry anything heavy up and
down the stairs, you just put the wetsuit on upstairs then walk down with
mask and fins.  The BC and reg stay on the tank at all times, either in the
tender boat or in a rack at the area where you board the tenders.  The boat
has a large platform that makes it easy for getting off and on the
tenders.

The food on the Reina Silvia was quite good. The cabins were reasonably
sized.  I booked one of the two small ones for myself and had more room
than I knew what to do with.  My impression is that two people in the
larger cabins fared just as well space wise.  Overall, this was my best
live aboard experience out of a total of eight live aboard trips. 

Questions?
Send an email to the author of this report

What others have to say about Undercurrent
And get immediate access to ALL 84 dive reviews of Galapagos Islands
and all other dive destinations immediately!