Dive Review of Calipso Dive in
Galapagos Islands

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Calipso Dive: "The Galapagos Does Not Disappoint", Jun, 2023, by Pamela Herbert, NC, US ( Reviewer 4 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 12460.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Boat: The Calipso is a modern, clean, well provisioned boat that has both smoke detectors and fire sprinklers throughout. They also had a few 02 tanks and fire extinguishers (3 stations, I believe). I felt very safe. They ran a full blown muster drill the day we boarded so that everyone had experience grabbing and donning their life vests. We also did a check out dive so everyone could test their rental equipment and figure out how much weight they needed. We got to play with sea lions in the process. The ensuite cabins (all of them) were a nice size with plenty of storage space. The main deck had a large dive deck with individual stations where you had your tank and a stainless steel locker with a hinged lid. There were 4 hot water shower heads across the back of the deck and warm towels after every dive. There were numbered hangers for hanging wetsuits. Inside on the main deck is a charging area, dining room, bar and briefing area. Lots of room to socialize. 2 cabins are on the main deck and 6 are upstairs. Up from there was a nice sun deck with a jacuzzi, tables for sun deck dining chaise lounges and a kitchen/serving area. The divers were organized into 2 groups to split between the 2 guides and the guides swapped groups every other day. Both of our guides, Peter and Javier, were great. Peter is also a naturalist and was a font of information. Itinerary and Diving: Although late June is not the best time to dive the Galapagos the diving was great. The normal itinerary is to sail to Santa Cruz Island the first night however, one of the engines on the boat had an issue and the part that was supposed to have been delivered to San Cristobal was not so we needed to get over toward Baltra to pick it up the next day. I have to say the Calipso crew exercised flexibility when needed and it worked out great. There was another need to change things up I'll discuss in a minute. We did 4 dives on Day 2, 2 at Mosquera Islet and 2 at North Seymour. This turned out to be just fine. In addition to seeing some sharks (white tipped) and large schools of fish, there was a huge field of garden eels, generally referred to by the crew as Spah-GET-i fish (lol). Overnight motored to Isabella Island where we did 3 dives seeing an oceanic manta, tiger eel, creole fish, 11ty thousand fang toothed blennies and more. After Dive 3 we took a panga ride along the shore where we saw sea lions, blue footed boobies, penguins, flightless cormorants and pelican as well as a school of dolphin. It was a beautiful ride. That night we motored to Wolf and on the 4th day we did 2 dives at Wolf and 2 at Darwin. Wolf was fantastic - schools of hammerheads, rays, creole fish, Moorish Idols and even a baby seal in the shallow areas. Lots of fun. For the afternoon dives we went to Darwin. Not so great. The visibility was not great and the shark count was low. That said, they were still good dives as are almost all dives. As long as nothing bad happens, it's good as far as I'm concerned. The next morning we took 1 dive at Darwin and then the crew asked if we would rather go back to Wolf for the other 3 dives. This is what I mean by flexibility. They did the best thing for everyone's enjoyment. Off we went to Wolf and had 3 more great dives at Landslide (2) and Shark Bay. That night we motored back to Isabella and Fernandina islands to spend a day looking for Mola Mola, Whale Sharks and red lipped batfish and to swim with the marine iguanas. All of our dreams did not come true (no whale sharks, no mola mola) but we had 4 great dives. Our first was a deep dive at Cape Douglas where we saw a couple of sea robins in addition to other critters and the 2nd was with the marine iguanas and sea lions. Both were great dives. In the afternoon we dove at Punta Vicente Roca where we did not, sadly enough, see any whale sharks or mola mola but we still had a good time. Our final day we did 2 dives at Cousins Rock. Oddly enough the macro life was nowhere to be seen but we did see lots of sea turtles, long nosed hawkfish, an interesting coronet fish, a very large scorpion fish and assorted other critters. On that note it was time to stay out of the water to prepare to fly the next day so we went to the El Chato Ranch to see the giant land tortoises and to walk through a lava tunnel. Our guide Peter shared tons of information about the wildlife and the formation of the island. We then went to the Interpretive center to wrap up our trip and then had dinner in town. Back to the boat to motor to San Cristobal Island where we disembarked, hung out and had a final coffee together and headed to the airport. Conclusion: It was a truly wonderful trip and I can't thank the crew of the Calipso enough for making it so fun. That includes the support crew of panga drivers and deck hand or whatever they are called. Everyone was fantastic. There was always great music playing on the dive deck and delicious snacks, hot chocolate and hot towels after every dive. The food was delicious and plentiful. There was a surprise one evening at dinner which I won't tell you about in case you ever go go but let me tell you - it was a ton of fun. 2 thumbs up for the Calipso and its crew. I gave everything 5 stars even though I know there are fancier boats with fancier food out there but this boat, crew and chef worked great for me. Everyone was helpful,knowledgeable, funny and fun - it just doesn't get any better than that. 'm already thinking of going back for round 2.
Websites	Calipso Dive
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Guanaja, Utila, Roatan, Belize, Bonaire, Curacao, Baja, Bahamas, NC coast
Closest Airport	QUI	Getting There	we flew from RDU through Atlanta. No issues but it's hard to line up Quito to Galapagos flights without spending the night
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	76-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-30 Ft/ 5-9 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with guide and do safety stop at roughly 40-50 minutes
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There is a camera table on the dive deck and a rinse tank. There are lots of outlets in the dining room. Only 1 diver had a large rig and a couple of people had iPhone cases and most of us had GoPros. I have to admit it was nice not having a lot of big, fancy cameras on board or in the pangas.

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Dive Review of Calipso Dive in Galapagos Islands

Calipso Dive: "The Galapagos Does Not Disappoint", Jun, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Calipso Dive in
Galapagos Islands