The Ultimate Diving Experience: DARWIN ISLAND, GALAPAGOS Darwin Island simply has the best "big animal" diving in the world. No place else has so much BIG STUFF to see. It is widely recognized as the whale shark capital of the world. I have chartered the Aggressor for a special 12 day itinerary to Darwin/Wolf Island in August 2009. These are trips specifically to go to Darwin/Wolf and stay there for a week to photograph hammerheads and whale sharks. Although we can't guarantee anything, we have never failed to see whale sharks in the past 5 years. There will be 14 people on the cruise, including me. Join the fun! (Check out the 2002 Galapagos Trip Report and the 2003 Trip Report ). By the way, my book Adventures with Sharks has tons of amazing images from Darwin Island trips! TRIP DETAILS 2012 trip TBA THIS IS THE ULTIMATE GALAPAGOS TRIP!   This trip has been planned during the height of the whale shark/hammerhead season. This time of year, Darwin is chock full of BIG BIG Whale sharks. My previous trips have all been 7 days, and one thing I have learned is that there is just not enough time in 7 days to really experience the Galapagos, especially because the ride to Wolf and Darwin islands takes 15 hours. So I designed this trip to be the ultimate, with six FULL DAYS at Wolf and Darwin, instead of 3-4 as in past trips. We visit some off-the-beaten-path sites for interesting things like mola mola sunfish, dives with the penguins and dives with the marine iguanas. This is a trip designed specifically for photographers and videographers who want to shoot all the unique and exotic things that make the Galapagos special in ONE TRIP. PRICE: $6,400.00 per person. Does not include flights, hotel in Guayaquil, park entry fees, gratuities, or bar tab on the boat. Want to go? CONTACT JONATHAN Already going or want to see the flight itinerary? Read the Darwin FAQ... Basic Itinerary (please note, this itinerary is the basic itinerary and may change slightly as all itineraries can be changed by the Galapagos National Park). •Aug 4: Fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Arrive afternoon or evening. •Aug 5: Spend the day in Guayaquil. This is an important thing to do because bags are notoriously delayed a day if they miss a connection. This gives 24 hours for delayed bags (or people!) to catch up so we don't have to delay departure of the boat. Because we are going all the way to Darwin Island, 15 hours from the main island group, there will be no way for late passengers to join us. If you are late, you will miss the boat! So, plan on arriving on the 4th and spending a day in Guayaquil. •Aug 6: Fly to San Christobal, Galapagos from Guayaquil in the morning. Board the boat and do a short trip to Isla Lobos that afternoon. Get in a checkout dive with the sea lions. •Aug 7: After an overnight run, we wake up at Wolf Island for 3 dives with hammerheads and Galapagos sharks, and a night dive with the Red-lipped batfish. •Aug 8-12: We dive Darwin Island for 5 days. This is where we see huge schools of hammerheads and whale sharks as well as dolphins, turtles, massive schools of jacks, etc. •Aug 13: Diving at Roca Redonda for more large pelagics •Aug 14-15: Diving at Punta Vincente Roca for mola molas and underwater shots of marine iguanas. •Aug 16: Snorkeling with the penguins at Bartolome and land hike. •Aug 17: Disembark boat at San Cristobal, flights back to Guayaquil. Overnight in Guayaquil. •Aug 18: Flights home from Guayaquil. REQUIREMENTS All divers must be nitrox certified and use nitrox on this trip. No exceptions. This is for safety with the kind of diving we are doing. You can get certified on the ride to Darwin by an instructor on the Aggressor, but I would prefer if you were certified in advance. CONDITIONS The water at Darwin is typically 75 degrees this time of the year, with vis around 80-100 feet. A 5 mm suit is best. Bring a "beater" or buy a cheapie, because it will get mangled from all the barnacles. Also, a pair of kevlar gloves are recommended because you end up holding onto the barnacle-covered rocks a lot and it tears up gloves. In the southern part of the archipeligo, the water runs more like 68 degrees (and only 30-40 feet of vis), so some people bring a 7 mm suit. However, we're only doing a few dives there, so unless you get really cold, a 5 mm is fine. I bring a hooded vest to add to the 5 mm down south and that seems to work well. The diving does involve current. The stronger the current runs, the better the hammerhead action is. Current can run from nearly zero to a couple of knots. When the current is strong, you will need to hold on to the rocks! But the current doesn't usually stay strong for a whole dive. It tends to come and go. Nonetheless, this is not a trip for a new or inexperienced diver! Contrary to popular belief, this is not a deep diving trip. You do not normally need to dive deep to see the hammerheads or whale sharks. In fact, you should not need to dive much deeper than 80 feet if you don't want to. Rebreathers Unfortunately, the Aggressor policy no longer allows rebreathers. Other ideas of prices: Airfaire to Guayaquil ("Gwai-ah-keel") is currently running around $650 rt from Boston. Next, you need a ticket to the Galapagos from Guayaquil. You cannot buy this ticket yourself because access to the Galapagos is tightly controlled (it's a national park). Therefore, the Aggressor office will set us up with tickets to the Galapagos. The price for those run around $350.00 pp. I will arrange the hotel in Guayaquil. That runs $80 per night for a double room ($40 pp). You also have to pay a $100 park fee to enter the Galapagos and a $20 exit fee to leave the country. So, you're looking at roughly $1100 for airfare and fees on top of the trip itself. Don't forget a tip for the crew and your bar tab. Payment Schedule: Deposit (Due ASAP) $500.00 Payment 2 10/1/08 $600.00 Payment 3 1/1/09 $1,200.00 Payment 4 3/1/09 $1,800.00 Payment 5 5/1/09 $2,300.00 More questions? Please Read the Darwin Trip Info Page! The Darwin Trip Info page has the specifics on flights, dates, etc. PLEASE read this page before you e-mail me with questions! Added Bonus! Being stuck on the boat with me means that you have the added benefit of photographic and video advice. I will be available for photo tips and cheap advice. (Which might do more harm than good!) What camera gear is best? Get ready for some WIDE ANGLE work. If you're shooting with a Nikonos, I find the 20 mm lens to be the best lens for use with the hammerheads, and the 15 mm lens is better for whale sharks. With a housing, a 24 mm or 28 mm lens is good for hammers and a 20 mm or 18 mm (or wider!) is best for whale sharks. But don't leave the macro lens at home. There are also macro subjects (batfish, frogfish and morays in particular). I suggest using a single strobe system here. While I almost always shoot with two strobes, the current makes it a lot easier to use only one at Darwin. Most shark portraits look just as good with one strobe as long as you aim it well! For the macro dives, two strobes is managable. Digital cameras are great here because of the instant feedback. Bring a wide lens! For video, just bring something with a wide angle lens and the ability to manually focus or lock the focus. (Auto focus will not work well on the whale sharks...they are too big and the autofocus "hunts" a lot.) GENERAL QUESTIONS on Dive Adventures with Jonathan Bird? Check out the General FAQ page....   More Dive Adventures with Jonathan Bird....   Check out the new book Adventures with Sharks with many images taken on this trip. Schools of Eagle Rays! A whole school of hammerheads swings by for a look! A hammerhead shark passes close by me. With my 15 mm lens, this shark looks like it's 8 feet from me, but it's more like 4 feet away, and the shark is about 7 feet long. Now that's a lot of hammerheads! This shot gives an idea just how many hammerheads there are at Darwin Island. But without continued protection, these sharks could all be fished out in a few days. I'm perched on the rocks at about 70 feet and the sharks pass by above me in the hundreds. Another hammerhead swings in close for a peek at my Nikonos. When the hammers are being cleaned, they come close to the reef. The mouth of this shark is six feet across! Check out a video clip of a whale shark from the 2002 trip...   It's not all big stuff. How about marine iguanas! Playful Galapagos Sea Lions! Sea Turtles! The endemic Red-lipped Batfish! Massive schools of fish! Endangered Galapagos Penguins!    Home | Photography | Assignment | Publishing | Video | Dive Adventures | CV | Contact | Site Index Last Update 8/19/09