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Sky Dancer Liveaboard : Galapagos, Ecuador : Trip Report
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The Guests

Coming from the United Kingdom, Sweden, South Africa, Hong Kong and the U.S.A. the 16 guests of the Sky Dancer shared a love of adventure and were a fantastic group to travel with.


Alex from London
Angela from Hong Kong
Ann from New York
Ben from Seattle

Casey from Seattle
Frank from Denver
Greg from Chicago
Henrik from Sweden

Jeff from Albuquerque
Jenny from South Africa
Kelly from Albuquerque
Melanie from Hawaii

Peter from the UK
Richard from South Africa
Steve from Hawaii
Sue from the UK

The Ship

The Sky Dancer is part of the Peter Hughes fleet but is owned and operated by an Ecuadorian company called Ecoventura. The boat sleeps 16 passengers and has a crew of 11, one of the highest crew to passenger ratios I've ever seen. The ship itself has 4 levels. The bottom level has 4 passenger cabins, the next level has the dive deck, dining room and salon. The next level has the bridge, 4 additional passenger cabins and and outdoor area called the "Booby Deck". The final level is a sun deck with a nice shady area which is very important on the Equator. We didn't use it very often because it was surprisingly cold and overcast a lot.

The average dive day starts with breakfast around 7am. Good coffee is always ready by then as well as a selection of cut fruit, cold cuts and breads. During breakfast a crew member takes your breakfast orders which include eggs any way you want, pancakes and french toast.

After breakfast we usually did two morning dives, depending on where we were, followed by lunch. Lunch was always buffet style and included soup and at least one type of meat and several types of vegetables. After lunch there was either a shore excursion and/or a dive or two.

Dinner was always white tablecloth and sit-down. Most days there was a choice of two dinner entrees displayed on a white board. Dinner almost always included an appetizer, soup, the entree and desert. Chilean white and red wines were available. The food was always pretty decent and very healthy with lots of vegetables. Few things were fried but the food was often a little bland for my tastes. Fortunately two types of hot sauce were available at every table.

After dinner we usually hung out in the salon and talked, read books or watched movies. A couple guests brought some DVDs to watch with the group.
Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

Our first Sea Lion, asleep at the dock on the way to the ship.
Viewed: 212 times.
The dinghy to transport us to the ship.
Viewed: 85 times.
The M/Y Sky Dancer
Viewed: 191 times.

Salon where we spent a lot of off-time watching movies.
Viewed: 185 times.
The small but well stocked bar.
Viewed: 96 times.
The dining room.
Viewed: 148 times.

Large camera table.
Viewed: 151 times.
The "Booby Deck" perfect for relaxing when the weather was good.
Viewed: 177 times.
Ann and Frank relaxing between dives on the "Booby Deck".
Viewed: 135 times.

The sun deck up top.
Viewed: 121 times.
Before arriving at Wolf Island we were issued these transmitters, just in case.
Viewed: 180 times.
Lots of time for conversation. Santiago, Ann, Henrick and Alex.
Viewed: 166 times.

Ben always looked a little too happy.
Viewed: 121 times.
Back of the ship showing the Dive Deck and Booby Deck.
Viewed: 115 times.
The giving captain his preview of the following day during dinner.
Viewed: 113 times.

Santiago giving one of his thorough dive briefings.
Viewed: 172 times.
Detailed diagram of the dive site.
Viewed: 175 times.
Jenny makes improvements to Santiago's diagram.
Viewed: 117 times.

King Neptune?
Viewed: 96 times.
Dance party on the Booby Deck.
Viewed: 167 times.
Jeff, the crew and King Neptune.
Viewed: 105 times.

Henrick, Ann, Peter, Sue and Richard.
Viewed: 155 times.
Frank and Ann playing with a GPS to find out when we pass the equator again.
Viewed: 116 times.

Great shot of Wolf Island with another liveaboard nearby.
Viewed: 33 times.
Darwin Island with Darwin's Arch on the right.
Viewed: 86 times.

The Diving

Diving from the Sky Dancer is done exclusively from "pangas", which are a type of inflatable zodiak-style boats. Upon arriving at a site we would have a briefing on the Booby Deck after which we would start preparing our gear. Once everyone was geared up several crew members would assist us getting into the pangas as the seas were often pretty choppy. Our fins and cameras were brought on the panga once we were all on and we would finish getting ready on the short ride to the dive site. Once there the divemaster would count to three and everyone would roll off the back into the water. Usually you didn't linger at the surface due to the waves and current. The dive groups were pretty manageable at a maximum of 8 divers per divemaster.

In the southern islands the water in early June was pretty cold and had minimal current. Most of those sites were pretty sheltered. There we saw lots of fish but the highlights were the dives with Sea Lions. They are incredibly curious and loved to play with divers. The best was one dive where several Sea Lions played with us by tugging on our hoses and biting our bubbles. They are one of the few sea animals attracted by our bubbles instead of being repelled.

The northern islands were quite a bit warmer and I usually dove without my hood. There was often a strong current with significant surge. But this is where the big animals are, such a Galapagos Sharks, schools of Scalloped Hammerheads and of course Whale Sharks. We were surprised to see Whale Sharks as June was the very beginning of Whale Shark season and they're really not expected reliably until July. Despite that we saw several Whale Sharks, sometimes 2 or 3 on a single dive.

Below are just a few of the photos I took during this trip. Too see all the photos as well video clips and photos taken by others on this trip please see the Dive Log and view the individual dives. I also used my Canon S400 with Sea & Sea YS-25Auto Strobe for the first time on this trip. It's interesting to note that all the video clips from this trip where taken with the video mode of standard digital CAMERAS! No camcorders where used.
Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

Henrick watching a Seal Lion on our first dive.
Viewed: 199 times.
More: Dive 188
A colorful Panamic Cushion Star.
Viewed: 246 times.
More: Dive 190
Black Coral with what look like Pink Cardinalfish.
Viewed: 151 times.
More: Dive 192

Henrick blowing bubbles at a Sea Lion.
Viewed: 230 times.
More: Dive 196
Green Sea Turtle.
Viewed: 243 times.
More: Dive 197
A Pacific Seahorse.
Viewed: 218 times.
More: Dive 198

A pair of Spotted Eagle Rays.
Viewed: 421 times.
More: Dive 200
Great shot of a Galapagos Shark.
Viewed: 427 times.
More: Dive 201
Outline of a diver and Whale Shark from below.
Viewed: 328 times.
More: Dive 203

A rare close pass by a Scalloped Hammerhead.
Viewed: 270 times.
More: Dive 204
A Bottlenose Dolphin passed as we were on the surface.
Viewed: 247 times.
More: Dive 206
Hanging on waiting for Mr. Big. Melanie, Steve, Ann and Alex.
Viewed: 323 times.
More: Dive 207

I worked very hard to get this Whale Shark shot.
Viewed: 843 times.
More: Dive 208
I was amazed by the colors of this Black Durgon.
Viewed: 461 times.
More: Dive 209
A Fine Spotted Moray out in the open.
Viewed: 184 times.
More: Dive 210
Video available:
Several video clips of encounters with Whale Sharks taken by Richard, Frank, Melanie and myself combined into one video. (10 minutes 48 seconds)
56Kbps Modem RealVideo Stream
256Kbps Broadband RealVideo Stream
256Kbps Broadband Windows Media Stream Experimental
Viewed: 26881 times.
Video available:
A video clip of a squadron of Spotted Eagle Rays on our last dive.
56Kbps Modem RealVideo Stream (1 minute 23 seconds)
256Kbps Broadband RealVideo Stream (1 minute 23 seconds)
Viewed: 836 times.
There are additional underwater video clips in the dive logs for Dive 191, Dive 202 and Dive 209.


Comments From People Like You!
Sky Dancer Liveaboard : Galapagos, Ecuador 2004		Add a Comment add a comment
Piotrek
09-Dec-2006 09:12
Wlasnie skonczylismy ogladac zdjecia....jestesmy pod wrazeniem.....wszystko piekne i ciekawe
Kim Boutain
06-Sep-2004 18:13
Greg,

What a great report.  It looks like you had an incredible time.  I am going to be on the skydancer in Oct.  Can't wait.
Tom Shropshire
06-Aug-2004 16:13
Greg-

I certainly have to agree with Travis.  What a wonderful report.  Always glad to see people have the chance to experience the Galapagos Islands.
S.A.F.E. diving. . .
Travis Gainsley
06-Aug-2004 15:03
Greg,

This is one of the finest trip reports I've ever seen posted on our site! Great job. I was on the Sky Dancer in Aug '03 and shooting the S400 (minus strobes). Glad to see you had fun. I forwarded to Peter Hughes to check out, hope you don't mind.

Also, with your permission I would like to send to Canon.

thanks
Travis Gainsley
Scuba Diving Magazine
212-447-1400- x150

Next Section: My journey to another world continues with a shore excursion to Isla Lobos.
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