Diving in there Galapagos Islands – April in Review
Another month has passed and we are happy to report of some amazing diving as we continue to enjoy the warmer waters here, we certified new students and now have an even safer and healthier team. Make sure you read to the end as we share with you yet another animal spectacular! Here is the latest goings-ons here at Academy Bay Diving and within the Galapagos Islands…
Happily Vaccinated
It is a strange feeling to be so happy about receiving a vaccination. But like with many others lucky enough to have access to the injection against COVID-19, that was the case for our team as we all received our first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination!
That means that this month, we will all be fully vaccinated and protected against the virus, making your trip and visit to us even safer! The government’s goal, which they seem to be on track to achieving, is to have every resident of the Galapagos islands vaccinated by the end of May. We’re all working hard to get the islands back up and running again as a safe place for everyone to visit and we’re all very grateful to have the vaccinations readily available for the community so soon.
Join us under the sea
In April we welcomed a few new members to the wonderful world of scuba diving, happily seeing them through their courses to obtain their PADI Open Water or Advanced Open Water Certificates. It is amazing that our team gets to introduce people to this incredible sport and we love what we do! If the marvelous marine life here isn’t enough to tempt you to try Scuba Diving Worldwide Dive and Sail listed 12 benefits of scuba diving, take a look…
- Increases emotional well being
- Improves blood circulation
- Helps relieve stress
- Improves concentration capacity
- Reduces blood pressure
- Increases strength and flexibility of your muscles
- Visit paradisiacal places
- Healing effects of salty water and sun on skin and bones
- Connection with nature
- Builds long lasting friendships
- Feeling of freedom
- Increases confidence and self esteem
Incredible right? Those points are hard to argue with! We here at Academy Bay have been diving for a long time, we’re experts in the field and not one of us can argue with any of those benefits! So, what’s stopping you?
Scuba diving is an exciting and fun sport, and the fun is not just while underwater, it opens up a new world for you, meeting new people on dive trips, new travel opportunities and being part of the underwater world is an amazing peaceful experience. Who wouldn’t want to glide alongside a graceful ray or swim through a giant school of fish?
If you are looking to become a certified diver or just want to test the water (I couldn’t leave out that pun now, could I?), Academy Bay Diving can help you! With a team of certified instructors and local guides we can introduce you to the amazing life of scuba diving with one of our PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) certified courses.
Discovery Dive
Also known as a “try dive”, this is perfect for those that want to give it a go and get a taste of what scuba diving is like before starting a certification (or not). We will teach you the basic skills you need, test your abilities and when everyone is comfortable we will take you to a safe shallow dive site to complete your first dive. Who knows what you will see!
Open Water (OWC)
This course is the starting point to fulfil your diving dreams! You will be taught the ins and outs of scuba diving including the science, equipment and safety measures and students are guided through the required theory. Then you will head to a swimming pool with our qualified instructors to test your skills before heading out to the ocean for some fun diving, log your first 5 dives and officially becoming a certified diver! The course can be done in a little as three days but can be done at a slower pace if required.
Advanced Open Water
If you have taken your OWC and ready for the next step this advanced course teaches you more knowledge and experience in different situations that you might encounter underwater. It teaches you navigation techniques and takes you deeper to 30meters a long with other skills.
We also offer other speciality courses and dives, such as Nitrox which is often required if you want to do a diving liveaboard cruise here in the Galapagos. Or why not do your Divemaster intership with us? Take a look at all courses in more detail here.
Tortoises want to dive too!
Wildlife really is incredible and the animals of the Galapagos islands continue to surprise us. We are so lucky to live amongst a variety of interesting and unique species here. It is true that everyday we can see sea lions sitting on the public benches or iguanas bask in the sun, although we don’t get bored, it is true that many of us have become accustomed to share the islands with this amazing creatures. However, we were all surprised recently when a Galapagos guide, Leandro Vaca, shared photos on social media last month of an incredibly rare sight. The famous giant Galapagos tortoise, that are known to live and roam on the islands higher grounds with humid climates where forage is generally abundant and easily available, was seen on a beach in San Cristobal!
As if this was not surprising enough, the guide was amazed to witness this tortoise continue it’s slow walk down towards the ocean and didn’t stop at the shore! This native species of Galapagos continued and entered the water and seemingly went for a swim! Just astounding. Last month we observed orca whales eating a hammerhead (if you missed that make sure to check it out here), now we show you a land tortoise taking a dip, whatever next!
Written by Charli Pocock