Dive Review of Yemaya in
Colombia/Malpelo

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Yemaya: "Great Trip, but Tough to Get There", May, 2016, by David Marchese, PA, US ( Sr. Contributor 20 reports with 28 Helpful votes). Report 9049 has 2 Helpful votes.
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	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was a very good trip despite requiring nearly 3 days of travel each way. Our outward crossing was pretty rough, and since the island is a small rock, we were not able to escape to flat water for about 5 days. The return trip was pretty flat. The dive operation is very good. The crew was top notch, and the food was excellent. We were in one of the two master cabins, which was about the size of medium sized room on most liveaboards. The boat was clean and well maintained. The crew worked hard yet mingled with guests, which I liked. The diving was excellent, but on the advanced end. Compared to our two trips to Socorro, two trips to Cocos, and two trips to Galapagos, I'd say Malpelo was different enough to still be worth doing. The schools of silkies were impressive, we saw an average of one whale shark each day, and the schools of hammers were pretty thick at times. We also saw a lot of eagle rays. However, the water was surgy, the viz was poor, and the hammers were more shy than we found them to be in Cocos. Overall, it made photography challenging. Only doing 3 dives a day when traveling that far was another downside. Plus, most dives were deep so dives were generally 45 minutes on average.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Turks & Caicos, Bay Islands, Bahamas, Fiji, Saba, Maldives, California, Revillagigedo, Cozumel, Midway, Kona, Galapagos, Panama, Palau, Tahiti, Cocos, Tonga, PNG, Komodo, Sulawesi, Holbox, Solomon Islands, Belize, Komodo, Raja Ampat.
Closest Airport	Panama City	Getting There	Overnight in Panama City, 5 hours bus to coast, 32 hour crossing
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	73-80°F / 23-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	25-60 Ft/ 8-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	We dove in groups. Boat holds 16. We were divided into two groups of 8 and did different dive sites each dive. Guides made us stay with the group, but they were pretty laid back about it.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	They initially told me that I had to back-roll holding my housed DSLR rig with two strobes! I said, "No way", and got them to hand it to me without too much argument. They have good sized camera-only tables, good rinse tanks, and air guns. Other than them wanting me to backroll with my rig, I'd say they were well set up for photographers.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Yemaya in Colombia/Malpelo

Yemaya: "Great Trip, but Tough to Get There", May, 2016,

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 Yemaya in
Colombia/Malpelo