Dive Review of Mistral in
Galapagos Islands

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Mistral, Sep, 2006, by Carl Bodenstein, WA, United States . Report 2863.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Sorry, Mistral, this was a bad experience. There is no way this boat should accomodate 12 divers despite it's 6 small double cabin accomodations. The toilet and sewage system was horrid, and all the cabins stunk like a cess pool. The air conditioning was inadequate and could not be run while the air compressor was being run to fill tanks. And on a Galapagos trip, the hope is they will have to fill a lot of tanks. Only one tank per diver available and some 6 extras and after adequate surface intervals tanks were usually still not refilled, interfering with our dive schedule and costing several dive opportunities to be passed on. Our itinery was for several days at Darwin and Wolf, but due to a DCS affected diver, we returned to Baltra early, and the boat is overly slow and it took 29 hours to get back south despite relatively calm seas. Our diver's fault entirely, but also note no dive master in the water the dive with the injury. No real pride in the cleanliness of the cabin and there is now way that 12 divers can sit at the single dinner table for meals. AV equipment is of poor quality. What more can I say. Expensive and long to travel to Galapagos to have this poor a dive operation. Sorry for the crew that tried their best. This is not worth the savings over other operators. This diver's opinion at least!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	2nd trip to Galapagos. Caribean locations, Hawaii, Fiji, British Columbia
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, surge, currents
Water Temp	72-74°F / 22-23°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-50 Ft/ 5-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Asked to dive strick buddy system, hard to do in these conditions. Limited dive times and attempted pick up areas, again hard to do in these conditions.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	>2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		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	The boat could barely accomodate our gear. Useless fresh water rinse "tank" could barely accomodate the smallest of our housings. Not enthusiastic to be cautious with gear. One expensive dome port was scratched badly. Small dingies could not hold gear and divers well.

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Dive Review of Mistral in Galapagos Islands

Mistral, Sep, 2006,

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 Mistral in
Galapagos Islands