Dive Review of Reina Silvia in
Galapagos Islands

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Reina Silvia, Jul, 2006, by Greg Storey, TN, USA . Report 2906.
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	I took a mid July 2006 trip on the Reina Silvia (booked through Marc Bernardi of Aquatic Encounters). This was the best live aboard trip I have done, and certainly the best big animal experience I have had. Our lead divemaster was Victor Mendia. If you have read good reports about him elsewhere, let me say they are well deserved. Hands down the best divemaster I have ever been with on a trip. In addition to the great land tours and all the top side wildlife, the diving was incredible. We were lucky enough to have very light current and relatively warm water at Darwin Island, where we did three days of diving after the southern dives at Plazas and Genovesa. Despite the slack current, we had dozens of schooling hammerheads on every dive at Darwin. And of course the highlight were the seven whale sharks. Three were on one dive, which also included the countless hammerheads, plus several large Galapagos sharks as well as silky sharks. That dive has the notation "lifetime best" in my log. The diving at the end of the trip (Cousins Island and Albany) was also good, although a bit colder water. Lots of white tip reef sharks, eagle rays, one manta, seahorses, and young sea lions that were a blast to dive with. Diving is all done off of three tender boats. Each group has color coded tanks so the mate can spot his people when they surface. Time spent getting to the sites was always short, less than five minutes. The mates running the boats were very professional and extremely helpful. The one minor diving negative is that the gear area is on the level above where you board the tenders. However, you don't have to carry anything heavy up and down the stairs, you just put the wetsuit on upstairs then walk down with mask and fins. The BC and reg stay on the tank at all times, either in the tender boat or in a rack at the area where you board the tenders. The boat has a large platform that makes it easy for getting off and on the tenders. The food on the Reina Silvia was quite good. The cabins were reasonably sized. I booked one of the two small ones for myself and had more room than I knew what to do with. My impression is that two people in the larger cabins fared just as well space wise. Overall, this was my best live aboard experience out of a total of eight live aboard trips.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Belize, Australia (GBR, Ningaloo, Coral Sea), Palau, Yap, Bonaire, Sea of Cortez, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	71-77°F / 22-25°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Nothing really specified. Dives were usually close to one hour.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Reina Silvia in Galapagos Islands

Reina Silvia, Jul, 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 Reina Silvia in
Galapagos Islands