Academy Bay

Academy Bay is a short 2,5 mile navigation from the dive center. This area is great for introductory diving, beginners and intermediate divers. We always request that each person spend a minimum of 1 day diving Academy Bay to get acclimated to our waters, wet suit and the visibility. We recommend that beginning certified divers do at least 2 days in Academy Bay before heading to the more distant spots.

The Academy Bay area is easier diving with very little current. The following are some of the Academy Bay diving sites - dive sites will not be specified when confirming an Academy Bay program since we select the sites according to the divers skills and the conditions of the day.

• Punta Estrada
  Sea turtle canyon in Academy Bay. Invertebrates, tropical fish, stingrays, green sea turtles with possible encounters with golden rays and some white-tip reef sharks. There are many interesting geological formations.
• Caamaño Islet
  Offers a chance to swim and play with friendly sea lions, many tropical fish and a few marine iguanas.
• Punta Nunez Cliffs
  Wall diving with a cave. At this site you can see turtles, stingrays and tropical fish.
• El Bajo Solmar
  This submerged shoal at Academy Bay has an impressive amount of fish, white-tip reef sharks, morays, invertebrates, caverns, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles and sea fans. A great diving site for intermediate as well as experienced divers.

Outside Academy Bay

The dive sites outside Academy Bay have a navigation distance of between 20 and 38 miles. The approximate travel time is 1 hour to each site. Galápagos Sub-Aqua always has three crew members on board when diving outside of Academy Bay. These areas are spectacular sites representing world-class diving and are for intermediate to experienced divers.

• Floreana
  Enderby Islet, Punta Ayora, Champion Islet and Devil's Crown are the dive sites where you will experience sea lions, exotic fish, thousands of tropical fish, barracudas, black coral, white-tip reef sharks and Galápagos sharks, moray eels, some hammerheads and eagle rays. You will have an excellent opportunity for dolphin-watching during the boat trip to and from Floreana. You will also enjoy some sightseeing by boat of the local marine- and bird life, such as sea lions, blue footed boobies, frigate bird, penguins, marine iguanas, etc.
• Gordon Rocks
  Here you will experience diving with turtles, big fish, hundreds of tropical fishes, hammerheads, Galápagos sharks, black-tip sharks and white-tip reef sharks, large morays, spotted eagle rays, golden- and stingrays as well as fur sea lions. This is the best one daytrip for experienced divers.
• North Seymour
  Schools of hammerheads, loads of snappers and other fish, turtles, morays, manta rays and white-tip reef sharks.
• Cousins Rock
  An intermediate dive combination of shoal and wall diving with sea lions, large amount of fish, white-tip reef sharks, hammerheads, eagle rays and manta rays. There is a breathtaking vertical wall with a profusion of black corals and other invertebrates. This dive site is always combined with diving in Bartolomé.
• Bartolomé
  Stingrays, turtles, white-tip reef sharks, plenty of fish, invertebrates and interesting rock formation with crevices. This dive site is always combined with diving in Cousins Rock. During the surface interval between Cousins and Bartolomé we snorkel to look for penguins
• Mosquera Islet
  Big schools of garden eels, mantas, white-tip reef sharks and maybe hammerheads and eagle rays as well as plenty of tropical fish and sea lions.
• Guy Fawkes
  Combination of wall and shoal diving. Great side for seeing a lot of sea horses and fishes. White-tip reef sharks, sea lions, turtles, Galápagos Sharks.
• Daphne Minor Islet
  Wall diving with morays, white-tip reef sharks, eagle rays, sting rays, sea lions, cave diving, invertebrates, hammerheads, turtles, black corals and hundred of fishes.
• Santa Fé
  Easy diving with little current. Similar to Academy Bay. Expect sea turtles, marbled stingrays, angel fishes, parrot fishes, sea lions, and our regular encounters with white-tip reef sharks.