Sky Dancer is a 16-passenger 100-foot custom designed dive live-aboard. Built in 2001, she offers the newest and best-equipped vessel and ultimate diving experience in Galapagos for serious divers.
The Sky Dancer accommodations include eight comfortable staterooms located on two decks. Each cabin features two twin beds, private head/ shower, mirrored cabinet, wardrobe, full length mirror, window view or port light, bathrobes, hairdryer, toiletries and fresh towels daily.
The elegant Sky Dancer is fully air conditioned throughout and features rich teak paneling and furnishings, a dining area, a fully stocked bar, and a main salon with an audio and video entertainment center. On deck, ample space is allocated for personal dive gear storage, a photo and video film lab, light tables, daily E-6 processing and open deck space for sunbathing. Divers appreciate our wide stern dive platform with fresh water showers, fresh water rinses, dive deck assistance and photo and dive equipment rental services.
Zodiacs ferry divers between exquisite dive sites and the anchored yacht. Most underwater forays are drift dives. Up to four dives per day will be offered on a pre-planned, yet flexible itinerary.
Enjoy the Galapagos in style with creature comforts that Peter Hughes Diving is well known for. After every dive, wrap up in a fresh warm towel, and snuggle into plush, terrycloth bathrobes found in each cabin.
A twelve person crew includes captain, a dive instructor/naturalist, a divemaster/naturalist, an administrator, and seven crew members, on hand to ensure that your Galapagos voyage is highly memorable.
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2008
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7 nights
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| Master Stateroom |
$3,695
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| Deluxe Stateroom |
$3,495
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| Add fuel surcharge (per person) |
$160
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| * Rates subject to change, without notice |
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| Year |
Seasons |
| 2008 |
Prices are the same throughout the year unless indicated in the notes. |
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| Cabin accommodation, all meals, snacks, beverages (including national brands of alcohol), filled tanks, weights, weight belt, dive alerts and safety sausages, up to four dives per day on 5.5 days for 7-night cruise, land excursions, service of naturalist guides/ dive masters, transfers in the Islands between airport and dock (on cruise dates), all other Dancer Fleet services and amenities. |
Airfare to Galapagos, Galapagos entrance fee ($100), TCT/Ingala ($10), hyperbaric chamber fee ($35), gratuities to guides and crew, purchases at the boutique, Nitrox course or fills, dive gear equipment rentals, underwater photo course or camera equipment. |
- Prices are in US dollars, and subject to change without notice
- Prices are per person
- Single supplement: 65% surcharge.
-Senior Divers: Divers age 65 and older are eligible for a 10% reduction with proof of age.
-Child discounts: Children 10 and older are allowed only if they are certified divers. If non divers, children must be 16 years of age or older. Full time students up to age 22 with proper identification are eligible to receive a $100 student discount.
- Dive equipment: Divers are required to bring their own dive equipment, including: Mask, fins and snorkel, Regulator, depth and pressure gauges, bottom timer or dive watch. Buoyancy compensator device (BCD), Dry suit or thick wet suit (1/4” or 5-7mm), hood and gloves, Flashlight and chemical light sticks (for night dives), Open water diving certification. Optional items: Underwater camera, video camera, dive computer.
- Additional services offered on Sky Dancer :
Nitrox certification course (4 hours): $150 + $40 completion dive.
Unlimited fills: $50 for 7 nights or $75 for 10 nights (with full certification curse).
Unlimited Nitrox fills: $150 for 7 nights or $200 for 10 nights.
Nitrox: $10 per fill (a la carte).
- Dive gear equipment, underwater camera, video and souvenir, DVD available at extra cost.
- Dive certification and safety waivers: The Galapagos National Park regulations require that all guests must carry their Diving Certification Cards for verification of your training. Photo copies will not be accepted. Please bring your certification card and log book(s) for verification of your dive training and experience. You will be required to complete and sign a "Waiver of claims, Express assumption of the risk, Release of liability, and Indemnity agreement" form prior to your arrival. Please remember that you are responsible for determining your medical and physical individual travelersness to dive or to take part in any other activities during this trip. All diving and shipboard activities are conducted at your own risk.
- Galapagos Cruise itineraries are subject to change by the authorities of the Galapagos National Park or acts of providence. |
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Master Staterooms: Cabins 1-4 are located on the Lido deck and have two twin beds (that can be joined together), private facilities, window view, mirrored cabinet, wardrobe, bathrobes, hairdryer, toiletries, fresh towels daily, air conditioning and volume controls.
Deluxe Staterooms: Cabins 5-8 are located on the Dolphin deck and have two twin beds, private facilities, Port light view, mirrored cabinet, wardrobe, bathrobes, hairdryer, toiletries, fresh towels daily, air conditioning and volume controls. |
Sky Dancer: day by day itinerary
Sunday: San Cristobal
Upon arrival to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal, the crew of the Sky Dancer meets you at the airport and escorts you to your dive live-aboard. After the initial briefing, there is a mandatory check-out dive at Isla Lobos where we encounter sea lions. At sunset, we circumnavigate Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido), a vertical tuff cone formation that abruptly juts up almost 500 feet out of the ocean. Here we see bluefooted boobies, masked boobies and magnificent frigatebirds on the cliffs.
Monday: North Seymour/Bartolome
In the south side of Seymour Island and no deeper than 50 feet deep, the northern channel is superb. It features an enormous “field” of garden eels, stingrays, a school of spotted eagle rays, white tipped reef sharks, and thick schools of grunts, snappers & goatfish. When Dr. Silvia Earle described Galapagos as “the fishiest place in the world”, she had probably dived this dive site. To the North of Bartolome, Cousins is an interesting wall dive. Although visibility is just fair most of the year, you can find white tipped reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, sea lions hunting, fur seals, and many sleeping sea turtles. A highlight is a resident school of up to 30 spotted eagle rays. If you are interested in macro photography, look for sea horses, frogfish, lobster, arrow crabs, cup coral, blue crabs, long nose hawk fish, coral hawk fish, nudibranchs, etc. A night dive here is possible. On Bartolome, a lunar landscape stretches out in front of us. This young Island is inhospitable to most plants and animals. After a dry landing, climb 30-,inutes up a steep slope to the summit of a once active volcano. From the top, gaze out across a panoramic view including the famous "Pinnacle Rock", an eroded tuff cone. Down below, crystal clear water invites you to swim with tropical fish. Penguins often swim in this area.
Tuesday to Thursday:
We spend the next three days diving WOLF & DARWIN with up to four or five dives per day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before returning to the Central islands. Most experienced divers will agree, Wolf and Darwin are the best diving sites in the world! Sightings of the whale shark is common here. There are no land visitor sites here, just serious diving. At the Northern Arch at Darwin, Hammerhead sharks are not uncommon, nor are bottlenose dolphins. The reef contains many warm water varieties of fish found nowhere else in the Islands and is the most consistent place to see Hammerheads.
Darwin Island: Considered by many experienced divers as the very best dive site in the world, The Arch at Darwin island honors its reputation. It is warmer by a few degrees than the central islands. In one single dive you can find schooling ham¬merhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, large pods of dolphins, thick schools of skipjack and yellow fin tuna, big eye jacks, Mobula rays, and silky sharks. From June to November, we can almost guarantee whale sharks in numbers of up to 8 different indivi¬duals in one single dive. The presence of occasional tiger sharks, black and blue marlin and killer whales, adds on to this amazing diving experience. If you still have time to look for smaller stuff, you’ll find octopus, flounders, and an enormous variety and abundance of tropical fish. Darwin Island is the biggest jewel on the Galapagos Crown.
Wolf Island: One of those magical islands, with several dive sites to choose from. If you want to see sharks, you are at the right spot. This is a place for schooling hammerhead sharks, large aggregations of Galapagos sharks, and occasionally whale sharks. Seeing dolphins, large schools of tuna, spotted eagle rays, barracudas, sea lions and sea turtles is common. The bottom is littered with hundreds of moray eels, many of them free swimming. Being several degrees warmer than the central islands, you can look for many representatives of the Indo-Pacific underwater fauna.
Friday: Cape Marshall/ Puerto Egas, Santiago
At Cape Marshall on the eastern side of Isabela island, we encounter rocky volcanic cliffs,
that drops down to the ocean floor as an almost vertical wall. You might see large animals like manta rays, marbled rays, hammerhead sharks mola mola (sail fish) and marine turtles, but also
Chevron barracuda, snappers, yellow fin tuna, rainbow runners, wahoo and groupers. There are also a lot of smaller fishes like creole fishes, parrotfishes, scrawled filefishes, pacific boxfishes and tiger snake eels.
This afternoon, we disembark for a land visit along the shore at Puerto Egas, SANTIAGO (James) looking for octopus, starfish and other sea life caught in the tide pools. At low tide, catch a glimpse of marine iguanas as they feed on exposed green algae. Watch for great blue herons, lava herons, American oystercatchers and yellow-crowned night herons. Our walk ends at the grottos, deep pools of clear water where we encounter fur sea lions once on the verge of extinction. During the night dive at a depth of no more than 30 feet we may find the red-lipped bat fish.
Saturday: Gordon Rocks/ Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz
Gordon Rocks, off South Plaza Island, an advanced dive, is famous for white-tipped, hammerhead and the Galapagos shark, large moray eels, spotted eagle rays, golden rays, sting rays, fur sea lions, sea turtles, Amberjacks, reef fish, sponges and black coral. Dive with wahoo, tuna, sailfish and other big pelagic fish. Divers consider the wall at Gordon Rocks one of the best dive sites in the Central Islands. The current is strong and the maximum depth is 100 feet.
Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Island of Santa Cruz. Scientists from all over the globe work at the station and conduct biological research from anatomy to zoology. Get your picture taken with the giant tortoises. Observe year-old tortoises and learn about the captive-breeding program. Stroll through the town of Puerto Ayora (population: 10,000) –the largest town in the Galapagos. Buy souvenirs, mail postcards and absorb local charm in the social heart of the Islands.
Sunday: Interpretation Center/ San Cristobal
The last morning, visit the Interpretation Center to learn more about the natural and human history of the Islands before returning to town to connect with your flight back to the mainland. |
Sky Dancer: terminos & condiciones
FIT or individual passengers
- Depósitos: Se requiere depósito de $ 850 para el crucero de 7 noches por persona, dentro de los 10 días de reserva y el pago final es 60 días antes de la salida.
- Cancelaciones:
Las cancelaciones recibidas 90 días o más antes de la salida están sujetas a un cargo por servicio de $ 350 por persona.
Las cancelaciones recibidas 89-60 días antes de la partida perderá el depósito completo.
Las cancelaciones recibidas 59 días antes de la partida perderá la totalidad de los costos de crucero.
GRUPOS, de 8 o más o FULL CHARTER
- Depósitos: Para garantizar la reservacion de un grupo o un charter, un depósito no reembolsable de $ 4500 se requiere dentro de los 10 días siguientes a la fecha de reserva. Depósitos parciales no son aceptables. Una charter no está confirmado hasta que el depósito se haya recibido. Un segundo deposito del 25% del total se debe pagar 180 días antes de la salida. Si el cliente no ha vendido todos los espacios, el cliente podrá optar por devolver los espacios no vendidos y se cobrar como gastos administrativos US$ 150 dólares por cada espacio liberado. El pago final se debe hacer 90 días antes de la salida, junto con los nombres, números de pasaporte, información de vuelos de llegada, dieta especial, y solicitudes de alquiler de equipo de buceo u otros.
- Cancelaciones:
Si el cliente no quiere ser responsable por el pago total de los espacios no vendidos, la notificación escrita debe ser más de 90 días antes de la salida. Un cargo administrativo de US$ 350 por espacios no vendidos se cargará.
Las cancelaciones recibidas 60-90 días antes de la salida no reciben reembolso de los depósitos efectuados.
Las cancelaciones recibidas menos de 60 días antes de la salida no reciben reembolso.
Seguros de Viajes: Se recomienda la compra de una póliza de seguro de viaje que proteja a usted y su inversión antes y durante el viaje. La mayoría de los seguros de viaje incluye la cancelación y la interrupción de viaje, gastos de viaje y demora de equipaje, el equipaje y la pérdida de documento de viaje, los gastos médicos, la asistencia de emergencia y evacuación. También recomendamos seguro de accidentes de buceo.
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