Nortada Liveaboard, Galapagos

Spectacular Trip

My first ever time on a liveaboard and a truly spectacular one. The boat may lack some of the luxuries that are available on some of the more expensive trips but what it does boast is small guest numbers which makes for a really personal experience and better diving, which (if you are like me) is a far higher priority anyway. All the guides and crew were fantastic; friendly, attentive and welcoming- nothing was too much trouble. The diving I cannot put into words... Whalesharks, Hammerheads, Penguins, Iguanas... I was lucky enough to see them all. There were some small logistical problems, such as not initially having the correctly sized rental equipment but I cannot fault them for their quick efforts to get this rectified and it absolutely wasn't a significant enough problem to tarnish what really was a special trip. Thank you Nortada, for a fantastic week

Recommended for

Great diving, incredible wildlife and fantastic crew

23 Sep, 2022

Thanks a lot guys!

As better than expected!

Recommended for

Prof. guides and staff. Small amount of guests. Atmosphere.

03 Jun, 2026

Diving in a fantastic environment

hammerheads, whale sharks, mola mola,manta rays and a perfect group.

Recommended for

the diving group, the Wolf and Darwin area, marine life

08 Nov, 2017

Bucket List Level Stuff - Get on this boat

This liveaboard has ruined future diving for me now - it was insane. Unmatched diving and great opportunity to go to wolf and darwin islands. Food was overall very good given remoteness and size of the boat - left heavier than when I arrived.. Staff were all very nice and helpful. Boat is small - it used to be a fishing boat before being repurposed for a diving liveaboard. This comes with les divers which was nice - we had 8 of us only. The smaller size means it is more rocky - i do get sea sick but felt fine 90% of the time with sea sickness tablets - but would note i went in May (shoulder month) and it was apparently much calmer than usual. Refresh your knowledge/training of diving in currents as you'll be doing that almost every dive. Highly recommend getting you nitrox cert if you haven't already - most will be using nitrox to extend dive time - all 8 of us used nitrox all week. Helps given you are doing anywhere from 3-5(!) dives per day depending on conditions. Make sure you bring dive gloves which were essential. You can rent everything but it is pricey to do so. The wifi was surprisingly awesome - I was expecting to be off grid for half the week but there was strong wifi connection throughout, even at wolf/darwin! We saw so much but my highlights were seeing my first Whale shark (huge and pregnant), schools of hammerheads and dolphins, HUGE manta Rays including a Melanistic manta, mobula rays jumping out of the water, and countless white & black tip reef sharks, just to name a few highlights. Highly recommend this liveaboard - I had a great time which I will remember forever

Recommended for

Insane Diving in Wolf and Darwin Islands. Food surprisingly very good. Boat small but decent quality.

31 May, 2026

Wow. Just wow.

I did 19 dives in five days! It was fantastic. I saw mola molas up close, if I reached my arm out I would’ve touched it! There were hammerhead sharks everywhere. At Landslide, there were schools of them being cleaned by angel fish! I also saw marine iguanas feeding, horxbille turtles being cleaned and feeding, hornshark baby sleeping, white tip sharks up close, silky sharks and Galapagos sharks up close, huge parrot fish, manta rays right in front of me, schools of golden cow rays, did I mention the mantas being powerful and beautiful and maybe a metre from me as they aren’t scared of divers? Oh right and I swam with dolphins and saw them on our safety stop, I played with sea lions, they copy you! Mola molas were plentiful and a new favourite. They again came so close and there were so many! That’s not to mention the barracudas and the soldier fish, the shrimps and the lobsters.... every moment caused me to do an underwater jiggle of excitement. Note, it does get cold and there are currents. At times, we just planted ourselves to rocks and watched the blue. I was in a 5ml and I was fine but there were others on the boat in 7mls and were cold. A lot of the current dives were negative entry so confidence with that is ideal as we did loose a couple of divers on the descent on our first negative entry dive. Note, due to the tides and the nutrient rich water, the vis isn’t as high as I’d have expected but due to fishing laws etc they don’t scare and come so close. Eye contact with hammerheads and molas says it all right? The guide also took a go pro and gave me his footage. I’m fond of living the dive for the moment and not through a camera so it’s nice to have that. I thought that I may see a hammerhead or two, I had no idea that in five days, I would see so much. It’s a completely different vibe to coral reefs so you can’t really compare the two. The Galapagos is expensive, too much for my liking but this trip was good value and they give you your five a day! Be sure to tip the crew members individually as they share all the tips out. They appreciated the thank you letters we attempted to write in Spanish and the individual tips. I don’t want to go home.

Recommended for

Every dive site had its own vibe and marine life. Look into the blue and keep breathing, there’s so much to see! The crew were super friendly despite not speaking English and were great!

10 May, 2018

one of my best

all has been very great !!!!! Galápagos are still the best destination for diving in the world for me ( third time here ! ) !!!!

Recommended for

small group (8 guests on board ),very nice&comfortable liveaboard, huge hug to all the crew !

26 May, 2017