Nortada Liveaboard, Galapagos

Excellent food and drinks

“Pros: - Dive sites are absolutely amazing - The chef was fantastic, all the food was awesome, plus snack and beverage service.…”

Ke T, United States United States
Read 25 more reviews

Highlights

  • Small dive groups to offer personalized attention
  • Discover endemic species of the Galapagos
  • Sun deck with ample seating for relaxation

The 26m Nortada liveaboard presents a different kind of Galapagos dive liveaboard experience. With only 4 cabins onboard and catering to a maximum of 12 guests, the Nortada offers divers a more intimate and personalized experience. The dive platform with a bench and camera table was carefully designed with divers in mind, and the 2 tenders and 2 assigned dive guides allow for small dive groups and attentive dive experience.

The comprehensive 7 or 14-night itineraries to the world-famous dive sites including Wolf and Darwin nearly guarantee guests dive trips of a lifetime. Pelagic sightings involving hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, giant mantas, whale sharks, and mola molas are not uncommon, and guests can also hope to see the Flightless Cormorants, Galapagos Penguins, Marine Iguanas, and several other endemic species during the cruise. Nitrox is available for an additional cost, as is rebreather support and technical diving. For non-diving guests, the Nortada also offers the Naturalist itinerary throughout the year.

The Nortada is available for individual bookings and full charter. Call us or reserve online today to start your amazing Galapagos adventure.

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Included: VAT, Drinking Water, Soft Drinks at Meal Times, Tea & Coffee, Welcome Cocktails, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Extra Dives, Night Dives, Land Excursions, Naturalist Guide, Cabin Towels, Complimentary Toiletries, Deck Towels, WiFi internet.

Required Extras: National Park Fees (100-200 USD), Visas and Fees (20 USD).

Optional Extras: Gratuities, Airport Transfer (50 USD), Alcoholic Beverages (3-6 USD per item), Soft drinks (2 USD per item), Wine with Dinner (20 USD per item), Nitrox, Nitrox Course (210 USD), Private Dive Guide, Rental Gear, Kayaks, Snorkel Gear, Snorkeling Guide.

Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.

* Extra fees are shown per person.

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Boat features

  • Camera Station
  • Daily housekeeping
  • Audio & video entertainment
  • Air Conditioned saloon
  • Aircon Cabins
  • Sun Deck
  • Indoor Saloon
  • Non-Diver (Snorkeler) Friendly
  • Warm Water Showers
  • Custom built for diving
  • Charging stations
  • En-Suite bathrooms
  • Free Internet
  • Non-Smoking Rooms
  • Outside Showers
  • Family Cabins
  • Seaview Cabins
  • Separate Rinse for u/w Camera
  • Naturalist Itineraries
  • Dedicated Local & International Crew
  • Nearly 1:1 Crew-to-Guest Ratio
  • Leisure Deck
  • Observation Deck
  • Bar
  • Available for Charter
  • Naturalist Guide

Food & Drinks

  • Western Food
  • Local Food
  • Vegetarian Options
  • Buffet style
  • Beer available
  • Snacks All Day
  • Vegan Options
  • Wine Available
  • Welcome Cocktails

If you have any specific dietary requirements whilst on-board your cruise, you can add this to your special requests on step 2 of the booking form. We advise limiting these requests to religious beliefs or food allergies.


Diving

  • DIN Adaptors
  • Nitrox available
  • Tech diving
  • Rinse Hoses
  • Dive deck
  • Tenders for diving
  • Shaded Diving Area

The crew speaks English and Spanish.


Gear Rental

There is diving gear available on this boat. Please provide your rental needs on the booking form. See below for further details on inclusions and pricing. Show prices.


Drawings & Vessel Layouts

#deckplan floorplan

Accommodation


Boat Specifications

  • Year built 1986
  • Year renovated 2014
  • Length 25.66 meters
  • Deck area 3 decks
  • Beam 5.40 meters
  • Top speed 10 knots
  • Cruising speed 8 knots
  • Engines Twin CUMMINS 6CTA8.3-M 255 HP main engines
  • Max guests 12
  • Number of cabins 4
  • Number of bathrooms 5
  • Tenders 2 15 feet Nautica inflatable boats with 25 HP four stroke outboard engines
  • Water capacity 1200 gallons
  • Fuel capacity 1700 gallons
  • Freshwater maker Sea water desalination system

Boat Navigation and Safety

  • Radar
  • Depth Sounder
  • GPS
  • Radio VHF/DSC/SSB
  • E.P.I.R.B. Distress System
  • Emergency Rafts
  • Life Vests
  • Fire Alarm & Fire Extinguishers
  • Oxygen
  • First Aid Kits
  • Satellite & mobile phones
  • Bilge pump alarm
  • Search light
  • Engine room CCTV
  • Crew trained in first aid
  • Emergency flares

Nortada Reviews

  • 8.5 Fabulous
  1. Vessel
    7.9
  2. Crew
    8.6
  3. Food
    9.4
  4. Diving
    8.6
  5. Value
    8.2
  • 9.2 Superb
  • Ke T
  • United States United States
Very good way to dive the Galapagos!

Pros: - Dive sites are absolutely amazing - The chef was fantastic, all the food was awesome, plus snack and beverage service. - We were a group of 7, and bc of the roomy sun deck the boat didn’t feel crowded at all. - Crew was so welcoming and helpful, great tenders, took our minds off of the little things and ran the boat smoothly. - Dive guide was attentive and passionate, had a lot of interesting information before, during, and after the dive. Cons: - Bring your own equipment. My rental mask fogged constantly despite burning/scrubbing, at one point my BCD had a leak and would not inflate during a dive, and the torch I was given died within minutes of use underwater. - Cabins smell musty and like toilet cleaner. AC control is all over the place so sometimes it’s very hot, others it’s super cold. Overall 4/5, worth the money and the small inconveniences to be able to dive at one of the coolest places in the world and see hammerhead sharks, rays, marine iguanas, sea lions, batfish, mola molas, etc.

Recommended for
Good dives, good food, good crew
  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Anita J
  • United States United States
I cannot imagine another dive experience coming close to this Galapagos experience!

Schools of hammerheads, swimming with dolphins, playing with sea lions, seeing sunfish, increasing skills as dive conditions were sometimes rough, night diving In caves entered thru lava tunnels

Recommended for
The amazing dives, the remoteness of our dive sites (no one else around), the dive masters’ knowledge of the diving conditions and the marine life.
  • 9.2 Superb
  • Benjamin S
  • United States United States
Excellent!

Amazing diving around the Galapagos. Great crew, very friendly and helpful.

Recommended for
Dive Guides, Crew, Dive Sites
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Marek P
  • Poland Poland
great trip

Sharks, sea lions, iguanas, mola mola

Recommended for
everything was great
  • 7.2 Good
  • Isabelle V
  • Netherlands Netherlands
Good trip, not great

Good dives, especially the Western side. Unfortunately Darwin and Wolf were very empty at the start of April and we saw only a few sharks. We were very disappointed. At the West side of Isabela and at Fernandina we found Mola Mola, marine iguanas and even a penguin which was great. At the East side of Isabela we found an oceanic manta, mobula rays and golden rays, which was also a really good dive. Unfortunately the crew was very nice, but did not know very much about the dive gear. The guides were ok and knew what they were doing, but the zodiac guys did not know how to fix last minute equipment questions, they were not experienced. Also, a few of the tanks malfunctioned causing two of us to have to use the dive guides spare reg. The cook was very kind, food was simple but good. All in all, this was the cheapest boat option for us and I think if we would have done the more expensive boats, it would have been a but more comfortable. If you know what you are doing and you have your own gear, and do not need the comfort of a luxury liveaboard, this is a good boat. They go to the same dive sites as the others, so the diving will be the same anyway.

Recommended for
Friendly crew, good dives, comfortable boat
  • 8.4 Very good
  • Dmitrij Z
  • Germany Germany
Excellent diving, slightly chaotic organization

As far as the diving is concerned, I doubt there is a place left in the world that can compare. After the 3rd to 4th dive you even stop getting excited about hammerhead sharks because there's a bunch of them around every time. Animals that would be highlight sightings on a diving trip anywhere else are just around in the Galapagos and make the experience unforgettable. The boat is not exceptionally large, but as they only take 8 guests it felt much more spacious and comfortable than some of the much bigger liveaboards with 20 guests that I've been on. The crew is extremly friendly and helpful, keen to assist with any issues and it was stunning how the cook managed to prepare excellent, very varied and nutritious meals for every day of the week. The dive guides were very knowledgeable and generally safety-oriented during the dives, so that part was great, too. Unfortunately, there have been drawbacks. Like several other passengers, we indicated in the booking forms that we'd like to dive on Nitrox. Asking about it on departure night I was first told that the check dive would be on air for everybody - fair enough. When I saw the crew filling the thanks with air for the following days I asked again, was shrugged off several times to be eventually told that the Nitrox compressor wasn't working so it would be air for the whole trip. This is a serious concern not only for the dive plans (we had to ascend early a couple of times because the NDL was getting close), but also for the safety, considering we were doing four dives a day in a very remote area. Also, in some instances last-minute changes about the dive plans were not communicated properly and came out "by accident", although this improved after the passengers hat a talk with the staff. Finally, make sure to bring all of your own dive gear. Most rental items that were handed out had some kind of issue, had to be changed several times, suits didn't fit properly etc. I totally understand that this is Ecuador and that's how things tend to be in that part of the world. But considering how the price tag for the trip is not Ecuadorian at all (that goes for all operators, not just Nortada) there's certainly room for improvement as far as organization is concerned.

Recommended for
The dive sites and their marine life, the boat crew, the food on board
  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Mirko H
  • Switzerland Switzerland
Best crew, very familiar and awesome diving

Hammerhead, Hammerheadschool, Waleshark, oceanmantas, diabolo manta, goldenray school, molamola, seahorse, seaiguanas, the hole live on the bord

Recommended for
Of course diving, its crazy beautifull!! The food was soo delicious even for vegetarian or vegan people. It was e very familiar athmospher with the crew and small diving groups of 4 people.
  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Tadzio B
  • Netherlands Netherlands
Amazing experience with an amazing crew

The amazing diving!

Recommended for
Diving, crew, food
  • 9.2 Superb
  • Scott A
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
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
  • 8.8 Fabulous
  • Michael W
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
Great diving shame about lack of nitox

Whale shark and hammerheads at Darwin were amazing but other dives would have a fantastic variety from penguins and playful sea lions to the strange mola

Recommended for
great diving, Pedro the chef