Expertise Since 1987
Rated Excellent
FLEXIBLE PAYMENTS
“Probably the best liveaboard experience I’ve had.”
Tiburon Explorer, Galapagos Islands
Review by Valerie Elliot, Y-Kiki Divers
August 21-28, 2021
The boat is well designed, the crew is genuinely eager to help and everything ran like clockwork. The 3 cabins down below are very spacious. Having now been on the boat, I would put my best guests downstairs.
The dive deck is very spacious and each diver has their own station. When you lift the lid of your station, the compartment is HUGE. They keep our fins on the pangas (in a storage compartment up front), and you hang your wetsuits up. So really, the only thing that needed to be in the bin was my boots, computer, mask and defog. While we had ordered 6 or 7 15 liter tanks, they were still collecting them up as we left. But it wasn’t an issue at all. They had enough DiveAlerts for all of us and, of course, the Nautilus dive beacons.
The camera table was nice and accommodated all of our photographers. They had an air gun nearby. My only comment would be it would be nice to have more lighting over the camera table. They worked hard to remember what camera went in each panga. I never had to collect my camera. They would put all the divers in the panga and then collect cameras.
They had more than enough cubbies for everyone to charge all their stuff, dive computers, camera/strobe batteries, GoPros, etc. I brought my own power strip, but they had plenty for those that didn’t bring their own (some boats don’t do that so, again, nice touch).
The living room is very functional. The TV was very large and the PowerPoint dive briefing presentations were professional (kind of a silly thing to say, but I definitely noticed). They have two tables that seat 8 persons each and the kitchen staff serves the meals from two tables buffet style.
The kitchen crew works VERY hard because the kitchen is actually downstairs and they bring up the food in aluminum pans and serve the food from electric warmers. But, what that does is creates a very large living room area space.
We often ate upstairs, too. They have four sets of very nice patio furniture that seats 4 each. The tables are round and each chair is pie-shaped and nests inside the table. It was breezy some nights, so we had to wear our jackets, but it was beautiful. Always. So worth it for the lovely views.
Again, that meant the kitchen crew had to carry everything up (plates, silverware, glasses, food, etc., etc.) TWO flights of stairs. Amazing service.
For EVERY dive, the ENTIRE crew (including the captain) is on deck helping get us suited up.
They help pull our wetsuit sleeves and zipped us up. They help buckle us into our BCDs. They help pull us out of the tank rack (my feet actually didn’t reach the floor so that was funny). Again, because of the unique dive deck design, we would go down a small flight of stairs to a door opening where the pangas would pull up on the port side. This helped stabilize the panga against the big boat. They would station a crew member at the door and TWO crew INSIDE the panga to make sure each person got into the panga without injury. Not one of my guests got hurt getting in and out of the panga and we experienced some rough seas. They checked to make sure my cylinder was open as I descended the stairs and as I entered the doorway (again, nice touch). Then, usually, Herman (the bartender) and Saul (the steward) would get in the panga, helping each diver get their fins on. What an absolutely delightful bit of customer service. I’ve never had another boat do that. That meant with all our gear on, we weren’t trying to reach down and pull on fins. Keep in mind many of my guests are older and trying to get fins on is always a struggle, and you get seasick sticking your head down and trying to wrestle with fin straps. Exceptional customer service.
Also! As we suited up for a dive, Herman would bring out a full tray of cups with water serving us each a glass of “Tequila.” Nice touch.
Then when we returned from a dive, they would start all three shower heads on the back of the boat (big square shower heads that rained water down) so that the water was hot. For EACH dive, they made sure the towels were dry and straight out of the dryer. They were embroidered with our dive station number and were always there when we got back. They would help strip us out of our wet gear, hang up all our wetsuits (7mm, hooded vests, heated shirts), while other crew would collect our BCDs and regs and put them back into our stations. They would rush to drape the towel over our shoulders.
They had a heater unit mounted above the dive deck and it would be on full blast helping warm us up. And you could also stand near the door to the engine room and warm-up, too. The crew would be hanging up wetsuits, filling cylinders, and then squeegee-ing the floor of water… every crew member was working hard to “turn” the dive deck for the next dive. As a result, the dive deck was always clean and I never once slipped.
Before each dive, the crew would also turn our wetsuits inside out.
They had plenty of copies of the Fish ID books. We would go upstairs on the sundeck and fill out our logbooks. They do have a hot tub and a lovely seating area that surrounds it and it’s somewhat shaded. The hot tub. While it sounds like a good idea, wasn’t very useful. They only fill it up part of the way so that all the water doesn’t slosh out of it while the boat is underway. Ss a result, the remaining water was so hot it was impossible to get in it. I couldn’t even put my feet in. I’m not sure a hot tub is a good thing anyway, especially considering the kind of diving we were doing.
The crew made a big deal out of us crossing the equator. They dressed some of us up with costumes, the crew dressed in their Class A uniforms and they handed out certificates for each of us.
All while the sunset. After it was over, the captain even drove back to the equator so that I could get a picture of the computer showing 0 degrees, and I honked the boat horn. FUN! LOL.
The diving was good. I was hoping to see more whale sharks, but the crew said they hadn’t seen any in weeks (which was unusual). We made 4 dives on Wolf, then 4 dives on Darwin. and then we went back to Wolf for 4 more dives. On our 4th and last dive on Wolf, we saw a freeway of hammerheads, frolicking sea lions, and a whale shark. The other group had seen one the day before. Both groups came together and everyone got pictures and video. We were all high-fiving each other and screeching. The crew was just as excited as us! Herman had hot chocolate waiting for us with a dollop of rum, of course. It was just a ton of fun and the crew’s enthusiasm made it all the more rewarding. We all felt like we had won the lottery. 🙂
Oh! I forgot to mention that the captain would pull the anchor and motor the Tiburon from behind the shelter of either Darwin or Wolf and get closer to the dive sites so that we didn’t have as far to go in the pangas. They also mentioned this increased safety because the Tiburon was closer. Pretty impressive. The other liveaboards definitely didn’t do that.
We motored to Fernandina Island and we dove with the marine iguanas. For me, that was one of the very best dives. There were HUNDREDS of iguanas everywhere. The viz was excellent. The sun was shining. We saw lots of HUGE turtles. Jorge said it was some of the best conditions he had ever seen. An amazing experience.
We finished up diving at Cousin’s Rock, and it was BURR cold. 60 degrees on my computer and the water was murky. Apparently, the Cromwell current had arrived. 🙂 Our dive group dwindled and only 5 of us made the last dive.
The crew worked hard to wash all our gear. In hindsight, it would have been nice to have taken our wetsuits & neoprene down to the engine room to ensure everything dried. Or, take them upstairs in the sun and breeze. By the time we returned from our tour to see the tortoises, the gear was still pretty wet but we had to pack it up anyway. Honestly, that doesn’t bother me one bit, but some of my guests get worried about being overweight.
They had our bills ready and we were asked to fill out an evaluation form and return it, along with our balances/gratuities back to the boat. The group was generous (as well they should have been) and the crew was very happy. We also gave each crew member a trip rashguard, seeing them walk around in our shirts made me very happy.
Oh. I forgot to mention. In the bathrooms, they had two drawers under the sink. One for each of us. That was a nice touch. They had a real shower – good water pressure and hot water. They had plenty of towels, soap, conditioner, and body gel. I had my own nightstand and reading light.
The beds were super comfortable and clean. The closets were huge.
Plenty of storage space. The rooms upstairs featured all the same things, but obviously were smaller. Also, at one point, Jennifer told me she needed Cabin 1 for a crew member. But apparently, they didn’t need that extra guide so they offered up the room for our use. I didn’t take it though. We were already all settled in and comfortable. They had Apple TV onboard. Huge movie selection. We watched a couple of movies and when I asked for popcorn, they delivered two big bowls. Excellent.
Again, my thanks and gratitude to the captain, Jacinto.
Our panga drivers: Pablo and Miguel.
Our engineers: Carlos and Nelson.
The chefs: Gido and Jimmy.
Saul, our steward. Herman, our bartender, and server.
And our two dive guides: Jorge Carpio and Jorge Jurado.
We were pampered. They will be a very hard act to follow.
Sincerely,
Valerie
(Big Thanks to Valerie for this candid review of Tiburon Explorer!)
