Spring 01 news


	*Galapagos for Spring 2002*


	The ultimate big animal destination!


		three-week tour returns

	It's the Super Bowl of Large Animal diving. It's the World Series of Wildlife Action. Diving Galapagos is the marine life equivalent of taking an African big game photo safari, only more spectacular in many ways. Because underwater, in Galapagos, one doesn't observe wildlife from a distance as on land. Instead, one is immersed within -- and in intimate proximity to -- migrating schools of large predators so bewildering in number that even wild estimates fall short of reality. From vast congregations of hammerheads swarming over the reef, to killer whales attacking prey before your eyes, from schools of muscular, bold Galapagos sharks soaring in the current to clouds of rays so numerous they block out the sky, Galapagos is in a class by itself.



Imagine you are 60 ft. deep, sandwiched between the bottom and a thick canopy of barracuda just 6 ft. over your head and stretching all the way to the surface, a school so dense that the bright, tropical sun is reduced to an eerie twilight beneath this living umbrella. Outside the perimeter of the school, patrols of silky sharks and Galapagos sharks slowly circulate. Occasionally, a silky will glide directly through the belly of the school, swallowed instantly by the mass of fish as they close around the stealthy intruder, its ephemeral track quietly erased. Suddenly, rays of sun burst through this dusk, glinting off the flanks of the scattering silvery barracuda as the school overhead is cleaved by the wild corkscrew trajectories of two playful sea lions, chasing and racing by streaming bubbles in their wake. Just outside the mass of barracuda pass hammerheads in small schools of perhaps a dozen, though they are nearly obscured by alternating layers of creole fish, rainbow runners and small tuna. Amazing? Certainly! Unique? That is the truly amazing part -- such spectacles are commonplace in Galapagos!


	Great macro photography too!

Little wonder the close-up and macro photography opportunities found in Galapagos rarely get their due. And that's a shame, for here one can find frogfish, seahorses, cannibalistic nudibranchs, arrow crabs, decorator crabs, shrimps, pike blennies, magnificent scallops, rosey lipped batfish and any number of other macro lens delights. In its own right, Galapagos is a most respectable macro area. As wonderful as they may be, such subjects are usually overshadowed, figuratively and literally, by the high adrenaline action taking place in the open water. Given the choice between whale sharks or gobies, dolphin or shrimp, guess which wins the attention of the photographers' lens?

The Galapagos cover a sweeping expanse of ocean, and their unique equatorial location at the convergence of three major oceanic currents from the south, west and north, feed these islands with a rich broth of life forms from widely varied origins, plus abundant nutrients to support them. This is why you can dive with penguins and tropical fish on the same dive. This is why you can photograph fur seals at one moment, and a marlin the next.

The special convergence of currents also accounts for the broad range of diving conditions one can expect to encounter here. From one island to the next, it would not be unusual to find water temperatures varying from 80? to 68?. On average, one expects to experience water in the mid to low seventies. Visibility covers a wide range as well, island to island, day to day. We've seen it over 150 ft. on occasions, and 30 ft. at other times. Generally we'll find it somewhere in between. Certain locations are subject to strong current and surge, while other sites are typically calm as a pond. Diving Galapagos requires no special skills or exceptional physical fitness, but it would not be recommended for beginners, the very timid, or those in poor shape.


	For action gluttons only!


	Our unique three-week tour!

We are the only tour company offering regularly scheduled full two-week diving tours to Galapagos. Generous in time though a 14 day trip may be, Galapagos veterans often complain that even 14 days isn't enough for this magic destination. Every few years, therefore, we put together a special three-week tour, which will have 20 straight days of diving! Such a program permits even more time in the ``action spots" than we normally would spend, as well as the opportunity to visit sites well off the usual route that would be impossible to include in our two week trip. Both our two-week and our three-week programs are Photo Pro Tours, which means we will concentrate on the very best dive sites, and spend as much time at any given spot as necessary to take full advantage of the best action. It also means that diving is our priority. We will do certain land visits, those that represent the cream of the crop for Galapagos land photography. But at no time will we sacrifice diving potential to met a scheduled land visit. So for the spring of 2002, we have scheduled two two-week tours and one three-week tour for the true believers! At the time of this writing, the three-week trip is nearly (or probably) completely sold out, just by advance word of mouth. But wait! Don't panic! Because of this situation, we are considering converting one of our two-week trips to an additional three-week trip, and we already have several interested parties. Our decision will be made shortly, so if you want to make a three-weeker, don't hesitate in giving us a call without delay. If we feel the demand is there for yet a second three-week program, we will revise the schedule to accommodate your enthusiasm!

		100% Genuine RST Tour


	We call all the shots!

     Our boat of choice for the Galapagos is the 85 ft. Galapagos Aggressor. While designed for 14 passengers in 7 double cabins, we limit the number of diving guests to just 10. She features E-6 processing on board, plus full service Nitrox available to all Nitrox certified divers at modest extra charge. (Nitrox certification is also available during the course of the trip for any guest interested.) Divers are shuttled the short distance from the Aggressor to each site via two 20 ft. inflatable   ``pangas". The pangas follow the divers bubbles, and are there to pick you up upon surfacing. There will always be one panga on the site, while the other might be returning divers to the boat. With this system, no one has to wait in the panga for the other divers to complete their dive. And because the pangas follow the divers, even in areas with current one can just drift with the flow, never needing to fight back upstream to return to the boat. Two dive master / naturalist guides accompany us on each tour, and their in-water expertise as well as extensive knowledge about the flora and fauna on land add immensely to everyone's appreciation and understanding of these special islands.
     But make no mistake about it, while we have chartered the Galapagos Aggressor, these programs are 100% genuine Rainbowed Sea Tours. We run our trips according to our own standards, and set the itinerary to our own liking in order to meet the special requirements of our Photo Pro Tours and maximize the photographic potential of every trip.
     It goes without saying that our Galapagos tours, like all other RST tours, will feature the Chris Newbert and Birgitte Wilms Slide Show Seminars and individual underwater photo consultation. Combined with the on board processing and our Photo Pro Tour concept, when you travel with us you give yourself the best possible opportunity to perfect those big action shark shots you have been dreaming about. So how about it? Bite for this offer! (Err, bad choice of words, I suppose.)


		Dang!

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Note: due to un-resolvable problems with the Galapagos Aggressor, we have canceled our Spring 2002 program and substituted Papua New Guinea for this same time period. We hope to reinstitute our Galapagos program by 2003.

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Rainbowed Sea Tours, Inc.
74-5590 Luhia Street
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

Toll Free: (800) 762-6827
FAX: (808) 329-2608
In Hawaii: 326-7752

www.rstours.com