Calipso Galapagos Liveaboard Reviews: One Of The Best Liveaboards

At the time of writing this Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard review, this Galapagos dive boat had a customer review rating of 9.3 out of 10 and rated Superb by 9 verified reviews. The Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard schedules year-round diving in the Galapagos National Park for scuba diver singles and solo divers in twin bed cabins and couples in double cabins.

The best way to dive the Galapagos Islands, and especially Darwin Island and Wolf Rock, is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on Galapagos liveaboards using the following window:

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard Review in 20 seconds…

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard is a 35.4 metre (116 feet) dive boat custom built for scuba divers. With paid Nitrox onboard so you can extend your dive time when diving with hammerheads. Meals cater for all dietary requirements and she has 8 en-suite aircon cabins for couples, singles and solo divers.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard overview

In this Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard review I take a look at what this dive boat offers for scuba divers. In the above image you’ll notice there have been 9 verified customer reviews. This has resulted in an overall review rating of 9.3 out of 10 and 4.5 stars. That’s a good review by anyone’s standards and a great start for any scuba diver.

Here’s an example customer review of the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard:

“Great dives. The guides I had are great. One is really knowledge about the islands. The other took plenty of photos of the animals and everyone and made a movie for us at the end. The food is amazing for a liveaboard. Rooms are spacious and bright. Water is frigid. They will tell you average water temperature is 23 oC in December. That is the warmest water we encountered. Half the dives had a temperature between 16 and 19. Bring some shorties in addition to the 7mm.” Recommended for: Great dives, great food, very clean rooms.

Calipso Galapagos Liveaboard Review by Li P from Canada

Here is a list of what the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard offers to scuba divers and why you should choose this liveaboard to enjoy your Galapagos scuba diving trip.

Feature	Advantage to You
Flexible booking	You can book with confidence knowing that this liveaboard offers a free trip reschedule within 24 months if you are unable to travel due to Covid-19 related restrictions.
Nitrox available	Nitrox onboard means you'll benefit from the many advantages of nitrox divingextended bottom times. Especially important when you're enjoying diving with the schooling hammerhead sharks.
Nitrox Course	If you are not already Nitrox trained, you can take advantage of the onboard Nitrox course to benefit from Nitrox diving (an extra charge).
Dietary restrictions catered for	Relax knowing that whatever your dietary requirements, you can enjoy the food onboard, as the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard will cater for any specific dietary requirement you have.
Private dive guide	For an extra cost you can have your very own private dive guide, so you can do what you want on the dive without worrying about other divers.
En-suite cabins (All 8 cabins)	You benefit from your own private en-suite bathroom so you can shower and get ready in comfort.
Aircon cabins (All 8 cabins)	You benefit from being able to choose the temperature of your cabin for complete comfort and a good night’s sleep.
Panoramic windows	Some cabins have panoramic windows which provide for great views from your cabin, especially when you wake up in the morning.
Sea view cabins	Choose one of the sea view cabins to enjoy the views from your cabin.
Scuba gear rental	The benefit to you is you can travel light and simply rent all your scuba equipment onboard.
35.4 metres (116 feet) dive boat	Large stable liveaboard, which is an advantage in larger swells and seas.
Double cabins	Scuba diving couples can share a cabin with a double bed and their own private en-suite bathroom.
Twin cabins	Single divers can share a cabin and solo divers can share with other solo divers.
Single cabins	2 single cabins on the lower deck with no single supplement.
Sun deck	An advantage to those sun-lovers to relax and sun bathe between dives.
Includes diving on Darwin and Wolf Islands	You benefit from the best diving in the Galapagos Islands to see schooling hammerheads, Galapagos sharks and much more.
Separate Rinse for u/w Camera	Underwater photography enthusiasts benefit from being able to easily rinse down their underwater cameras.
Leisure Deck	Relax and unwind on the leisure deck with the onboard jacuzzi/hot tub.
Free internet	If you need to check your emails or surf the internet whilst on your Galapagos liveaboard, you can for free.
Din adaptors	If you have DIN regulators you don't have to worry, as they have DIN to Yoke regulator adaptors onboard.

What are the pros and cons of the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard?

As with any scuba diving holiday booking there are always pros and cons to take into consideration. Let’s take a look at the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard pros and cons.

Pros of the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard

1. Flexible booking terms.
2. Nitrox onboard so you can dive with the advantages of nitrox.
3. Diving at Wolf and Darwin Islands so you get to dive with the well-known schooling hammerhead sharks and Galapagos sharks.
4. Land excursions are included in the trip to see giant land tortoises.
5. The Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard cost (see below) includes your fuel surcharge, airport transfer, drinking water, soft drinks, tea & coffee, welcome cocktails, full-board meal plan, snacks, diving package, land excursions, cabin towels, complimentary toiletries, deck towels and WiFi internet.
6. 7 night diving package includes up to 20 dives in total.
7. Specific dietary requirements are catered for, but you need to add this when you book your trip.
8. Cabins include en-suite bathrooms, individually controlled AC, TV monitor with hundreds of films to choose from and a hairdryer.
9. Cabins on the main deck have panoramic windows.
10. Top deck has a large shaded solarium with a hot tub, lounge lounges, BBQ and bar.
11. The Galapagos Calipso liveaboard offers a nitrox diving course at an extra charge.
12. Free internet.
13. Maximum of 16 guests on this large liveaboard and looked after by 11 crew.
14. Offers sidemount diving.

Cons of the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard

1. Nitrox is paid for as an extra cost (if you want free nitrox, the Galapagos Sky Liveaboard offers this luxury).
2. Middle budget cost Galapagos liveaboard. For a comparison chart of Galapagos liveaboards, including a Galapagos budget liveaboard, following this link Galapagos Diving Liveaboard.
3. Only 7-night trip itineraries to book.

Liveaboard.com legit company?

You can book with confidence as Liveaboard.com are a legit company. You can never be too cautious when booking online, especially when spending on the cost of a liveaboard trip.

Why should you book the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard?

The Galapagos Calipso is a liveaboard that was custom built for scuba divers. So if you’re not looking to scuba dive the Galapagos Islands, the Galapagos Calipso is not for you. If you want to dive with the well-known schooling hammerhead shark and experience some of the best diving available in the Galapagos Islands, you should book the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard.

If you are interested in booking a non-diving liveaboard to enjoy the Galapagos island, search and scroll the following booking table:

Table of Galapagos liveaboards

This list of Galapagos liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, followed by Scuba Diving Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating, see below), so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating and the best SDE lux rating will be at the top of the list. If you want to change the list order, use the “Sort by” dropdown below.

The Scuba Diving Earth Luxury Rating (SDE Lux Rating) is explained on each liveaboard review when you click the “Discover Liveaboard” link, and is my own Liveaboard Luxury Rating I’ve assigned to all liveaboards. Choosing between liveaboards is helped by customer scores, and if you get stuck choosing between two or three liveaboards, where each one has a high customer score out of 10, you can use the SDE Luxury Rating to help narrow down your choice.

Think about it like using Booking.com when searching for the best hotel. Booking.com also use a customer score where each customer rates hotels out of 10. This is similar to the liveaboard customer rating, which is also rated out of 10. But let’s say you only like to stay in hotels rated 8 and above on Booking.com, but you also want the hotel to have WIFI or parking, or to have a swimming pool etc. The features each hotel has is usually secondary to the score out of 10.

You can scuba dive the Galapagos Islands from a land-based resort. But the disadvantage of this is you won’t be able to Dive Wolf and Darwin Islands, as these can only be dived from a liveaboard like the Galapagos Calipso. This is another reason to book the Galapagos Calipso liveaboard for a scuba diving trip of a lifetime.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard cost

To book a trip on the Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard, prices begin at £241 ($328/€270) – cost right at the time of writing this article.

The cost of booking the Galapagos Calipso is not the cheapest Galapagos liveaboard, but it is also not the most expensive, that tag goes to the Galapagos Sky liveaboard. If you want to book the most expensive or the cheapest Galapagos liveaboard, please take a read of this article that includes a Galapagos liveaboard comparison chart.

The Galapagos Calipso liveaboard cost to book includes the following:

• Airport transfers.
• Drinking water, soft drinks, tea & coffee.
• Full-board meal plan, which includes specific dietary requirements (but this must be requested at the time of booking) and snacks.
• All your diving on the 7-night diving package includes up to 20 dives in total.
• Land excursions including a visit to the Highlands of Santa Cruz to see the Galapagos Tortoises in their natural environment.
• Cabin towels and complimentary toiletries.

The Galapagos Calipso liveaboard cost to book excludes the following:

• Dive Insurance.
• Travel Insurance.
• Chamber Fees.
• Galapagos National Park Fees.
• Port fees and visas.
• Alcoholic beverages.
• Optional Gratuities.
• Nitrox fills.
• Scuba rental gear.
• Private dive guide.
• Nitrox course.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard scuba diving from the UK

The Galapagos Calipso liveaboard can be booked by scuba divers from the UK.

It’s a long trip from the UK to get to the Galapagos Islands, but well worth the long-haul flights. The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador in South America. If you’re flying from the UK to the Galapagos Islands this can take over 20 hours of flying time with stops along the way. Most flights to Ecuador from the UK will be via America.

You can get to the Galapagos Islands by flying into the capital city of Quito or Guayaquil. From there you are best to get a flight from Quito to Baltra Island, which is where most liveaboard boats depart from.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard scuba diving from the United States

The Galapagos Calipso liveaboard can be booked by scuba divers from America.

For those Americans living on the west coast, getting to the Galapagos Islands is a shorter trip, so if you are flying from the USA, the flying time will of course be less. For example, if you’re flying from New York, the flight from New York to Quito, Ecuador is just under 9 hours long.

When flying from American, you can get to the Galapagos Islands by flying into the capital city of Quito or Guayaquil. From there you are best to get a flight from Quito to Baltra Island, which is where most liveaboard boats depart from.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard scuba diving from Canada

The Galapagos Calipso can be booked by scuba divers from Canada. This is a Galapagos Calipso liveaboard review by Philip L from the Canada:

“Great trip! Diving with hammerheads, whalesharks, sea lions, and iguanas. Penguins and mola mola at the end. Area for improvements: selection of diving sites regardless of conditions; rushing during some dives; last day schedule.” Recommended for: Friendly crew, great food, nice and clean cabin.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard review by Caslav D from Canada

Flights from Canada include from Toronto (1 stop 8 hours 18 minutes), Montreal (1 stop 8 hours 59 minutes) and Vancouver (2 stops 15 house 2 minutes) to Ecuador. When flying from Canada, you can get to the Galapagos Islands by flying into the capital city of Quito or Guayaquil. From there you are best to get a flight from Quito to Baltra Island, which is where most liveaboard boats depart from.

You can book the Galapagos Calipso from where ever you live in the world. So you can also book if you live anywhere in Europe, like France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hungary and Austria. Or in Asia like Japan or Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and China. Or other places like Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Finland and Demark. You can read reviews by divers from some of these listed countries here: Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard reviews.

Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard discount code

If you are searching for a Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard discount code you are best to look out for the discounts Liveaboard.com offer on certain trips. Also, take a read of this article about how to book a last minute Galapagos liveaboard cruise.

I hope you enjoyed this article about Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard Reviews

I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof go-pro’s!

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically on Galapagos Calipso Liveaboard Reviews), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkeling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.

Have fun and be safe!