Punta Vicente Roca
Depth is the range from the top of the site to its usual maximum; "recommended cert" is the mainstream-agency level operators usually ask for, not a legal rule. Currents and visibility change daily — treat everything here as planning ranges.
On the northwest shoulder of Isabela, where the Cromwell Current slams nutrient-rich water into the island, Punta Vicente Roca is the cold, strange heart of a western itinerary. Mola mola rise from the depths to cleaning stations along the wall, hanging tilted while barberfish work them over. Green turtles pile up here in remarkable numbers, resting on ledges in the murk. The wall itself crawls with life better suited to Peru than the equator - and the celebrated oddballs of the west, red-lipped batfish and Pacific seahorses, hide on the slope for divers patient enough to search 14 C water. Penguins and flightless cormorants hunt the shallows overhead.
The moment you come for: Mola cleaning stations, turtle aggregations, red-lipped batfish, penguins in the shallows
Topography: Steep wall and boulder slope inside a collapsed caldera edge
Current: Often sheltered, but the cold Cromwell upwelling makes its own weather - expect green water and thermoclines.
Know before you splash
Hazards: Cold - the coldest regularly dived water in the islands - plus limited visibility and boat traffic at the surface.
Conservation: Galapagos Marine Reserve; western itinerary sites are tightly scheduled by the park.
Who you'll meet
Galápagos Sea Lion
Green Sea Turtle
Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish)
Seahorses
For photographers
Wide angle: ★★★★☆ · Macro: ★★★★☆ — editors' 1–5 rating of what this site gives each style of shooting