Diving in Gordon Rocks
Santa Cruz Dive Sites
- Last Updated: December 9, 2024
Diving in Gordon Rocks is the best dive you can do in Santa Cruz island if you want to see Hammerhead Sharks.
Gordon Rocks are the third most famous dive in the entire archipelago. Only slightly shadowed by the liveaboard experience of Darwin and Wolf’s islands, which cost a small fortune, and the Dive in Kicker Rock, starting from San Cristobal island.
It’s one of the top dives in the world and it’s on the bucket list for many underwater aficionados.
As a diver myself, if I’d leave the Galapagos without seeing a hammerhead shark I would be disappointed. This is where I saw my first ten hammerheads and my first manta rays.
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Diving in Gordon Rocks: General Details
On this diving tour, according to their website you need at least 20 recorded dives (in theory, and I would advise you do so due to the sometimes strong currents) and they check your level before the dive, in the water.
- Highlights: Hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, Whitetip reef sharks, eagle rays, green turtles, king angelfish, sea lions, etc.
- Duration: 8 hours.
- Boat trip duration: 2 hours (45mins-1 hour each way).
- Starting Time: 6:30h-7:00h starting at the Macarron Scuba dive center in Puerto Ayora.
- Price: 160-180$ USD.
- Agency/Guide: Macarron Scuba Diver Diving Center
- Gear included: Scuba kit with wetsuits, fins, and all the necessary things.
- Food included: Snacks with drinks in between dives, and Lunch at the end.
Diving in Gordon Rocks: Technical Details
- Dive Type: Drift.
- Difficulty: Moderate.
- Start: Boat dive.
- Duration: 50-60 minutes.
- Nr. of dives: 2 dives.
- Full Tank: 3000 PSI / 200 Bar
- Currents: Medium-strong currents.
- Avg. Depth: 12-30 meters.
- Surface Interval: 45 minutes (boat rest).
- Visibility: 10-25 meters.
- Water Temp. (ºC): Jan-May: 20-26. June-Dec: 16-20.
- Air Temp. (ºC): Jan-May: 22-31, June-Dec: 19-29.
- Water Temp. (ºF): Jan-May: 68-78,8, June-Dec: 60,8-68.
- Air Temp. (ºF): Jan-May: 72-88, June-Dec: 66-84.
Diving in Gordon Rocks: Curiosities
This dive site is usually called the “Washing Machine”, I would bet it has to do with its strong currents and many different schools of fish using it as a cleaning station.
Gordon Rocks’ name’s origin possibly came from the name of a British royal navy officer of the late 18th century, like Seymour island from Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour.
The Gordon Rocks formation, similar to the Pinnacle in the Bartolomé Island Tour and Kicker Rock, is the eroded remains of a volcanic “tuff cone”. A sort of consolidated volcanic ash structure that with time got eroded by the weather and created the shape we can see today.
In Gordon Rocks’ case its shape is of a crater with three emerged rocks off the surface
Apart from its underwater wonders and fauna, this ancient volcanic structure is also home to many seabirds.
How to Dive in Gordon Rocks?
In order to dive in Gordon Rocks you must have at least an Open Water certification with 20 dives. If you don’t have the 20 dives you should at least have some experience diving with strong currents.
To book it just go to a diving school, I went to Macarron Scuba Diver Diving Center, and they explain it all to you. You must book it at least one day before but I’d advise you to book it a couple of days in advance just in case.
Before the diving day, you’ll need to go to the dive center and test out the gear to find your appropriate size.
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What Can i See While Diving in Gordon Rocks?
So, first of all, you need to be lucky. As in everything sea-related, you don’t control when the animals pass by.
In theory and if you have good visibility, you have a great chance of seeing hammerhead sharks, galápagos sharks, white tip reef sharks, green turtles, eagle rays, manta rays, napoleon wrasse, puffer fish, king angelfish, morays, parrot fish, yellowtail grunts, barberfish and razor surgeonfish and other exotic fish.
On the surface of the rock, you might see sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and frigatebirds.
For your own safety and for the animals, don’t touch any of the animals or corals as they are all living things and can get damaged if you do so.
What to Bring to the Dive in Gordon Rocks?
Diving Computer:
Diving Gear:
Clothing & Accessories:
- Tshirt: Breathable Tshirt (Tech or Merino), or a Lycra
- Jacket: Waterproof Jacket
- Shorts: Swimming Clothes
- Shoes: Flip Flops
- Hat: Cap
- Sunglasses
- Dry-fast Towel
- Earth Pak Waterproof Dry Bag
- Change of Clothes
Useful Extras:
- GoPro/Camera
- First-Aid Kit – Extra Sea Sickness Medication if needed
- Sunscreen 50 SPF
- Food / Snacks
- Thermos or Water-filtering Bottle
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My Experience While Diving in Gordon Rocks
I did the Gordon Rocks dive on the 2nd day I was on Santa Cruz Island, this was my last chance on seeing hammerhead sharks since I missed seeing them on the Kicker Rock dive.
My expectations were a bit low since this was just four days after the previous dive and I could expect visibility to still be murky and low. Despite that, it ended up being the best dive I had in the Galápagos. We saw hammerhead sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, Galápagos sharks, turtles, etc.
After arriving at Maccaron dive center at 7 am we waited for the entire group to be there and went on a taxi van to Itabaca Channel for one hour. At 8 am we hopped on the boat and sailed for 45 minutes until we reached the Gordon Rocks.
We were 6 divers, 2 Israeli, 2 Spanish, 1 Argentinean, and me. Then 2 guides (mine was the owner of the school, a nice guy), the cook, and the captain.
The Diving Experience
This was the best diving experience I had in the Galápagos. In total, I saw around 10 hammerhead sharks, 2 manta rays, 1 eagle ray, some turtles and morays, and many beautiful sharks and smaller fish.
The sea was a bit rough on the ride to the dive site, so I advise you to take a seasickness pill if you have the habit of getting sick in water.
My dive team was an Israeli father and his daughter and my buddy was the diving school owner.
We jumped in the water and started going down around the rocks, the beginning of this dive couldn’t have gone smoother.
The visibility was great, at least 12 meters, there wasn’t much current, and, as soon as we went down a first big group of white tip reef sharks passed next to us.
Once we started following these sharks my guide started pointing at the distance and that was the moment a dream of mine came true.
The dream I’d hoped to realize some days before, there they were, two beautiful hammerhead sharks, swimming calmly in our direction.
They were very similar to Galápagos sharks, the back fin was also very pointy but their head had the irrecognisable shape of a hammer with their eyes at each edge.
I’d heard wonders about these super-intelligent sharks, and I could finally see them live in front of my eyes.
After the hammerhead sharks, we kept seeing more white-tip ones and Galápagos sharks, we saw two manta rays in the distance, also my first ones, and a green turtle next to the corals.
On the way up we saw a huge school of barracudas and the first dive was over.
We stayed around 45 minutes on the boat, we had some snacks and water and went back in.
One of the divers of the other group was a bit sick from the rough sea of the boat ride and stayed on the boat.
We went in and again saw some hammerhead sharks, and white-tip reef sharks, then a spotted eagle ray passed really close to us.
Next to the corals, we saw a parrot fish and a napoleon wrasse, beautiful barberfish, surgeonfish, and king angelfish.
There were also some morays at the bottom and other smaller fish. All in all, this was probably my favorite dive ever. After the first dive, I was already happy and could have gone home.
I literally said, “we saw everything already what is there to see on the next one?” Ahah.
And that’s about it after jumping back on board we sailed to the Itabaca Channel and then drove back to Puerto Ayora and the diving day was over.
If you’re lucky you will find literally dozens of hammerheads swimming underneath or by you. So good luck!
To close the article, we had lunch once we got in town at 2 pm and we all got sick from it the next days so try avoiding juices with ice and undercooked food while you’re on the islands.
Apart from the lunch, it was a 5-star experience. Literally.
What about you, have you already scuba-dived in Gordon Rocks? Leave me a comment down here if you have and what was your opinion.
Thanks for reading through and I hope you have fun diving here.
I’ll drop a couple of my other favourite photos of the day down below, enjoy!
Photo Gallery
Diving in Gordon Rocks: The Diving Experience
