Barranco is located in the academy bay of Santa Cruz Island.
We start from the main port in 20 minutes we arrive at the diving place, the edge of Santa Cruz Island is a coast full of marine life, its topography is a ravine like a collapsed rock (landslide) with small caves where you can find different species of fish, turtles, rays are a very fascinating place to explore.
Punta Estrada, just on the western side of academy bay, is an excellent spot for snorkeling, in addition to diving. On the east side of the point, a narrow canal extends back into the mangroves and it is usually filled with dense schools of baitfish. Pelican’s perch atop the steep sides of the canal and make repeated crash dives into the shallow water, scooping up beak-fulls of silvery fish.
white-tipped reef sharks rest on the sand bottom near the mangrove roots and leisurely swim past divers and snorkelers.
We do night dives seeing varieties of incredible animals underwater.
Caamaño is an islet at the entrance to Academy Bay that is visited only by day boats out of Puerto Ayora.
The sea lion colony here affords a great opportunity to play with these graceful animals in a calm,protected area.In the shallows of the sandy beach facing Academy Bay , there are many young sea lions ready to test yours swimming ability.
The current enters the bay from the south and flows past the front of Caamaño from west to east. Although there are not very many large fish because of the pressure from fishing, there are still some interesting creatures on the sandy fingers at depths between 9-18m(30-60ft), where the reef extends to the west. Investigate the deep sand channels that appear to be carved out of the reef. You may find redlipped batfish as well as diamond and marble rays on the bottom.
You can also see thorn rays, marbled rays and open water species such as eagle rays and turtles (especially in the easternmost part of the islet). The diversity of fish on this islet is quite high.
Diving is ideal for beginners and advanced divers and is done in the northern area of the islet, since the points have very strong currents.
Located next to the Lobería, 15 minutes from Puerto Ayora, the Bajo is a diving spot to go a little deeper, this site has a maximum depth of 40 meters.
At 10 meters you can observe a sand platform, here you will find yourself seeing hammerhead sharks, schools of fish, sea turtles, reefs and reef fish.
