I did a 6 dive days trip in October of 2021 with Malpelo tours. I was nervous at first, but Ricardo and his team were super efficient with planning, organizing, and assisting all aspects of my travel. The boat, the Ferox, was awesome, an ex-navy ship turned Dive adventure! The water was warm, 27 degrees, and visibility was above average in some spots, average in others. The reef here is so healthy and the fish life is what all oceans should look like. We saw a mix of hammerheads, Galapagos, white tips, black rip, and silkies. Also whale sharks!! The crew speaks mostly Spanish but there is always someone to translate. We met and dove with the park rangers who protect Malpelo from illegal fishermen, and got a great lesson on Malpelo fish and geography. Dolphins were by the boat 3 days in a row for breakfast. The dive guides were great, as well! I'd recommend this trip to my dive buddies.

Charlotte Raciboski

                         

Diving in Malpelo is a magical experience one remembers for a lifetime with hammerheads, silkies, whale sharks, huge schools, and pristine nature; a big part of that is going with Malpelo Tours and the Ferox Liveaboard. We were a group of 6, including my wife, some going for the first time to Malpelo and others, like myself, for the second time. Malpelo is a wild, remote, pristine place with probably one of the best shark dives in the world; but being remote, open ocean and with strong currents, safety is everything. From the first moment, Ricardo was reachable, friendly, and helpful in planning before the trip. He was also our dive guide which worked great for us! The Ferox is a safety-focused Liveaboard, which in Malpelo, is exactly what you need! Big, powerful boat with a magnificent crew, a couple of powerful zodiacs, and everything you need to be at ease during your dives. Don’t hesitate, you will never forget Malpelo with Malpelo Tours and Ferox LiveAboard!

Juan D. Barrera

I felt that Ricardo Leon took extremely good care of me and the guests. He was in touch since the first contact, through multiple rebookings because of COVID-19 regulations until I reached back home. Ricardo was always well informed and double-checked if everything was alright. At the point where my suitcase got lost by the aviation company, he organized a driver to take me shopping for the essentials needed.

I was positively surprised by the Ferox Liveaboard. The ship seems “unbreakable” while offering still quite a level of comfort. I must say one of the best things on the entire trip was the entire crew. It felt like the 9 divers and 11 (approximately) crew members were almost one “family”. The operation worked like a “well-oiled machine” and everybody on the crew was aware of what to do next. We all felt safe at every single moment in time and every request was given immediate attention.

The dive guides were the best I have ever experienced. They were calm, relaxed, and highly motivated to make the best experience for the guest possible. The “captains” of the dinghies were extremely professional. Once we came up, they were there, even after 60 minutes of drift dives with a high share diving in the blue. I felt like guides and captains know every dive place by heart.

The entire trip we had at least one representative from the national park on board. One person accompanied the majority of our dives. It was quite a positive benefit as we got to learn even more about Malpelos wildlife from the rangers. We had “classes” about Malpelos wildlife and did “fish ID” quizzes.

It was made possible by the crew to drop brief emails via satellite.

Be aware that the approx.. 30-hour boat trip towards Malpelo can be rough. I recommend preparing yourself with supplements against motion sickness.  The hotel before/after the trip is quite basic but has also the very friendly and helpful staff. A big plus is a location as it is in very close proximity to bars and restaurants and is in quite a safe neighborhood.

How to improve: Well, it was already top-notch. I was hoping for even more and closer big fish (hammerheads). That’s nothing in the hand of the entire team. I suggest selecting your months of departure wisely, depending on your scuba/fish preferences.

I will come back for sure someday.

Arne Stocker

                         

The trip was excellent. The diving on the Liveaboard Ferox was well organized and gave a lot of great scenery. The dive instructor master Jaime was attentive and devoted to making every dive interesting. The cook and his team did vegan food which the three of us enjoyed. The boat rider Mr. Ronaldo has been carrying us back and forth as gentle as a Mom carrying kids to and from school and faster than Michael Schumacher drives his Formula 1 bolide. The Mechanic and his apprentice were not seemed much but I know that the boat stopped on the way to Malpelo at night during a serious storm and these guys fixed it the way nobody even noticed that something bad happened. The Captain gave us an engaging excursion into the safety 🦺 and personally set us into the cabins. Zumaia is a Michelin-class restaurant. Chef Louis surprised me with very tender white fish in some Thai fantasy sauce. The driver Fernando has been punctual and helpful.

Thank you Malpelo Tours 💖

Boris Kemelman

                         

An unforgettable experience in Colombia on my first diving liveaboard getting in arms reach of huge schools of Hammerheads Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, White Tip Reef Sharks, and Silky Sharks. Surrounded by an insane amount of free-swimming Moray Eels and so many varieties of fish, including Scorpionfish. This was an experience I´ll never forget!

Alysse Nielsen

                         

Un gran equipo nos guio en Malpelo, cordiales, comprometidos y con la seguridad como prioridad. Malpelo es un destino que todo buzo debe tener en su bitácora. Grandes avistamientos, una entretenida travesía, una agradable cocina y sobre todo una gran compañía de todos los que participamos. A Malpelo hay que ir.👏👏👏🦈🤿

Pablo Muñoz

                         

The diving in Malpelo was amazing. We saw many schools of Hammerheads which was a beautiful experience and the main reason I came for. Besides the hammerheads, I was very impressed with the good dive sites in Malpelo, which contain a very nice and rich marine life.

Serdal Tabak

                         

I visited Malpelo in late September. Almost every time we dived, we were able to see the big school of several kinds of fish. The size of the school was so huge that I was fascinated so much by it and I got lost from my group.  I was able to enjoy diving there despite my lack of Spanish and seasickness all the time.

Among Japanese divers, Malpelo is not so popular destination like Galapagos or Cocos, but I recommend it.

Ricardo from Malpelo Tours is a very kind guy. he helped me a lot from the planning of this trip to the end, so don't worry.

Mikio Iizuka "Raitaro"

   

I am a scuba instructor and have been diving in over 35 countries, so I am a bit spoiled. I just came back from Malpelo and thought it was fantastic. On the first morning, three minutes into the first dive, we were surrounded by a school of hammerhead sharks. That level of excitement continued on every dive for the entire six-day trip.

Malpelo is more of a big rock than an island, and many of its steep cliffs continue down underwater. It is geologically very young, so there is not much coral growth, but what the coral that is there is very pretty – lots of nice yellows and oranges in the hard corals, and pastel blue gorgonians.

The hammerhead sharks were most numerous, followed by chunky 3-meter-plus Galapagos sharks that were close enough to touch. We also saw huge white-tips, pelagic black-tips, and silky sharks. There are numerous cleaning stations where smaller fish (often wrasse and butterflyfish) will clean the skin and sometimes mouths of the big pelagic fish (sharks, jacks, trevally, oceanic triggers) that come in from the open ocean. If you watch the bigger fish closely while they are being cleaned, especially the surgeonfish, you may notice them changing color slowly, often drastically, from light silver to dark brown or another deep color. There was a lot of mating behavior also when I was there. Tight balls of wrasse were exploding out of the school in mating frenzies, and big-eyed jacks were pairing off, one silver, above, with the other turned dark-brown below it.

I understand that different shark species are more abundant at various times of the year. I was there in August and the water was warm around 27 degrees. The visibility was around 15 meters at the beginning of the week and cleared up to almost 30 by the end, which made a big difference. There was a thermocline of murkier water that was around 22 to 24 degrees that fluctuated between 20 and 33 meters over the course of the week.

Mike Zensley

                     

Me monté en este viaje de un día para otro y llegue al lugar mas increíble en el que he buceado. Gracias a Malpelo Tours por llevarnos a conocer este lugar tan especial.

Carlos Ramírez

             

Diving in Malpelo was Excellent! Here some of my log dives:

Silkies around the boat, lots of Hammerheads on most dives and quite a few Galapagos Sharks. Plus 4 or 5 Whale Sharks while diving.

James Valentine

         

Diving in Malpelo was the best underwater experience I ever had. Hundreds of Hammerheads, Eagle Rays almost every dive and huge Galapagos sharks were just a few of the highlights. Marine life at this remote island is so huge, one has to see it.  The organization by Ricardo Leon from Malpelo Tours was very good and communication easy and friendly. He responded fast to all of my questions and provided very good information. Would book again with Malpelo Tours.

Janko Skorup

El servicio recibido por parte de Malpelo Tours fue perfecto; recibí la información completa y adecuada; mis comunicaciones/peticiones fueron atendidas y solucionadas a tiempo y sentí confianza desde el principio. Espero volver a viajar con ustedes, confiando en que la presencia de las autoridades vuelvan a ser permanentes en la isla para proteger el parque. Muchas gracias!!!

Marcela Tello

La atención y el servicio prestado por Malpelo Tours fueron excelentes, me sentí segura y acompañada. Espero volver a contactarlos. Mil Gracias

Adriana Tello

Malpelo is a diving Paradise! Depends of the season you can see: whale sharks, Galapagos sharks, Hammerhead Shark, White tip Shark, Schools of Barracudas, Jacks and many more. A dream destination! I went twice and I will be back no matter when.

Marco Larue

I had the most amazing experience with Malpelotours. They were able to organize my entire trip for a fair price. I had someone picking me up at the airport in Cali that took me to my hotel, I enjoyed a really nice night in Cali. Next day they came to fetch me and we went to Buenaventura where I got on the live-aboard. Once there I had a comfortable and clean room and every meal was just delicious. It took us one entire day to get to the Island The diving it was the best of my life: 6 kinds of sharks (silky, hammerhead, galapagos, whale shark, white tips and monster shark) Also Mantas, groupers, eagle rays and thousands of jacks and tunas. It was also really cool to enjoy the snacks suring the surface interval while we were amazed by the landscape. Its a life time experience, I would def recommend and Im planning to go myself pretty soon again.

Aline Neiva de Oliveira

 

My diving experience in Malpelo was unique, a real adventure. We almost felt like we had discovered the huge rock. The diversity of fish is impressive (eagle rays, hammerhead sharks, giant trevallies, whale sharks, and much more), but especially the size of schools of fish. It is certainly one of the best diving destinations in the world, as access to dives is limited, which contributes to the preservation of the site and its inhabitants. I am sure that one I can go to Malpelo and be amazed every time. For my part, I hope to have the chance to return one day.

Tiana Ramaroson

Malpelo sin duda uno de los mejores sitios de buceo en el mundo. Un lugar rudo y apasionante! Los servicios de Malpelo Tours excelentes, Ricardo Leon nos ayudo con todo el proceso desde el inicio y estuvimos acompañadas por él hasta el último momento, excelente atención y servicio al cliente, comprometidos y pendientes de ti hasta tu regreso! Ampliamente recomendados son muy profesionales y siempre cuidando que el cliente esté satisfecho! Prometieron los mejores buceos y cumplieron!!!  

Sandra Contreras