Punta Vicente Roca North
Isabela Island · Ecuador
The northern face of Vicente Roca is a dramatic underwater landscape of collapsed lava tubes, caverns, and towering black walls draped in cold-water corals and Muricidae sea snails that are found almost nowhere else. The intense Cromwell Current upwelling creates a nutrient soup that feeds dense populations of invertebrates unusual for tropical latitudes — sea stars, brittle stars, and nudibranchs crowd every surface. This site rewards the observant diver willing to look past the megafauna: it is arguably the finest macro diving in the Galapagos.
Conditions
Depth
10 to 40 m
Advanced depths
Current
Often strong
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
5 to 12 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
14 to 25°C
7mm wetsuit
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 21 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
| Vis (m) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Current | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Strong | Strong | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Brown Noddy
Last confirmed Jun 13, 2026 · 65 records
Almost always
Nearly every dive
Green Sea Turtle
Last confirmed Jun 14, 2026 · 52 records
Almost always
Nearly every dive
GaláPagos Penguin
Last confirmed May 29, 2026 · 45 records
Almost always
Nearly every dive
Bump-Head Mola
Last confirmed Apr 27, 2026 · 15 records
Very likely
Most dives
Galapagos Sheephead Wrasse
Last confirmed Nov 19, 2025 · 8 records
Very likely
Most dives
Galapagos Nudibranch
Last confirmed Jul 29, 2024 · 1 records
Likely
About 6 in 10 dives
Spiny Lobster
Last confirmed Sep 30, 2025 · 1 records
Likely
About 6 in 10 dives
Frogfish
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Gear