Cancelled Galapagos trip....help??

[DiveJedi]

So after months and months of planning as well as copius amounts of cash poured into a once in a lifetime trip....today we found out that that our charter has been cancelled.

When I took my course director course in 2005 I met Michel who is the operator for Exloramar Diving. A beautiful 72' catamaran, land tours, Wolf, Darwin etc etc. It took a lot of planning, but we finally booked for August 2008. My wife, and I, another couple, and 6 others (we found to come with us) filled the vast majority of the boat.

My wife has always wanted to hike the Inca Trail...so we took it a step further, if we were going to be there....we may as well do it right. A 3 week vacation, Inca Trail, dive the Galapagos.....everything is booked and paid for.

It was a little dodgy when some political crap went down...a whole bunch of trips were cancelled last yr, but ours was still a go....and now the National Park director was fired and the new person in charge of the Park decided to cancel the diving activity again to many of the Tour Operators, and we were on that list. The operator has offered 2 other weeks in Sept on a different boat, and different operator....but the dates don't work, and we are not sold on the new charter operation.

So the big question...does anyone know of anybody that has a charter running btwn
Aug 17th & 24th, 2008?? I have 10 ppl that want to go!

Kind Regards,

Tyler Preston

 

[baehler]

Hi, we have 4 slots on the Sky Dancer available for the trip in October 12-19, 2008.
Please contact me on pierre.baehler@cern.ch .
regards Pierre Baehler
Club Subaquatique CERN - Scuba Club

 

[suzbo]

Wow. This is going to be really tough, because you have such specific dates that you need. It MAY be impossible if you need slots for 10 people at this short notice (short for Galapagos trips, that is...) If you do an "every man/woman for himself" thing, you might be able to find 2-4 slots here and there.

I don't know what the current status is for which boats are permitted for diving there, the rules have changed so many times in the last 8 months it makes your head spin. For sure the 2 Aggressors and the Sky Dancer are permitted to dive at Wolf and Darwin, and may still be the ONLY ones permitted to dive there. If you are only interested in diving those northern sites, you will have to go with one of them, I think.

You might try contacting, rather than the parent company websites, the local operator for each boat in Ecuador.
For the Sky Dancer, that's Ecoventura: Home | Ecoventura - Tours and Cruises to Galapagos
The Aggressors are (were?) operated by a group called Galamazonas, but I cannot find a current website for them; when I Google them I come up with a group called Ecuaworld: Galapagos yachts Agressor I and II cruises Galapagos tours Galapagos Travel to the Galapagos Islands Don't know if they've changed their name or sold the company, or what, but they do show that they book the Aggressors.

Anyway, these are the LOCAL operators for the 2 big fleets. I don't really know if you'll find out anything different than by going to the main Peter Hughes or Aggressor web sites, just thought it might be something you could try.

If you're just going to "punt," try to find ANY diving in the Galapagos, try contacting Scuba Iguana: Scuba Diving Galapagos Islands - Scuba Iguana They are very, very good, but we would be talking land-based tours with them, so you'd need to book a hotel in Galapagos.

You could also try contacting
Quasar Nautica: Galapagos Islands Scuba Diving Cruises They have handled the Lammer Law for a while; I know things are changing with that boat as far as owners go, but I think they still handle the bookings and operation., as well as having other boats.

I don't know if ANY of those local operator websites are really giving current information regarding the problems with permission to dive in the Galapagos, so you will want to ask very specific questions of them.

Good luck!

 

[DiveJedi]

Thank you for all your advice....we may try to get the 6 other people on - 1 group of 4 and a couple....and the other 4 of us may opt to go somewhere else - assuming our cancellation ins. is applicable.

Thanks again.
Tyler

 

[divengolf]

Sorry about your unfortunate experience, but given the political situation since last July, I'm not surprised. I had planned to make reservations last fall for fall 2008, but decided to wait until the politics works out, if it ever does. As you probably know, there is a lengthly thread in the South American forum on this topic.

I was there last November on a National Geographic land only trip. In talking with the local GNP guides, it was clear that the issues with diving in the park were far from settled. So i'm not surprised that things are in an uproar again.

It also sounds like if you can't go to Wolf & Darwin, it's not worth the trip.

I'd suggest that you look at the Cocos Islands or Solmar V out of Cabo San Lucas as alternates.

 

[danclem]

Hi Tyler:

Check with Scuba Iguana [ Scuba Diving Galapagos Islands - Scuba Iguana , phone 593-5-2-526497]. We dove with them last June/July, and they were great. I believe they have run Darwin/Wolfe trips throughout the whole dive "ban." I would think getting spots for ten would be quite doable.

If you need to stay in Puerto Ayora, check out the Sol y Mar. It is terrific.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[baehler]

Hi Tyler,
I checked the the Scuba Iguana web site concerning live aboard diving and found: At the moment we are not offering this type of tour due to national park regulations.

We still can offer 2 slots. 2 of the 4 free slots I mentioned earlier have been taken by divers who got their live aboard cancelled last Sunday.

cheers Pierre

 

[Doc]

Check with Scuba Iguana [ Scuba Diving Galapagos Islands - Scuba Iguana , phone 593-5-2-526497]. We dove with them last June/July, and they were great. I believe they have run Darwin/Wolfe trips throughout the whole dive "ban." I would think getting spots for ten would be quite doable.

SI never ran such trips, they merely acted as a brokering agent. Most of us North American come to the Galapagos "knowing" that the only way to see the Galapagos is via live aboard. Not so. Wolf and Darwin Islands are unique and desirable, but factor in todays politics as well as the cost of a liveaboard... you can see the same stuff in smaller numbers right out of Puerto Ayora. No three days of crossing in a bouncing ship.

We are lead to believe this "liveaboard is the only way" by our dive magazines. Who has the money to advertise in them? The liveaboards.

Funny thing- Europeans come to the Galapagos all the time and seem to find great success with the day-dive ops. Surely the best of them, far and away, is SCUBA Iguana.

take a gander at this- http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/south-america/136860-galapagos-land-based-dive-question.html

 

[itsjustme0770]

Just a slightly different opinion than RoatanMan, who's opinions I highly respect. We ran into a number of European's on our last trip on the Galapagos Aggressor this January. British, German and Russian. All dove with Galapagos land ops prior to their Aggressor trip. I was repeatedly told that there was zero comparisson between the main islands and Wolf and Darwin for some things. Sharks being the primary difference with Whale Sharks being 2nd in season. That said, we had some great dives in the main islands, with Counsin's rock being a particular favorite as I love sea lions...

Just my .02.

 

[baehler]

I only can confirm that according the feedback I got from the members of our club Club Subaquatique CERN - Scuba Club who went Oct/Nov 2006 & 2007 that only Wolf & Darwin makes it worth to travel so far from Europe.
cheers Pierre