Bad news from Galapagos, Aggressor 1 Liveaboard is out of service 06/13

[chillyinCanada]

You paid for that privilege and good for you. Not so Aggressor. =

So heartened that you still feel the bliss despite the frightening and sorry end to your trip.

 

[BDSC]

All of our guests from both incidents were offered a full refund, money off a future trip and any items lost not covered by the guests' own insurance were claimed under our company policy.
Company owners Mark & Frank flew to Layang Layang & Indonesia, respectively, to meet with and assist our guests and crew, organising emergency passports in the case of the loss of the Mandarin Siren (as noted above we now collect all passports into 1 dry bag!) making travel arrangements and providing assistance where needed.

Impressive. This is how things should be done.

 

[Scared Silly]

Well here's a pic of The Galapagos Aggressor 1 when we went back at daybreak. Encircled is the life raft that hadn't been deployed. One was deployed only after both the zodiacs were. It wasn't eventually used but was towed to the other Aggressor during the morning.

View attachment 158243

THANKS for posting that up and confirming the order in which dinghies and life rafts were deployed. In my mind the crew DID NOT follow proper safety protocol for abandoning ship. A life raft should have been deployed first followed by any dinghies.

BTW Out of curiosity when you all entered the dinghies did any of the passengers have any signaling devices like their Nautilus Lifelines? Did the crew have a rescue pack containing an EPIRB?

 

[Shasta_man]

Thanks so much to Homi and Roshenamin for their candid posts.

Shocking revelations, important info and I have learned a few things for my next trip (with a different company). First, I hope to never be in a situation where I'm taking a "last picture" of my liveaboard as we abandon her. Next, I'm wondering about what is available to the captain when traveling at night. Based on the boat being so far up on land, it obviously drove at speed straight into the island. Knowing little beyond speculation about the tools and skills available, I'm wondering whether they had radar to detect the island and about seeing the dark island against the background. I'm just wondering about how actively they are "driving" the boat on these long passages. The things I learned from this were have a flashlight within easy access in my cabin, to familiarize myself with where exactly the life jackets and lifeboats, and how the release mechanisms appear to work (anything can happen). I'm going to literally learn the way out of my cabin to the deck with my eyes closed. If no specific instruction is made for the safety equipment and drills, I'm going to call it out specifically and point out this very recent experience. If I don't get satisfactory info, I will seek it out independently and directly. I'm happy to leave any rescuing to the crew, but won't depend on that exclusively.

And yes, looting = stealing. They shoot looters here.

 

[H2O Gal]

I'm going to literally learn the way out of my cabin to the deck with my eyes closed.

Great idea, but don't forget to visualize the way out if the boat is lying on one side or the other, or even-God forbid- upside down!

 

[letterboy]

so, the people who drive the boats and live in the area all know the area by heart and can navigate by the stars?!?!

so if all the nav gear failed why did they hit a bunch of rocks, unless they are a new formation by an underwater volcano, was that the case?

or if there was a problem with the rudder would a more prudent COA have been to come to all stop mid water, wake the guests, and then abandon the vessel once the guests could gather all their important documents.

but what do I know.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

I am no captain but I wonder about a few things here. If the crash was a result of a GPS failing...did they really only have one gps? No backup anything?

About the rudder damage...in a multi engine boat, couldn't they steer with just the engines temporarily?

If there were known issues why were they sailing at all? Especially at night.

 

[buton]

Wow.. What an experience to the passengers, I am glad they are ok.. After the carib dancer mess and now this. I wonder if they are going to still be paying padi and dive training magazines for advertising they should take responsibility and make an announcement and compensate the passengers with full refund and lost items .. This thread will go to wine and cheese as usual and we will never know what happened

 

[Wookie]

I am no captain but I wonder about a few things here. If the crash was a result of a GPS failing...did they really only have one gps? No backup anything?

An iPhone with the proper app makes a dandy GPS, and yes, I know this for a fact. It'll even drive the autopilot if you have the correct adapters.

 

[letterboy]

iBoat.