All - I am currently in Guayaquil, Ecuador returning from our 7 night Deep Blue dive trip (8/6 - 8/13). I will not be back in the US until tomorrow and probably won't have a chance to provide more detail until later this week, but I want to post some info from our trip.
We had ample opportunity to talk first hand with the employees of the Deep Blue about the PNG situation. Of course, as with all the news coming out of the Galapagos, the information is only as accurate as its source. Our sources are hard working employees of a dive operation who are directly impacted by the crazy events of the last month. However, like all the information circulating right now, I can't gaurantee its accuracy.
While I will provide a full trip report later, I wanted to pass on two bits of information:
First, we WERE able to dive Darwin and Wolf islands. The diving was an incredible experience, but there were far fewer hammerheads in the water than normal (by the crew's estimates) - we only saw an average of 2-10 a dive vs. the hundreds that can be expected. There were a few factors - visibility was only 30-40 ft, and the water was a little warmer than normal. It would be WAY too early to assume that the decreased sightings are also a result of shark finning, but I can only pray that it is not. We also saw one whale shark during the trip, which was less than we hoped but better than none!
Second, as we prepared to leave the Galapagos, we learned from the crew that the Deep Blue will no longer be able to head to Darwin and Wolf until the issues are resolved with the PNG. While we were at Darwin, a plane flew overhead and the Sky Dancer also arrived during our last day there. One of those two events caused the PNG to notify the Deep Blue that it was not allowed to take passengers to Darwin and Wolf. While this is COMPLETE hearsay, one Deep Blue crewmember told me that the Sky Dancer had radioed the PNG to inform them that we were there. I don't know whether we were ever given permission to head to Darwin and Wolf, but I just know that after the PNG found out, they notified Deep Blue not to return. We were just lucky enough that we had gotten in our three days of diving before this happened.
I completely sympathize with all of you who are still struggling to learn the ultimate fate of your upcoming trip. Our rollercoaster ride was almost unbearable. There were several times that my dive buddy and I almost canceled as we simply couldn't handle the uncertainty. We were extremely lucky to both be able to go on our trip and be able to dive the famed Darwin and Wolf islands. I can only hope that the rest of you are given the same opportunity.
As I mentioned, I will be traveling over the next day, but I hope to give some more details after I get settled back at home.
