Galapagos - Ecuadorean Presidential Decree

[WaterKtn]

I am not Patricio. That was his response to my inquiry.

 

[EnronX]

Patricio, thank-you so much for the quick reply and information....We wait anxiously for any news! Our international flight into Quito is leaving in just a few weeks and to add to our recent string of bad news they are fully non-refundable because they were booked more than a year in advance. Please keep us posted on any developments

 

[mania]

I merged two threads
Mania

 

[djac5700]

I am not Patricio. That was his response to my inquiry.

Sorry, just noticed the bolded header in your post.............

 

[EnronX]

My letter to Patricio:

Hello Patricio,

Greetings from the United States, I am an avid naturalist and scuba diver who has had a dive charter trip planned to your Galapagos Islands for more than 16 months. Besides the thousands and thousands of dollars I have already spent on my itinerary including airfare into Quito, I have also purchased many books, travel guides and maps of the Galapagos Islands; I love and appreciate them greatly.

As you can imagine, this August was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime and something my traveling partners and I have looked forward to for many years. As you can imagine we are very saddened and confused by the recent potential loss of this opportunity. Can you please provide me with any updates or information on how this decision making process was made to halt these dive charters? I have read very recently from fellow divers on the Internet that a Minister of Environment may be in the process of helping to lift this harsh ban on the previously cleared trips, can you please let me know if there is any additional information to be known?

Thank-you greatly and I cannot wait to visit your country in the next few weeks,

 

[djac5700]

My letter to Patricio:

Hello Patricio,

Greetings from the United States, I am an avid naturalist and scuba diver who has had a dive charter trip planned to your Galapagos Islands for more than 16 months. Besides the thousands and thousands of dollars I have already spent on my itinerary including airfare into Quito, I have also purchased many books, travel guides and maps of the Galapagos Islands; I love and appreciate them greatly.

As you can imagine, this August was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime and something my traveling partners and I have looked forward to for many years. As you can imagine we are very saddened and confused by the recent potential loss of this opportunity. Can you please provide me with any updates or information on how this decision making process was made to halt these dive charters? I have read very recently from fellow divers on the Internet that a Minister of Environment may be in the process of helping to lift this harsh ban on the previously cleared trips, can you please let me know if there is any additional information to be known?

Thank-you greatly and I cannot wait to visit your country in the next few weeks,

FYI - I think, based on the posted email that was written by Patricio, it is the Minister of Environment that is causing the problem and the Minister of Tourism that seems to be trying to help fix it...

 

[EnronX]

yep, good catch....here is my next letter to Maria at the Department of Tourism.


Querida Maria,

Greetings from the United States, I just recently sent a similar letter to your co-worker Patricio and want to also contact you related to this recent issue with the GNP. I am an avid naturalist and scuba diver who has had a dive charter trip planned to your Galapagos Islands for more than 16 months. Besides the thousands and thousands of dollars I have already spent on my itinerary including airfare into Quito, I have also purchased many books, travel guides and maps of the Galapagos Islands; I love and appreciate them greatly.

As you can imagine, this August was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime and something my traveling partners and I have looked forward to for many years. As you can imagine we are very saddened and confused by the recent potential loss of this opportunity. Can you please provide me with any updates or information on how this decision making process was made to halt these dive charters? I have read very recently from fellow divers on the Internet that the Ministry of Tourism may be in the process of helping to lift this harsh ban on the previously cleared trips, can you please let me know if there is any additional information to be known?

Is there anything that environmentalists and divers like myself can do you help your cause? Please let us know, we are very motivated to assist and are willing to help out in anyway possible.

Thank-you greatly and I cannot wait to visit your country in the next few weeks,

Nate Gabig

 

[WaterKtn]

The Galapagos National Park Service is a subsection of the Ministry of the Environment. Patricio Tamariz is the Executive Director of Fondo Mixto de Promoción Turística del Ecuador - an Ecuadoran tourism promotion organization, related to, but not in the Ministry of Tourism. Unless I am mistaken, Querida is a term used for very familiar situations and not formal ones...

 

[ChrisM]

My wife and I are scheduled on depp blue yacht in September and we received the following from the trip broker in Ecuador yesterday regarding the legality of anyones permits to dive.

The PNG has talked about issuing “Tour Navegable de Buceo” cupos (in English - a permit to operate dive trips) for years but to date NONE have been issued. Therefore NO ONE has a permit that specifically gives then the right to dive because NO such document exists. The Aggressors and the Sky Dancer patentees do authorize them to go to Darwin and Wolf but next to those sites there are no authorized activities. Therefore techniquely these yachts are authorized to go up to Darwin and Wolf, but once there, they are NOT authorized to do any activities and that includes diving. Look for the other yacht owner to jump on this fact shortly in attempt to shut the other 3 yachts down as well.
I'll keep you posted.
Ken


I would be concerned if I was on any boat until this is resolved.

Guy

Ken Weimhoff? At any rate, that's contrary to the information I have, reputedly from a high level GNP source, but who knows what the truth is, it's South America.

I am monitoring it closely as I have an Aggressor charter 8/30.

 

[EnronX]

Chrism, that is interesting to hear...I'm obviously now kicking myself that we didn't book through Aggressor. I too, find it highly unlikely that the other operators would work against Sun Dancer and Aggressor just to play sour grapes. I believe they would instead work as fast as possible to get their own permits and contracts in place...They can't be upset that two operators had their ducks in a row and can operate through August and September.

What is it that you are hearing from the GNP? As you can imagine we are literally starving for any news or information about our 8/6 - 8/13 trip. I have written letters to every email address at the GNP and Ministry of Tourism I can find but have not received yet received even one response. Deep Blue will be making their decision to cancel our trip on Friday unless something drastically changes :-(

Thanks, Nate