Frankie_j
New
Does anyone know if the Land tours on Liveaboards were cancelled by the GNP?
Galapagos Land Excursions
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They were not as of two weeks ago. We just came back and we had done three land excursions with PH Galapagos Sky.
What is this all about...? We went last year and because of that trip, we now own about 10k of scuba gear!
Great trip and did a 11 day live a board (Evolution) and can not say enough good things about the trip and experience!!!
If there is any truth to cancellation of land tours off live a boards, I would really like to know where this information is coming from...
lee
cheeko8080
Contributor
When I was down there this summer I was told that the government is changing it's policy. They are adding boats down there but they are changing the policy on these boats. People can either get a pass to enter for land or diving...not both. As I see it, it's just an excuse to have people come back twice. I personally was not wowed by my land excursion experiences. They certainly didn't come close to the amazing experiences I had underwater.
ChainDiver
Contributor
I have heard the same thing.
My wife and I are on the ExplorerVentures trip January 3rd. They have these land portions of the trip listed:
Sunday: Cousins Rock
6:30, 8:30 dives wall and macro diving with excellent chance of seeing sea horses, sea lions, eagle rays. Breakfast and transit back to Santa Cruz (3 hrs). Land trip to see the giant tortoises in the highlands of Santa Cruz, traditional Ecuadorian BBQ lunch at a farm in the highlands (cost is $15 per person), and transit to Puerto Ayora for shopping and possible visit to Darwin Center on your own. 7 p.m. return to the boat, dinner and crossing to San Cristobal.
Monday: Baltra/San Cristobal
Breakfast; depart the vessel by 8:30 am . Trip to the interpretive center and time to visit the beach in town to see sea lions and marine iguanas. Transfer back to the airport for flight back to Quito or Guayaquil.
This is what I was expecting when I booked and then I heard about the land excursions being canceled. I called ExplorerVentures and they said what was listed on their site is what they are allowed to offer. Some live-a-boards might still offer the old land excursions but all will be using playing by the same rules in 2011.
My wife and I are on the ExplorerVentures trip January 3rd. They have these land portions of the trip listed:
Sunday: Cousins Rock
6:30, 8:30 dives wall and macro diving with excellent chance of seeing sea horses, sea lions, eagle rays. Breakfast and transit back to Santa Cruz (3 hrs). Land trip to see the giant tortoises in the highlands of Santa Cruz, traditional Ecuadorian BBQ lunch at a farm in the highlands (cost is $15 per person), and transit to Puerto Ayora for shopping and possible visit to Darwin Center on your own. 7 p.m. return to the boat, dinner and crossing to San Cristobal.
Monday: Baltra/San Cristobal
Breakfast; depart the vessel by 8:30 am . Trip to the interpretive center and time to visit the beach in town to see sea lions and marine iguanas. Transfer back to the airport for flight back to Quito or Guayaquil.
This is what I was expecting when I booked and then I heard about the land excursions being canceled. I called ExplorerVentures and they said what was listed on their site is what they are allowed to offer. Some live-a-boards might still offer the old land excursions but all will be using playing by the same rules in 2011.
galapagosexpert
Registered
I understand that it depends on each individual boat. The GNP regulates the itineraries, so the land visits permitted depend on each vessel.
DiveTheGalapagos
Contributor
All the rules are still in the process of being 'officially written' over the last few months with plenty left to finalize. The intent has always been to distinguish between naturalist cruises and dive cruises and to think in terms of long term sustainability of the sites both above and below the sea. There are now 14 dive permits for liveaboards. Seems those who are not yet operational have until Oct. 2012 to begin operations. All will be able to offer a day tour to a populated island site on the final full day of the dive cruise. Whether or not those now offering land visits to liveaboard accessible only Park sites seems to depend on who you speak with. All liveaboard permits run through the end of January, so nothing will change before February 2011 and ps...2007 aside, usually nothing changes quickly in the Galapagos.
Beyond the land visit issue, it's going to be interesting to see how the intended limitations on diving Darwin and Wolf play out. Rules are being written with the thought of 14 operational liveaboards...which may or may not all become operational. All dive permits are owned by resident fishermen. Restrictions and requisites are very tight both on maintaining your permit and on the yachts themselves.
As of 2012, both naturalist cruises and liveaboards will be on 15 day itineraries. For the naturalist cruises, this means they can't visit the same site twice in 15 days. For the liveaboards, they are now (and have been saying) this means visiting Darwin and Wolf only twice each in 15 days / one day each per week with Cabo Marshall only being allowed one liveaboard per day. They seem to be encouraging longer charters. Many sites are now being designated liveaboard only or preference to local dive operator itineraries - like designating Cousins off limits to local operators. Let's see what happens with Gordon Rocks.
Like the liveaboards, in the very near future, land-based dive operations will also be on inflexible itineraries. As of now, there are only 4 legal dive operators in Santa Cruz. Seems soon, none of those will be allowed to visit Floreana - some of my favorite central islands diving. In 2011, the Park will open up a period for locals to compete for new local dive permits. Until that process has concluded and new permits have been awarded, well, enforcement and the way land-based rules roll out will be interesting to observe.
Island hopping dive tours are a thing of the past. We pioneered that only in 2009...short lived window of opportunity that made for some amazing trips. They are about to become illegal as boats from Santa Cruz with dive permits are only allowed to dive Santa Cruz sites, San Cristobal permits (currently 2 permits exist, but only 1 with a boat and no one with the actual 'patente' yet) dive only San Cristobal sites, the one existing permit for Isabela will have both Isabela and Floreana once that permit holder gets everything in order to actually get the 'patente' and so far, no one has any permits from Floreana...it's a bit of a mess right now during what is probably going to be an interesting period of transition from how it used to be to how it is now supposed to be. Things are sure to shift as things roll out.
Beyond the land visit issue, it's going to be interesting to see how the intended limitations on diving Darwin and Wolf play out. Rules are being written with the thought of 14 operational liveaboards...which may or may not all become operational. All dive permits are owned by resident fishermen. Restrictions and requisites are very tight both on maintaining your permit and on the yachts themselves.
As of 2012, both naturalist cruises and liveaboards will be on 15 day itineraries. For the naturalist cruises, this means they can't visit the same site twice in 15 days. For the liveaboards, they are now (and have been saying) this means visiting Darwin and Wolf only twice each in 15 days / one day each per week with Cabo Marshall only being allowed one liveaboard per day. They seem to be encouraging longer charters. Many sites are now being designated liveaboard only or preference to local dive operator itineraries - like designating Cousins off limits to local operators. Let's see what happens with Gordon Rocks.
Like the liveaboards, in the very near future, land-based dive operations will also be on inflexible itineraries. As of now, there are only 4 legal dive operators in Santa Cruz. Seems soon, none of those will be allowed to visit Floreana - some of my favorite central islands diving. In 2011, the Park will open up a period for locals to compete for new local dive permits. Until that process has concluded and new permits have been awarded, well, enforcement and the way land-based rules roll out will be interesting to observe.
Island hopping dive tours are a thing of the past. We pioneered that only in 2009...short lived window of opportunity that made for some amazing trips. They are about to become illegal as boats from Santa Cruz with dive permits are only allowed to dive Santa Cruz sites, San Cristobal permits (currently 2 permits exist, but only 1 with a boat and no one with the actual 'patente' yet) dive only San Cristobal sites, the one existing permit for Isabela will have both Isabela and Floreana once that permit holder gets everything in order to actually get the 'patente' and so far, no one has any permits from Floreana...it's a bit of a mess right now during what is probably going to be an interesting period of transition from how it used to be to how it is now supposed to be. Things are sure to shift as things roll out.
Dom@DiveAdvice
Contributor
I echo above sentiments from DiveTheGalapagos but will also add that for 2011 there are currently 6 liveaboards with permits to dive Darwin + Wolf and 2 more are scheduled to join them in Sep 2011. I have been inforemd that one other boat is still in the planning stage but maybe suffering from investment concerns and that although there maybe a total of 14 permist issued, it seems unlikely that more dive boats will be brought in as investors perceive the market is saturated.
Based on 8 boats operating and each boat spending 2 days at Darwin and 1 day at Wolf each week, it means that there will never be more than 2 boats at Wolf, and for two days a week there will be 3 boats at Darwin. Although for some of us who would prefer to be the only boat, with cooperation and planning amongst the boats, that is an acceptable number of divers. Even with 9 permist it could mean only three days with 3 boats at Darwin. However it is upto the GNP understanding the implications of any new rules and how that may affect the diving market. With regard to land visits, whether any dive-boats will be allowed to make island visits other than to Santa Cruz or San Cristobal is still on the table but all itinerarie are subject to change. Although island visits are a wonderful addition to any dive cruise, most divers are going to Galapagos to dive some of the best diving in the world and the plus of fewer or no land visits will be more diving ! There are a number of 10 + 11 night dive cruises scheduled for 2011 and we anticipate that we will be able to offer 4 full days at Darwin + Wolf, without exceeding 3 boats at Darwin, but as history has showed us in Galapagos - itineraries are subject to change and are outside the powers of anyone but the GNP to dictate what takes place. We all hope and trust that sanity will prevail and that we will be able to continue to offer 3-4 days at Darwin and Wolf on all our 7 and 10/11 night trips. We'll keep you posted when we have more news but don't give up on Galapagos - its still world class at its best.
Based on 8 boats operating and each boat spending 2 days at Darwin and 1 day at Wolf each week, it means that there will never be more than 2 boats at Wolf, and for two days a week there will be 3 boats at Darwin. Although for some of us who would prefer to be the only boat, with cooperation and planning amongst the boats, that is an acceptable number of divers. Even with 9 permist it could mean only three days with 3 boats at Darwin. However it is upto the GNP understanding the implications of any new rules and how that may affect the diving market. With regard to land visits, whether any dive-boats will be allowed to make island visits other than to Santa Cruz or San Cristobal is still on the table but all itinerarie are subject to change. Although island visits are a wonderful addition to any dive cruise, most divers are going to Galapagos to dive some of the best diving in the world and the plus of fewer or no land visits will be more diving ! There are a number of 10 + 11 night dive cruises scheduled for 2011 and we anticipate that we will be able to offer 4 full days at Darwin + Wolf, without exceeding 3 boats at Darwin, but as history has showed us in Galapagos - itineraries are subject to change and are outside the powers of anyone but the GNP to dictate what takes place. We all hope and trust that sanity will prevail and that we will be able to continue to offer 3-4 days at Darwin and Wolf on all our 7 and 10/11 night trips. We'll keep you posted when we have more news but don't give up on Galapagos - its still world class at its best.
DiveTheGalapagos
Contributor
As of Feb 1, 2011, according to the National Park, Darwin will be limited to 2 boats per day / 4 groups (8 divers per group) /maximum 3 dives. Seems N. Seymour/Mosqueras has been removed from liveaboard itineraries for 2011.
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