Sky Dancer Status

[bsppc]

It appears that the Sky Dancer will no longer sail for Peter Hughes. Below is an email I received from Peter Hughes regarding my trip booked on the Sky Dancer for August this year.

We have recently been informed by the Ecuadorian owners of the yacht Sky Dancer that they have chosen to withdraw her from the Dancer Fleet at Peter Hughes Diving. The effective date for this change is June 13, 2010.



Your reservation is for travel after this change occurs and as such, we wanted to ensure that you are made aware of this. We do expect the yacht to uphold the current standards and that your charter will run as it normally would.



This announcement will be made public later this week. We just wanted to be sure that as an existing guest you heard the facts from us first.



Rest assured, we are working with the owners of the yacht to facilitate a smooth transition for all parties involved. Peter Hughes Diving will continue to be your agent and primary point of contact for managing this reservation up through your date of travel.


Not sure what this all means, but I will call and discuss with Peter Hughes next week.

 

[mjh]

Got the same letter for our September trip. So I think it means we will be on the same boat, same crew but not under the Peter Hughes flag. I am assuming Peter Hughes office will still help with airline flights etc..... But that and what happens once you hit the ground there are my big questions.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Realistically, it's perhaps best to think of the US3 (Aggressor, Explorer Ventures, Peter Hughes) as the marketing and sales arm of an operation. Galapagos live-aboards are owned and staffed by Ecuadorians. All permits for diving are held by Ecuadorians. All Ecuador operations/logistics are organized and executed by the Ecuador staff. If you have a question, more often than not, the US contact must reach the Ecuador staff to get an answer. Flights are 'cupos' secured by the Ecuador operations, so nothing will change there. Spaces are purchased in advance for the year. This is only the flights from Ecuador to the Galapagos, not international flights to Ecuador. So, the only thing that changes is the name...Sky Dancer is now Galapagos Sky...and contact for sales.

 

[Dom@DiveAdvice]

Agree with Dive the Galapagos - the owner of the Sky Dancer assured me that it will be a clean smooth transition and under their new name Galapagos Sky will continue to run a first class operation as usual. They have an office in the US but until June 13 the official contact will be thru PHD. Their operation has always been amongst the best in Galapagos and I don't think you will be aware of any change in the quality of your trip.