Galapagos - Ecuadorean Presidential Decree

[Scared Silly]

I am bummed to learn that this is what is has come to - that is trips are being lost at the last minute and people are losing time and money especially as for many will be a life time trip. Remember it is not completely the fault of the government that the operators doing diving did not have the correct permits. each and every operator should be held accountable just as each and every booking agent. But on the other hand the government did take a blind eye - what is known as open as notorious.

But on the other hand there is ONLY ONE Galapagos!!!! People seem to be forgetting this. When it is all @#$%^ up, it is GONE GONE GONE!!

Yeah I would be pissed as yell if it was me but you what I would make sure that everybody was affected equally, if they are going to limit divers, they sure as yell be limiting the land based tourism as well as addressing the fishing and immigration issues.

So my advise is that people should be fighting this on two fronts - support the conservation while allowing responsible tourism even if that means a long wait. I have friends who have been waiting over ten year for a permit just to raft the bloody muddy Grand Canyon. And at the same time if I had trip blown I would be taking my fight all the way from the booking operator to the charters.

 

[occrider]

I'm booked for June of 2008. I too booked with Deep Blue after reading good reviews on SB. It's far enough in advance that I can probably get a full refund on my deposit, but I've been sooo looking forward to the Galapagos. I've considered it my vacation of a lifetime. I feel incredibly bad for those people who were supposed to go over the next couple of months. I agree that it's probably not the dive boats that are causing the problem as most divers are extremely respectful of the environment. I sincerely hope this situation can be resolved in a reasonable manner.

 

[chadbeck]

I along with many others are booked on the deep blue next year. The tough part for me is should I switch boats or not. It appears that that both the ph/aggressor boats have spots open from june-sept. however there another 700 bucks more on a trip that is already going to cost 4000-4500. What happens if they become affected by this...rock and a hard place

 

[Bali Diver]

So there is illegal immigration ENRONX,well am very surprised this has not been addressed which is far more important issue and i am sure the revenue the tourist industry brings to the islands must be huge.

I hope everything gets sorted quickly for everyone as i would really be feeling stressed out as this is a special trip and to most of us a huge amount of money and i am saving hard to go next September 2008 hopefully 10 day trip as well and due to the costs other friends of mine cant afford it or save hard etc.. but i will still go on my own but a trip like this to have the problems which are facing others at the moment time and planning is really cruel on them.

I hope things don't change next year and they don't stop land excusions etc..

Hoping everything gets sorted out for you all

 

[WaterKtn]

Fully understand your problem. There is now a process being done by the Minister of Tourism towards the Minister of Environment who is is in charge of the National Park, on the banning of the permits, she is asking to give a moratorium to help all the operators involved. So we have to wait, just now she is picking up the phone to talk with the Minister of Environment. Lets see what happens. Hope for good.

Travel to Ecuador and Galapagos is secured, please talk to your local ground operators.

Best Regards,

Lcdo. Patricio Tamaríz
Director Ejecutivo - Fondo Mixto de Promoción Turística del Ecuador
Teléfono: (593 2) 2507560 Ext. 1326
Fax: (593 2) 2507565
Dirección: Av. Eloy Alfaro N32-300 y Carlos Tobar / Quito-Ecuador

 

[Guy Carrier]

My wife and I are scheduled to go on the big blue yacht 17-24 Sept and we received the following from the trip broker in Ecuador yesterday regarding the legality of anyones permits.

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


Guy

 

[Guy Carrier]

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

 

[EnronX]

For anyone else that would also like to voice their opinion or contact the GNP officials in Ecuador...I thought I would post their public email addresses here: These were provided to us via email from our tour operator today.


Raquel Molina Director on the GNP rmolina@spng.org.ec
Maria Isabel Salvado Ministry of Tourism ministra@turismo.gov.ec
Patricio Tamariz Fondo Mixto Promocion Turistic
ptamariz@turismo.gov.ec
Ministry of Outer Relations dgproeco@mmrree.gov.ec
Department of.Tourism - GNP enaula@spng.org.ec
Nubia Jaramillo - Coordinating of Marketing of TM
fmpt_marketing@turismo.gov.ec
Ministry of Galapagos Tourism lguerra@turismo.gov.ec

 

[EnronX]

For anyone else that would also like to voice their opinion or contact the GNP officials in Ecuador...I thought I would post their public email addresses here: These were provided to us via email from our tour operator today.


Raquel Molina Director on the GNP rmolina@spng.org.ec
Maria Isabel Salvado Ministry of Tourism ministra@turismo.gov.ec
Patricio Tamariz Fondo Mixto Promocion Turistic
ptamariz@turismo.gov.ec
Ministry of Outer Relations dgproeco@mmrree.gov.ec
Department of.Tourism - GNP enaula@spng.org.ec
Nubia Jaramillo - Coordinating of Marketing of TM
fmpt_marketing@turismo.gov.ec
Ministry of Galapagos Tourism lguerra@turismo.gov.ec

 

[djac5700]

Patricio,

Thank you for your note. What do you mean by "Travel to Ecuador and Galapagos is secured"?

Looking forward to your update on the discussion between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment...