New Galapagos Restrictions

[johnspierce 25]

Just got an email from Aggressor with new Galapagos restrictions imposed by the Ecuadoran Government. They try to present it as a great new diving opportunity, but really it's just not as good. They axed two morning dives at Darwin and don't go to Gordon Rocks or Seymour at all anymore. Glad I went last May. They can't do land tours combined with diving anymore. What they do instead is take away one full day of diving at the end and do a land tour. Three dives per day are now the maximum. I have a friend who went 3 years ago and they were still doing night dives then for a total of 5 per day. At least we got to do 4 per day.

 

Hate to see them ditch Seymour and Gordon Rocks. Schooling white tips at Seymour -- the only place we saw that in the Galapagos. Plus, the land tour we did on Seymour allowed us to see Blue Footed Boobies doing their "mating dance" and we saw just-born Frigates, land and marine Iquanas. We saw schooling Cow Rays and lots of Sea Lions at Gordon Rocks, plus the fantastic topography of the "crater" which is a singularly unique dive.

 

http://www.aggressor.com/frame_pdf.php?doc...nerary-2011.pdf

 

I just don't get the Ecuadoran government. They still allow shark finning on the mainland, yet they get upset because a few liveaboards are doing 4 dives per day? Weird.

Edited February 14, 2011 by johnspierce

[Drew 0]

I think it pretty much happens everywhere there is a lot of people going to a certain spot. Look at Australia and the GBR sites. It was free for all then people got bent/lost etc, then the 50 min and even 18m depth limit.

 

That said, maybe other boats are doing a different itinerary. Let's not assume Aggressor's decision is universal or that PNG is screwing up. It may just be the number of boats increasing yearly is affecting the wildlife or environ. I certainly liked it more in the 90s than the last decade.

[johnspierce 25]

I think it pretty much happens everywhere there is a lot of people going to a certain spot. Look at Australia and the GBR sites. It was free for all then people got bent/lost etc, then the 50 min and even 18m depth limit.

 

That said, maybe other boats are doing a different itinerary. Let's not assume Aggressor's decision is universal or that PNG is screwing up. It may just be the number of boats increasing yearly is affecting the wildlife or environ. I certainly liked it more in the 90s than the last decade.

 

Not sure about the other boats, but I know Explorer Ventures has already said they can't do land/diving combos because of the Govt. restrictions. One of the reasons we picked Aggressor was because they were the only one I know of which still did land tours in combination with diving on the same day. To me the biggest surprise with Aggressor's new diving itinerary is the elimination of the last 2 morning dives at Darwin, plus only doing 3 dives a day makes it 7 dives less for the week. That's significant. Not sure if it's environmental reasons but when we were at Darwin/Wolf, we didn't see another boat the entire time.

 

BTW, I thought PNG was Papua New Guinea?

Edited February 14, 2011 by johnspierce

[euphoticzoneimaging 0]

BTW, I thought PNG was Papua New Guinea?

 

Parque Nacional Galapagos

[jcclink 8]

Galapagos has become a 2 trip destination - 1 for diving & 1 for land excursions. I would not go just for diving unless it included several days at Wolfe & Darwin. Diving the central islands is rather boring in comparison.

[johnspierce 25]

Parque Nacional Galapagos

 

Thanks for the info!

 

John

[Drew 0]

Galapagos has become a 2 trip destination - 1 for diving & 1 for land excursions. I would not go just for diving unless it included several days at Wolfe & Darwin. Diving the central islands is rather boring in comparison.

 

It was always a 2 trip destination if you wanted the full experience. The southern islands with the birds and other life are worth a non-diving cruise. After my first "normal" itinerary, I subsequently chartered boats to skip land trips and concentrate on the diving. I then booked a cruise after to specifically hit snorkel and also the topside attractions. It's not the best result for those who want to do both but it does allow the PNG to regulate the number of visitors to the designated land sites.

I'm not sure why they are restricting dive boat traffic to Culpepper and Wenman (Darwin and Wolf) islands. There are theories that the fishermen want more access to the area and the dive boats report them, so but restricting the time slot, the fishing boats can a bigger window to hit the area.

With the PNG losing its endangered status, perhaps the reduction in UNESCO support has something to do with it?

[DiveTheGalapagos 0]

It was always a 2 trip destination if you wanted the full experience. The southern islands with the birds and other life are worth a non-diving cruise. After my first "normal" itinerary, I subsequently chartered boats to skip land trips and concentrate on the diving. I then booked a cruise after to specifically hit snorkel and also the topside attractions. It's not the best result for those who want to do both but it does allow the PNG to regulate the number of visitors to the designated land sites.

I'm not sure why they are restricting dive boat traffic to Culpepper and Wenman (Darwin and Wolf) islands. There are theories that the fishermen want more access to the area and the dive boats report them, so but restricting the time slot, the fishing boats can a bigger window to hit the area.

With the PNG losing its endangered status, perhaps the reduction in UNESCO support has something to do with it?

 

PNG issued 14 permits for dive liveaboards and used a (fairly dubious) baseline study to determine maximum traffic possible in regards to site sustainability. A PDF of their baseline is online if you read Spanish. http://www.galapagospark.org/documentos/DP...ea_base_rmg.pdf Darwin is the biggest issue as it's such a relatively small site area. They are allowing 2 boats per day max. All permits were awarded to local fishermen. Seems the Park never really expected all 14 to become operational given the challenges of starting such an operation. What the rules may be in 2012 is now anyone's guess.

 

I'd argue all day that dive boats are the only thing that keep finning at bay in the Galapagos. No one patrols those northern sites, well, very, very rarely. Marine Reserve is too big and resources too limited. Even at Wolf where there is the permanent floating ranger station, they no longer have a speedboat to use for patrolling, just a tender. Perhaps some divers will (photograph and) report illegal fishing (they are not allowed to fish within 1000 meters of the dive site), but no crew members on the liveaboards will as they all know each other. Having said that, I'm always appalled at divers kneeling on, holding onto or ramming fins into coral. Perhaps because there is so little coral in Galapagos, divers end up forgetting to pay attention in the northern sites. Nowhere else are advanced divers so very careless about touching coral.

 

It's great that Pta Vicente Roca is on at least 2 new itineraries (Aggressor and Sky) half the year. Amazing site with life covering every inch. Very little to grab hold of in the often strong surge/current. Always cold...locally known as The Freezer. Mola mola cleaning station (cannot approach them or they fly away but will approach a diver if stationary at the wall), Galapagos Bullhead Shark, flightless cormorants, penguins, seahorses, salemas, sea lions, tons of turtles, peruvian grunts and coral everywhere. And Orcas often in the area. Plus, you can see several live volcanoes from there. And Roca Redonda is perhaps the most challenging dive site in Galapagos though now, again, a presence might help keep the finners away. Eastern Isabela in general and Cabo Marshall in particular are great for mantas.

 

As for a land visit, Isla Isabela is the best place to still get a taste of BBC Galapagos from land if you can't do back to back cruises. Puerto Villamil is still a sleepy fishing village with sandy streets. Nice breeding center, flamingos ponds and lots of wetlands equals lots of shore birds. Sierra Negra has the 2nd largest caldera in the world on an active volcano and Los Tuneles is perhaps the most magical spot in the Galapagos, though you can't always enter between June and October due to high waves. It's a labrynth of lava arches that are the remains of a lava field. Backdrop is 2 active volcanoes. Amazing snorkeling with penguins, white tipped reef sharks, eagle rays, tropicals, sea lions and man sized turtles often in swimming pool clear water. Just north of there is a mangrove lined bay where you can find seahorses in 2 feet of water wrapped around mangrove roots. I don't think I've ever been to Los Tuneles when we didn't encounter Mantas just before the entrance. Once got 9 males chasing 1 female. We snorkeled with them for 30 minutes, so close, you were clipped. Joked that we had to suck in our stomachs to keep them from grazing us. Good shore snorkeling from Isabela, too, especially for the huge turtles and marine iguanas.

 

And ps...all naturalist cruises have either moved to or will have to move to 15 day itineraries by 2012. They cannot visit the same site twice in 15 days.

Edited March 6, 2011 by DiveTheGalapagos

[rameus 0]

Hey there

 

Hate to see them ditch Seymour and Gordon Rocks. Schooling white tips at Seymour -- the only place we saw that in the Galapagos. Plus, the land tour we did on Seymour allowed us to see Blue Footed Boobies doing their "mating dance" and we saw just-born Frigates, land and marine Iquanas. We saw schooling Cow Rays and lots of Sea Lions at Gordon Rocks, plus the fantastic topography of the "crater" which is a singularly unique dive.

 

So you say it is taken off the schedule of the Agressor-Fleet? Might have something to do with the dive-operators which start from Puerto Ayora and do daytrips to Gordon Rocks and Seymour... It really is a shame and sad to see but in terms of sustainability I do think it is a move which is understandable. When I see how many 737 fly over from Quito to Baltra every day and they're packed with people... Imagine only half of them doing diving and an other quarter of them breaking corals (since some people are not aware of the current there and just bang their tanks against th reef or a fan...

 

I do understand that it is not as funny when you're on a liveaboard but generally speaking it really is worth staying in Puerto Ayora for a few days, do some trips with a local company (Silberstein Hotel has an excellent service!) and go to the liveaboard then... it does also have the advantage that you get used to the conditions (current, surge, etc).

 

That's how I'll do it again in August before going on a boat all the way up to Darwin ;-)

 

Thomas

[rameus 0]

All permits were awarded to local fishermen. Seems the Park never really expected all 14 to become operational given the challenges of starting such an operation. What the rules may be in 2012 is now anyone's guess.

 

Of course they give the licence to local fishermen and what do they do: They rent it out to the big companies. Last year when I was on the boat one of the marineros was the "owner" of the licence which was needed to get the permit for a liveaboard. So that's not really straight from the authorities either. Either you're doing official business and sell the licences like that (if you want to only to people from Ecuador or the Galápagos) but don't say "all the licences are owned by locals. This is not really what happens...

 

Thomas