[Guyburger]

My wife and I are booked on a seven day dive trip aboard the Big Blue Yacht from 17-24 September. On Friday we received information from the travel broker that the Director of the <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Galapagos</st1:PlaceName> <st1:Place w:st="on">National Park</st1lace></st1lace> had decreed on 10 July that 90% of the Galapagos liveaboard dive boats were no longer allowed to operate. I understand that people who were there to dive that week just got blindsided and were not allowed to board there boats. If you have a trip booked to Galapagos be aware it may be in jeopardy. The only boats being allowed to continue there planned itineraries are the two Aggressor boats and the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer. According to Ken those three boats are owned by rich influential people on the Ecuadorian mainland. What a surprise.
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Following is the email we got from Ken Weemhoff Pres. Galapagos Adventures, Inc., he's the broker handling our trip in September.


To all diver operators that have charters booked on the Deep Blue from Sept to December 2007


As many of you have heard, on Tuesday, July 10, the director of the <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Galapagos</st1:PlaceName> <st1:Place w:st="on">National Park</st1lace></st1lace> cancelled the majority of the dive trips in Galapagos. This decision took effect immediately and is going to effect countless divers worldwide who are booked on numerous yachts including some people who are already in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region>.


But before you go into a complete panic, let me fill you in on some stuff. First and foremost on your mind - the money you sent to me is safe. Your trip is far enough out that the only money that was sent to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region> on your behalf was your initial deposit of $2000. The rest of your money is sitting safely in my business account here in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">US</st1lace></st1:country-region>. Therefore you do not need to worry about losing your money. As you can probably imagine, this whole thing is creating a very explosive situation in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region>. The pressure is already beginning to heat up on the Ecuadorian politicians as the people of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region> are starting to realize the economic consequences of this decision. It is my understanding that the Ecuadorian press has already jumped on this story and the there is a growing discontent in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region> with the director of the national park. I expect very soon the international press will get word of this and then the pressure will really be increased. The yacht owners have banned together and have collectively hired an attorney who is filing a lawsuit against the national park. The local


Galapagos politicians are also involved with this issue and they have requested a meeting with the President of Ecuador for the yacht owners. Unfortunately President Correa is currently in Europe but I was just informed a few minutes ago that a meeting with the vice president of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region> has been granted for next Tuesday. It is my personal belief that the director of the national park will probably lose her job over this decision as she rightly should but only time will tell. In my option, the sooner this happens, the better. Therefore it is my opinion that as long as we – and the word "we" includes EVERYONE involved with this issue including you – do not take this situation lying down, this decision will be overturned shortly


I highly recommend that you inform your clients of this situation so they are aware of it BUT they should be told not to panic. There is plenty of time for this decision to be reversed before your departure date. Instead they should be advised to take a wait and see attitude. This situation is very new and the effects of it have not been felt in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region> yet. We all need to give things a little time to see where they go before making any decisions.


I have requested the email address of numerous government officials in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Ecuador</st1lace></st1:country-region>. I was just informed that I will be provided with this information. If things do not improve, I will distribute these emails to all of you as well as to all of my individual clients and request that we flood these people with complaints.


I’m sure that you may want to call me to discuss this but please understand that everything that I know about this situation is in this letter. I have no additional information at this time.


As you can only imagine, I am being swamped with calls and emails - many from people who are not even my clients. I understand that everyone wants to know what is going on but these calls and emails are taking a <st1lace w:st="on">LOT</st1lace> of my time away from dealing with these issues. Therefore I request that you give me at least a week before calling me or sending me emails. I will keep everyone informed as things progress via mass emails like this one. Ken