April 2008    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 23, No. 4   What's this?

Aquatic Encounters Is Taking a Sabbatical

from the April, 2008 issue of Undercurrent  

Planning a dive trip to the Galapagos, readers Susanne and Thomas Webb (Playa Del Rey, CA) were thinking about the Reina Silvia and contacted Aquatic Encounters, one of the top dive agencies specializing in Galapagos travel. But its Web site wasn’t functioning, and neither emails nor telephone calls were returned.

We tracked down Aquatic Encounters owner Marc Bernardi at his Colorado home. He says the travel agency is taking a sabbatical, partly because both he and his wife have had health issues and partly because the screwy situation regarding dive boats’ permits and itineraries (see our October 2007 issue for details) has been immensely frustrating for him to keep track of and advise clients where to book.

Bernardi didn’t tell us when he expects to open Aquatic Encounters up for business again, but he did say that anyone who has questions about Galapagos bookings can e-mail him at aquatenctr@aol.com, as he will still be tracking the latest news about dive boats in the region.