It is with great sadness that I announce the closing of the Himalaya camping/diving trips. Many of you got behind The Dive Shop and I after hurricane Sergio in October 2018 and helped us recover from the damage that would have closed Himalaya. It has been in our hearts and lives for many years. David Rabb first visited in 1969 and The Dive Shop has been running trips there since the mid 1980’s. Many of us have made lasting friends, relationships and memories there that will last our entire lives. I myself first visited there as a snorkeler in October 1997, Open-water certified there in March 1998, was washing dishes in the old kitchen at the beginning of October and running the beach operation by the end of October 1998. It has been a long happy road with sore muscles and sleepless nights. The reason for the closing stems from Mexico. Recent changes in how the laws are interpreted there have allowed land owners to charge for access to the beaches there. The rancher whose land we have crossed for decades asked that we pay an extremely large amount of money for us to cross his land annually. This would have resulted in our raising our rates more than 40-50%. I cannot pass those kind of rate increases on to you as our clients and friends. So we will be closing our operations at Himalaya.