Hi, I just signed up to the site to tell my story which I want everyone to know who are planning a trip for diving on Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu.
I have had a very unpleasant experience with Aquamarine Santo. From my understanding this dive shop used to be great going back a few years however, since it has been taken over by Rehan Syed things have been in steady decline. I have spoken to many people about this shop including dive guides from several shops and many local residents in Luganville as well as hotel/resort managers who deal with the dive shops often and I hear the same story from everyone: Aquamarine used to be good but it hasn’t been the same for some time now.
I've travelled to Vanuatu a couple times this year and during my first trip I was very excited to dive the Coolidge so I went diving with Allan Power (a wise choice), and we had a great dive. I had organised to go with Aquamarine the next day to try a spread of dive operators so I know who to organise with for my next visit so our group went down to the shop to get our gear fitted for diving the next day. During organisation of our dive Rehan told me their rates were higher than other operators in Luganville because they had recently received brand new gear with new computers. That was no problem for me, I am always happy to pay a bit extra to use good gear. However we were given old, questionable gear. None of us were given computers, just depth gauges.
Once we arrived at the site, ready to suit up, out of our group of 5 we had several issues:
-two leaking tanks which had to be replaced,
-two leaking regulators which had to be replaced,
-two leaking first stages (divers had to use second stage),
-one person was without a wetsuit and another without fins,
-All tanks were filled to 200 bar or less
In the end it took two trips back to the dive shop to get replacement gear and at the end of the dive two people were out of air before the ascent to decompression stops and were on dive guides second stages (they had good fills). The dive guides were embarrassed and apologetic but they were helpful in trying to resolve the issues.
We had planned two dives each that day and after the disaster in the morning no one wanted to dive again. Rehan insisted on paying for dives up front and promised that he would refund our money the next morning first thing when the bank opens because we paid by credit card and he wouldn’t refund in cash. We left Vanuatu soon after and I continued to contact him through emails and phone but there was no correspondence. I did not get my refund.
4 months later trying to contact him or anyone from the dive shop failed and I was making another trip to Santo so I paid him a visit. Again he apologised and promised to refund me for the two dives he owed me (AUD$140). He took my bank and contact details and even CC'd me on a fake email to his brother Danish asking him to immediately do a bank transfer from their HSBC Australian account. The same story again, as soon as I leave the country no correspondence again and no refund of the dives I paid for.
A simple google search of Aquamarine Santo reviews can tell you multiple stories like mine all from recent times. Eg: Aquamarine Dive Center Reviews - Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu Attractions - TripAdvisor
If anyone from here chooses to go diving with Aquamarine I would suggest you do not pay up front in case things don’t work out because your chances of being refunded is very slim.. I would especially like to hear other people’s stories from Aquamarine good or bad. I did not find another review on this forum from this shop and I would like to know if anyone on here has the same story...
Cheers!
I have had a very unpleasant experience with Aquamarine Santo. From my understanding this dive shop used to be great going back a few years however, since it has been taken over by Rehan Syed things have been in steady decline. I have spoken to many people about this shop including dive guides from several shops and many local residents in Luganville as well as hotel/resort managers who deal with the dive shops often and I hear the same story from everyone: Aquamarine used to be good but it hasn’t been the same for some time now.
I've travelled to Vanuatu a couple times this year and during my first trip I was very excited to dive the Coolidge so I went diving with Allan Power (a wise choice), and we had a great dive. I had organised to go with Aquamarine the next day to try a spread of dive operators so I know who to organise with for my next visit so our group went down to the shop to get our gear fitted for diving the next day. During organisation of our dive Rehan told me their rates were higher than other operators in Luganville because they had recently received brand new gear with new computers. That was no problem for me, I am always happy to pay a bit extra to use good gear. However we were given old, questionable gear. None of us were given computers, just depth gauges.
Once we arrived at the site, ready to suit up, out of our group of 5 we had several issues:
-two leaking tanks which had to be replaced,
-two leaking regulators which had to be replaced,
-two leaking first stages (divers had to use second stage),
-one person was without a wetsuit and another without fins,
-All tanks were filled to 200 bar or less
In the end it took two trips back to the dive shop to get replacement gear and at the end of the dive two people were out of air before the ascent to decompression stops and were on dive guides second stages (they had good fills). The dive guides were embarrassed and apologetic but they were helpful in trying to resolve the issues.
We had planned two dives each that day and after the disaster in the morning no one wanted to dive again. Rehan insisted on paying for dives up front and promised that he would refund our money the next morning first thing when the bank opens because we paid by credit card and he wouldn’t refund in cash. We left Vanuatu soon after and I continued to contact him through emails and phone but there was no correspondence. I did not get my refund.
4 months later trying to contact him or anyone from the dive shop failed and I was making another trip to Santo so I paid him a visit. Again he apologised and promised to refund me for the two dives he owed me (AUD$140). He took my bank and contact details and even CC'd me on a fake email to his brother Danish asking him to immediately do a bank transfer from their HSBC Australian account. The same story again, as soon as I leave the country no correspondence again and no refund of the dives I paid for.
A simple google search of Aquamarine Santo reviews can tell you multiple stories like mine all from recent times. Eg: Aquamarine Dive Center Reviews - Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu Attractions - TripAdvisor
If anyone from here chooses to go diving with Aquamarine I would suggest you do not pay up front in case things don’t work out because your chances of being refunded is very slim.. I would especially like to hear other people’s stories from Aquamarine good or bad. I did not find another review on this forum from this shop and I would like to know if anyone on here has the same story...
Cheers!
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