Very disappointed!!!!

[IrnBear]

I find it hard to bring myself to fault a company on a forum like this.
I just can't fathom the idea of someone else's vacation dive trip being as much of a bummer as mine.

I chose REEF PIRATES for my dive morning on Oahu, out of Waikiki.

I was in email contact with Sean for at least a Month about how important it was to me to do something exciting. I was adamant about wanting to do a wreck dive of some sort.
I was assured that this would happen.

I was picked up at my hotel as arranged. Justin or to be DM was very friendly. Arrived to the Shop/Boat and off we went. It was myself and an Aussie couple. Boat, Captain and Justin were very nice. Meet Sean at the shop before departing and he too was very nice.

I will admit, it was a windy maybe more breezy day and a decent amount of chop.

Due to the Wind, Chop and what was explained to me The Current we were going to stay in at the reefs and not pursue anything else.

Well, two Dives, max 45ft on first dive and max 35ft on second dive. Both on some boring as **** Reef.....
That was my wonderful adventure in Honolulu Diving....
$130.00 crapped right into the Ocean. A big waste.

Again, I was in contact for a good month with the shop.

I understand weather might have had a factor in this.

After further conversation with Justin, turns out he has only been in Hawaii for 6months. His diving has been in the Florida Keys (much more simple diving).
I feel this result was more due to an inexperienced DM as opposed to the weather.
He told me we could have dove some wreaks, I just didn't want you folks to have to work to hard. Humm.

Well, just wanted to explain my trip.
Take it for what you will.

I went with a Shop due to the name.. Shame on Me..
I would have taken the advice so greatly given on this site and went with the more recommended shop.

Thanks for reading,

Bradley

 

[supergaijin]

It's good to hear that there are still a few professionals that continue to play it safe regarding the weather.

I hope you left a tip...

 

[WB2GLP]

I chose REEF PIRATES .....I went with a Shop due to the name..

And you're kvetching because you were diving reefs? You have to laugh at yourself for that one.

I once went out with a wkk dive boat that broke down between dive one and two. We did dive two right where we were floating and got towed back to port taking 4 hours. Sh** happens. Roll with it and have a good time. I realize you're disappointed but, no matter how crappy the diving is, remember that there are thousands of divers enduring cold, muddy quarry water all over the USA while you're belly-aching in paradise.

What did you do on the other days? Hopefully, you left that out because it was awesome diving?

 

[Dr. Lecter]

This is not too different from my issues with them a couple years ago, except that I'd booked a week's worth of dives in advance. Were you leaving out of Waikiki or Hawaii Kai? When were you here? Lately there's been little but great conditions on the Town Side, but I could see someone wanting to avoid the Sea Cave area off Hawaii Kai because of some surge. Getting out to the Corsair hasn't been difficult lately, either, but I suppose anything's possible on a single off day.

It seemed to me they prefer to run out of Hawaii Kai (Corsair, LCU wrecks), but claim to occasionally get to Waikiki (Sea Tiger and YO/San Pedro/Wings wrecks)... after three days of being told to report to Hawaii Kai to meet the boat and vague deflections about when, if at all, they planned to launch from Town Side, I pulled the plug.

 

[cbm32]

Wow......a guy lets a shop know exactly what he expects and they promise to deluver same. Then they don't but take his money while saying that they could in fact have fulfilled their promise but chose not to without giving the divers a say in the matter. The guy chooses to let others know so they won't suffer a similar disappointment and is told to count his blessings and oh by the way you sure better have left a tip. What is wrong with this picture?

The dive op should have told the OP before leaving the dock that the weather would prevent them doing the type of dive he wanted and allowed him to opt in or out of the day's diving based on that. OR the dive op could have discussed with the divers how difficult the wreck dive might be given the weather and, assuming they were experienced divers, let them decide if they wanted to work hard enough to do the dive.

 

[uncfnp]

^^^ What he said. Sure S**t happens and sometimes you just got to roll with the punches but that's not what it sounds like here. And if this was the one chance dive opportunity it sounds like, I'd certainly be upset too. At the very least, it sounds like really poor communication on the dive op's part. Can't blame the OP for wanting to vent a little...

 

[flots am]

Again, I was in contact for a good month with the shop.

<sarcasm>This dive op is obviously incompetent. The next time you should choose a shop that controls the weather. </sarcasm>

The dive op didn't think it was appropriate to take you out in the current conditions. You should be grateful.

While he had "only 6 months" in that location, it's apparently 6 months more than you have there, so he probably had a better handle on conditions than you did, and I would expect you would be happy that he didn't just take you out into the open ocean and say "have a nice dive, come back when you're done"

flots

---------- Post added September 3rd, 2013 at 04:29 PM ----------

remember that there are thousands of divers enduring cold, muddy quarry water all over the USA while you're belly-aching in paradise.

My buddy and I had a great dive a couple of days ago! We saw all sorts of coloured fish. There were brown fish and greenish brown fish and some gray-green fish and bunches of zebra mussels.

This is the Real world, not Disney World and nobody is guaranteed anything, especially on a dive.

Happiness is where you find it.

flots

 

[lv2dive]

If OP had been clear in desire for something other than reef - and it sounds as thought this WAS in fact the case - then one of three three things should have happened...
1. Dive op takes OP on agreed-upon dive
2. Dive op has some issue (weather?) with agreed-upon dive and offers OP alternative - OP takes alternative
3. Dive op has some issue (weather?) with agreed-upon dive and offers OP alternative - OP says thank you but not what I'm looking for, and walks.

This is not complicated.

 

[TampaScuba]

sub'd

 

[Sean Deming]

Aloha everyone. Just wanted to clear up a few things here. First off we are sorry we couldn't get you out to a wreck. we certainly wanted to - as I explained in my email. We would have liked nothing more than to be able to do that. The conditions simply made getting out of the bay that day to where the wrecks are too dangerous. If we could have we would have. I would love to make conditions perfect every day. Our captain makes the call as far as conditions go - not our instructors. Both our captains have 10+ years experience here in this bay. The winds were blowing 25kts that day with higher gusts. Imagine 6-10 foot seas and trying to crawl up a dive ladder. It just wasn't safe. again I'd have loved nothing more to get you to a wreck.

Additionally we are very clear about not guareneeing dive sites as we can not control conditions. its all over our website. we never have nor will we ever promise dive sites as we can not control conditions. we will also never jepodize someone's safety by being neglegent and taking them somewhere that just isn't safe. we have a perfect safety record - we are proud of that. not something every shop here can boast. we do promise to have 6 divers or less on the boat - Not something you will see anywhere else here on oahu.

In closing - I'm sorry you were dissappointed. Certainly not our goal. As for the other post regarding waikiki wrecks. - yes we do them but not very often. we have to go around diamond head to get to them and depending on weather that can be a tricky run. all that is explained as well via our site. etc. As is our boat location and address. Heck we even have a large map of the marina we are in with a large arrow pointing at our location. Sorry for the book but a bit frustrating when you get slammed on these boards for running a safe dive operation and not having the ability to control the weather and ocean conditions.