2 Day/1 Night or Day Trip to Richelieu Rock

[penguintom]

hi, do you remember the name of these shops?

Yes I remember the name of all 5 of the shops that I dived with over the last few weeks, and I am less than impressed by all of them, but this one we have been discussing is by fer the worst of a bad lot.
However , as some do on here I really dont want to start naming individuals.

 

[penguintom]

I'm really sorry to hear you had this "experience".
Did you book with a DC or with an agent? If it was a DC, I would talk to the owner/manager or at least send an email to them and let them know about what I thought about their "dive-tours".
If it was an agent, I would never ever use his "services" (or better: lack of services) again..

I did speak to the owner personally after I returned the second day as it was him that made all the false promises, or lies to me. He was in the same inebriated state his dive guide was in the mornings, and looked/smelt like he hadn't washed for several days.
He said the same as his dive guide, you had the oportunity to dive today, you chose not to, you dont get another go unless you pay again. This despite being promised 2 different islands on both days diving and then being taken to the same poor dive site for all 4 dives.
Had this been in the UK I would almost certainly be making complaints about their total disregard for customers, but being in Thailand, who do you complain to?

 

[Bowmouth]

But i'm curious, at a site like hin daeng/muang, if you are guiding 4 people, and one person goes out of air 20/30mins in, what would you do?

First of all I think that the briefing for certified divers before any dive should include a variety of options for them to choose from. Diving with a buddy, diving with more than one buddy, following the DM (guide) for the whole dive, following the DM (guide) for part of the dive and solo diving should all be possibilities to choose from for the divers.

Simply putting a bunch of divers in a group and telling them they must follow the DM (guide) throughout the dive, must end their dive when the first person runs low on air and must dive with a buddy is imo just not right.

If I were guiding some divers and someone would get out of air (not: low on air), I would put that diver on my alternate airsource, slowly ascent, make a prolonged safety stop (air permitting) and surface with the diver.
Other divers from my group could either stay down and continue with their dive or (if they felt uncomfortable with not being with the DM) ascent with me.
If someone in my group would run low on air (not: out of air) I would let that person ascent to safety stop depths on his/her own (or with his/her buddy if he/she had one and if they preferred that) and continue guiding the other divers from my group.

This may all sound a bit radical to you but personally I believe in giving all divers on the boat a choice that fits to each and every diver's experience and comfort level while diving.

 

[Bowmouth]

Had this been in the UK I would almost certainly be making complaints about their total disregard for customers, but being in Thailand, who do you complain to?

If it was PADI DC you could send PADI a message and let them know how disappointed you were with the provided services from that particular DC.
PADI may contact the shop and rattle their cage a bit. It won't help you much but it may help other divers who might dive with that DC in the future.

 

[watboy]

First of all I think that the briefing for certified divers before any dive should include a variety of options for them to choose from. Diving with a buddy, diving with more than one buddy, following the DM (guide) for the whole dive, following the DM (guide) for part of the dive and solo diving should all be possibilities to choose from for the divers.

Simply putting a bunch of divers in a group and telling them they must follow the DM (guide) throughout the dive, must end their dive when the first person runs low on air and must dive with a buddy is imo just not right.

If I were guiding some divers and someone would get out of air (not: low on air), I would put that diver on my alternate airsource, slowly ascent, make a prolonged safety stop (air permitting) and surface with the diver.
Other divers from my group could either stay down and continue with their dive or (if they felt uncomfortable with not being with the DM) ascent with me.
If someone in my group would run low on air (not: out of air) I would let that person ascent to safety stop depths on his/her own (or with his/her buddy if he/she had one and if they preferred that) and continue guiding the other divers from my group.

This may all sound a bit radical to you but personally I believe in giving all divers on the boat a choice that fits to each and every diver's experience and comfort level while diving.

Thanks for the note. For the record, i just finished my DM course for my own personal knowledge and don't plan on working as a DM. I was taught various things to do to manage people who are bad on air, but that in some situations, you may just have to end the dive for all. Letting customers continue on their dive with out you was not taught as an option to me. I assume that the DC you are working for would have some sort of policy on this. And yes, some of your points do seem a bit radical to me. Allowing a customer to dive without a buddy seems to be at odds with the PADI safe diving practices that customers sign.

I do recognize there's much for me to learn and appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience.

 

[Bowmouth]

Thanks for the note. For the record, i just finished my DM course for my own personal knowledge and don't plan on working as a DM. I was taught various things to do to manage people who are bad on air, but that in some situations, you may just have to end the dive for all. Letting customers continue on their dive with out you was not taught as an option to me. I assume that the DC you are working for would have some sort of policy on this. And yes, some of your points do seem a bit radical to me. Allowing a customer to dive without a buddy seems to be at odds with the PADI safe diving practices that customers sign.

I do recognize there's much for me to learn and appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience.

Congratulations with your DM certification.

Solo diving is (unfortunately) still not all that widely accepted in the day-trip diving industry but it has found some foot-hold on the better live-aboard dive vessels.
For quite a few experienced divers it's a very enjoyable way to spend under water and for some I dare say the only way to really get up close and spend time with the creatures they are interested in.

Don't get me wrong though; I do believe divers should be encouraged to dive with a buddy by the DM but not forced to do so if they don't want to and are experienced and comfortable with diving by themselves.
Solo divers I know are divers who take their diving and safety extremely serious and have over the years slowly "rolled into" diving by themselves. They often will for some part of the dive join the DM/guide to get to see the "feature-creatures" of the site and then halfway through the dive or so just slowly move away from the group and spend some time alone with those animals they like best. Often, these divers will have a camera and want to take pics without other divers bumping into them or stirring up the sediment.

I believe it's crucial a good (read:extensive) briefing should be giving to the divers before the dive so everybody will clearly understand what all the options are and can choose which suits them best.

 

[lord khram]

Yes I remember the name of all 5 of the shops that I dived with over the last few weeks, and I am less than impressed by all of them, but this one we have been discussing is by fer the worst of a bad lot.
However , as some do on here I really dont want to start naming individuals.

Go on. Name and shame the bad boys.

 

[lord khram]

I did speak to the owner personally after I returned the second day as it was him that made all the false promises, or lies to me. He was in the same inebriated state his dive guide was in the mornings, and looked/smelt like he hadn't washed for several days.
He said the same as his dive guide, you had the oportunity to dive today, you chose not to, you dont get another go unless you pay again. This despite being promised 2 different islands on both days diving and then being taken to the same poor dive site for all 4 dives.
Had this been in the UK I would almost certainly be making complaints about their total disregard for customers, but being in Thailand, who do you complain to?

This is really typical of Pattaya diving I am afraid, I am sorry you have had to experience this yourself and I hope you consider Thailand again in the future. Dont think this is typical of Thai dive shops because it is not. Generally speaking I have been happy with all of my diving experiences in Thailand apart from those in Pattaya.

 

[lord khram]

Think the day was just planned around snorklers because they were the majority on the boat.
The dive guide was the worse for drink, he stank of stale beer when he came to collect me from the hotel, just seemed to me he wanted to get back on the boat as quick as possible and sleep.

Why am I not surprised about this sort of behaviour?? :depressed:

I think the moto from most Pattaya shops seems to be 'we have had your money, now we will give as little as possible in return'.

Just remember the good old saying - Pay Another Dollar In

 

[FairyBasset]

They look good. Did they have free Nitrox for all certified divers? How long were the dives? Any pros/cons?

They definitely had nitrox, but you should ask them for more infos.
The dives were all around 45-50 mins. We arrived on board 1st day and dived around 10.00 ish. Did another 2 dives in afternoon. I think day trippers only did 2 dives.
There is an option to do a night dive.
Next morning we were diving at 7.00, 2nd dive was then with the day trippers.
So with a full day on board we did 4 dives.
Food on board was fantastic.
Dive sites were all great, saw loads of Mantas, beautiful Corals, plenty of clown fish etc.
It was really good diving and the team was really nice.