Aggressor II to Galapagos - DO NOT GO ON IT.

[merxlin]

mocrumbo- I have a question- If you dove in June, why are you reporting this now? Not that there is any statute of limitations on a dive report, but I'm curious what motivated you to go public 6 months after the trip?

 

[rcohn]

Solon was on our boat. Nice guy, I didn't hear any complaints about him other than people were disappointed with his video.

I was on the GAII in August with Solon and we were very happy, it was a fantastic trip. Fortunately, everyone on our trip was an experienced diver who could do a back roll and no hand holding was required during the dives. Remember the DM is responsible for the entire group in his panga not for just one diver who is not prepared fot Galapagos conditions.

Ralph

 

[mocrumbo]

First of all these guys were not DMs, second of all, don't offer a service unless you are going to follow through. Thankfully, these conditions are what most of us were used to. But there were less experienced people on the trip, and these dive operations don't screen the divers and weed out the less experienced ones.

 

[mocrumbo]

<<Even the whale shark incident is explicable. They're not that easy to spot from the surface until they're right under you. And the captain is likely correct: a few-inches of prop to a 40-foot animal is like a paper cut to you. While it would be great to avoid the whale sharks entirely, the dinghy driver has one primarily responsibility: getting the divers back on the boat alive, without running them over.>>

This is NOT ok. Whale sharks and known for hanging out at the surface. This could have been a dolphin or a diver that got hit. In fact, one diver almost got run over- her dive buddy had to pull her down so that she did not get hit by the zodiac. And if it wasn't a big deal, then why did they deny it happened?

~~~~~~~~~

<<We are all taught to not touch the wildlife. However, I doubt knocking on a turtle shell does harm. At least his motives were to please the guests.>>

There are signs all over the turtle sanctuary, in English and in Spanish, to NOT disturb the turtles. One of the guys on the trip was on the edge of the platform taking pics, and Ramiro (dive guide) yelled at him. Not 5 minutes later, Ramiro was on the platform, molesting the turtles. This is not ok. Yes, they have hard shells, so does that mean we can harass them? Where are the boundaries here? Is it ok for Aggressor employees to bother the turtles but not the guests?

LOL, Wayne is that you?

 

[ronscuba]

Hello Mocrumbo. No, this is not Wayne. He is a lot better looking than I and has a lot more money.

I think this is a VERY GOOD thread. People are calm, stating opinions and facts.

People's expectations for their dollar can be different and what is an excusable/acceptable act to one person may be totally inexcusable/unacceptable to another.

 

[rob@diveinutila.com]

Even the whale shark incident is explicable. They're not that easy to spot from the surface until they're right under you. And the captain is likely correct: a few-inches of prop to a 40-foot animal is like a paper cut to you. While it would be great to avoid the whale sharks entirely, the dinghy driver has one primarily responsibility: getting the divers back on the boat alive, without running them over.

Finally, while I kind of agree with you that the simultaneous backroll entries can be a bit wild and potentially dangerous, that's the way it's done by a lot of boats in those kind of conditions. You don't have the luxury of time waiting for everyone to "clear" one at a time when there are strong currents and limited viz.

Two things here... first it is not OK to catch a whale shark with a prop, doesn't matter how small the prop. I bet you wouldn't put your hand in a blender. A 10cm prop is 120 times smaller than a 12m whale shark. A 1 cm blender blade is about 180 times smaller than 2m tall adult. Personally, I really don't want to get injured by a spinning blender blade.

A good captain shouldn't even be spinning the prop near the shark and actually they are not that difficult to spot. It is always possible that it would come up directly under the boat but very unlikely given that the whale shark doesn't want to hit the boat anyway.

An injury like this opens the skin and leaves the shark vulnerable to infection. An infection can cause bigger issues if it is left unattended. It will also be a shark that is shy of encounter boats in the future.

Synchronized backward rolls are dangerous with inexperienced divers, especially in stronger currents. Inexperienced divers often don't understand the importance of synchronization and coordination on the roll and cause head injures to other divers. It has happened to me, having huge guy land on my head after he decided that it would be better not to tell anyone he wasn't ready so he didn't delay things. He landed on the crown of my head ripping a good chunk of skin off my scalp and ending a dive that took me 2 hours to get to and cost me $120. Yes, it was in the Galapagos. It's not the entry I have issues with it is the manner in which it is conducted, without emphasis to the divers on the importance of a coordinated/synchronized roll.

 

[robint]

This is a very good post, thank you for starting it.

I have not been to Galapagos, but I have been on several liveaboards. As ronscuba stated, I have seen several of these very same complaints.

Hitting on passengers - tacky and rude, but it happens everywhere you go. Unfortunate it happened on a liveaboard where the women couldn't get away from the dudes but I hope it didn't ruin their trip completely.

Wet room - that would make me crazy and I would expect something to be done.

No hot tub - sorry, that is petty complaint to me.

Harassing the wildlife - I hate that but I don't think he meant any harm or did any harm. Turtles shells are very hard.

DM Leaving a diver - unexcuseable.

boat prop hitting a whaleshark - unexcuseable.

standing on the reef - while not the way we usually want to do things, in places like Galapagos, it is necessary to hold on or touch the reef as they are just rocks. Using a reef hook is actually a great way to hold still. Go to places like Palau and you will see that the liveaboards issue every diver one for the week to use, otherwise it would be impossible to stay together and watch the sharks. (I have Palau videos showing how they are used and why) Now if the reefs in Galapagos were coral I would have been furious!

I love liveboards. I would dive them almost exclusively if I could afford it. For the most part it is the best way to get to some of the best diving in the world and also it is some of the most relaxing diving you can do. I like not having to carry my gear around or look for a restaurant. I like having my bed and bathroom just steps away from the dive deck, too.

Now about the "pay off" for not posting about your issues - I had heard this happened with the Aggressor trips. You see lots of posts bad-mouthing some other liveaboards but rarely see anything negative about the Aggressors. I have heard about toilets overflowing or near disasters due to safety issues on more than one the boats and guests being given free trips in order to keep it quiet. The owners seem to be very quick to pull out the checkbook in order to keep things off the internet. Thanks for letting us know the rumors are true.

Just my 2 cents.
robin

 

[mocrumbo]

Thanks Robin! I normally would not care about not having satellite or hot tub, but when they advertise these features, and even talk about it in the boat briefing- then of course we are going to expect it. If it was not for so many other things going wrong, I would have never even brought it up. And the bed was REALLY wet, but there was no where else to put us. It was beyond uncomfortable.

And to answer the other Q-
<<mocrumbo- I have a question- If you dove in June, why are you reporting this now? Not that there is any statute of limitations on a dive report, but I'm curious what motivated you to go public 6 months after the trip?>>

This is because there was one other passenger who opted to take the money. I did not want to screw that up by going public before the refund was issued.

Thanks for all the replies, I agree with ronscuba, this is a nice thread.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE what rob@diveinutila wrote, re: the prop hitting the whale shark. Yes, I am vegan, I am a volunteer diver for kelp restoration- so I have TREMENDOUS respect for animals and for wildlife. Seeing these magnificent animals harassed and physically injured was beyond heartbreaking. When you travel that far to see these creatures- you want to see them TREASURED and RESPECTED. We are GUESTS in their environment!!!
______

 

[ronscuba]

When you travel that far to see these creatures- you want to see them TREASURED and RESPECTED. We are GUESTS in their environment!!!
______

Totally. I have always felt this way, however, in my diving life, I have never felt this more than in Galapagos. Being surrounded by fish schools, hammerheads, eagle rays and the 40' whalesharks, it was very clear us scuba divers were the visitors.

 

[merxlin]

........And to answer the other Q-
<<mocrumbo- I have a question- If you dove in June, why are you reporting this now? Not that there is any statute of limitations on a dive report, but I'm curious what motivated you to go public 6 months after the trip?>>

This is because there was one other passenger who opted to take the money. I did not want to screw that up by going public before the refund was issued.

Thanks.

Since others have been on the boat since that time with better results, do you think they addressed the issues or are we just not hearing from the dissatisfied?