Almost ready to book FI - Feb 14-21

[lionfish-eater]

Hi you may want to consider other factors than price when it comes to choosing all aspects of diving. Experience, attitude, quality of equipment, seriousness about safety, etc, etc should be more important than the deal. Also with regards to local dive shops, they will often charge slightly more than you can buy something off the web, but they offer a service that can be very valuable depending on the shop. Also their trip packages are often more than you can put the trip together yourself. Hopefully they are adding value by leading a group experience without you having to reinvent the wheel. This is how they make a living. If divers don't support their LDS, the shops will close. Also if divers aren't willing to pay more for a higher quality service then we contribute to the decline of the industry as a whole, as resorts spiral downward while offering a lower price.


"You don't always get what you pay for, but you rarely get what you don't pay for." DB

 

[DandyDon]

Hi you may want to consider other factors than price when it comes to choosing all aspects of diving. Experience, attitude, quality of equipment, seriousness about safety, etc, etc should be more important than the deal.

Well yeah, so tell me - do you own a dive shop?

Also with regards to local dive shops, they will often charge slightly more than you can buy something off the web, but they offer a service that can be very valuable depending on the shop.

Ok fine, until the differences are greater prices, often without much added value.

Also their trip packages are often more than you can put the trip together yourself. Hopefully they are adding value by leading a group experience without you having to reinvent the wheel. This is how they make a living.

Been there, done that a few times - some better than others.

If divers don't support their LDS, the shops will close. Also if divers aren't willing to pay more for a higher quality service then we contribute to the decline of the industry as a whole, as resorts spiral downward while offering a lower price.

"You don't always get what you pay for, but you rarely get what you don't pay for." DB

How much more for what is often the question that fails.

"You don't always get what you pay for, in fact - that's too often the case.

 

[CODMAN]

Unfortunately, I have to agrre with DD! Too often with dive shops I pay much more, for little (sometimes no) added value or service. I have no problem paying a bit more for good service, or even quite a bit more for excellent service... But it's seldom the case these days. Often enough I go into dive shops and know more about the gear they are selling or the destination in their dive trip than they do.... This said, I do have 1 trusty LDS nearby and they get a good portion of my business, except when I judge the product or service is too $$ for what it's worth... Then I deal elsewhere... But more and more, they are giving me good service and when they do I'm happy paying the bill at the end...:cool2:

Hi you may want to consider other factors than price when it comes to choosing all aspects of diving. Experience, attitude, quality of equipment, seriousness about safety, etc, etc should be more important than the deal. Also with regards to local dive shops, they will often charge slightly more than you can buy something off the web, but they offer a service that can be very valuable depending on the shop. Also their trip packages are often more than you can put the trip together yourself. Hopefully they are adding value by leading a group experience without you having to reinvent the wheel. This is how they make a living. If divers don't support their LDS, the shops will close. Also if divers aren't willing to pay more for a higher quality service then we contribute to the decline of the industry as a whole, as resorts spiral downward while offering a lower price.


"You don't always get what you pay for, but you rarely get what you don't pay for." DB

 

[BettyfromToronto]

DD: Our computers are Oceanic VEO 250's. I love how they count down the 3 minute safety stops. When I started diving in the late 90's we didn't have computers and I found those 3 mins sooo long. I love the computer doing everything. It even beeps if you come up too fast to the stop. Had to pull hubby's leg once to slow him down. He said he didn't hear the beeps over his bubbles.

Here is what is probably a dumb question. As I said I'm new to computers. I have two log books with my 125+ dives. In September we went to Cuba where hubby got his OW and the computers logged 9 dives for each. Now here is the question. We didn't fill in the old fashion kind of log book. We downloaded our dives into the netbook every night and added all the cool stuff: reef name, DM name, things we saw, etc. Then we came home and printed out the logs and put them in a binder. Here's the problem. Hubby didn't get a buddy signature when we was diving with the instructor...or the fancy Sandals stamp in his log book.

Are you supposed to still fill out a paper log book and just take all the info from the computer??? Seems like double work. Pros are you get the signature if it's different than your usual buddy (your spouse) but then you miss out on all the great graphs and stuff.

What does everyone do?

 

[BettyfromToronto]

Thanks DD & Codman for jumping in there.

I had every intention of going to Roatan with our new favourite LDS but I'm sorry...I didn't see the value for $600+ more. I even asked the owner before booking what was I missing and he said the only thing was they would have enough for their own boat and could dictate (to a point) where they wanted to go. Hmmm Didn't seem worth $600 to me.

Plus I'm thinking that maybe this group is made up of more advanced divers and hubby will be stuck diving over his head. So I'm happy that he is taking his AOW with the resort and we'll be put on a boat that is right for HIS skill level. I'm okay with that as an AOW diver (and his wife).

Funny that we decided to go the same week though. Might be awkward if someone says "why didn't you book with us?". "Oh maybe to save $600."

Now I'm not taking business away from them because in prep for this trip we've bought 2 pairs of new fins & boots, 2 wetsuits, 2 rash guards; 2 dive lights, hubby got a compass for his course, we bought a new dive bag for the plane since both gear in the one big bag blows the airline weight restriction plus a mesh bag for carrying stuff onto the boat... Whew and we're not done yet. He is waiting until January to buy a strobe for our u/w camera. I think they got enough of our money.

 

[Doc]

.... he said the only thing was they would have enough for their own boat and could dictate (to a point) where they wanted to go.

Plus I'm thinking that maybe this group is made up of more advanced divers and hubby will be stuck diving over his head.

When you take into account that this is relating the South side of Roatan and the outfit is FI, there isn't much validity to either.

The South side lends itself to very easy diving conditions. The best stuff is shallow, so let the "experts" get their Nitrogen loading at 70fsw.

I always smile at any dive op when dive leaders come in and start dictating (or trying to) where the boat will go. It is in the interests of the dive op and DMs to take you to the interesting places, but no DM is going to take you anywhere decent until he's watched you dive for a full day. There are very very few dive trip leaders that have the slightest clue as to what is available, much less desirable.

There are several dive sites within easy reach of FI and CCV, but the DM's simply will not take groups to dive. Overhead environments and tight constrictions prohibit some, others because they are so delicate. A few DM's don't know about them, a few will feign ignorance, but they simply are not going to take you there on a resort dive boat.

North and West dive ops on Roatan- this can be a different story. The dives there are considerably deeper, might have current, the boats other than AKR are 6-packish, and as such, they have less choice in dividing up abilities.

At any of the facilities on the South side, due to the reef structure alone- there is no real concern in the areas that you mentioned.

 

[CODMAN]

Betty, I keep a paper version of all my dives. But that's me... I don,t get buddies to sign anymore... Do what you feel happy with!

 

[DandyDon]

Oceanic VEOs are nice. One of mine is, the other a Versa Pro - very similar. How old are your batteries? I just get the battery off of Ebay for next to nothing, change annually, silicone grease the o-ring (you can match the o-ring at a hardware store and get new ones, still silicone it), good to go. Anyway, a 3 min stop can seem long in open water but on a shallow reef not so bad. On air, you may need to go longer SSs to get back into the green before ascending, but that's safer - then see how slow you can do the last 15 ft, the slower the better. Avoid leaving the water in the yellow tho - risky.

You do have DAN dive insurance don't you? At least the middle plan, not the cheapest?

I have never gotten a signature on a dive book entry. I like the downloads, but I really don't log.

Dive shops need to organize & lead trips to keep their business going, and they are working trips for the leaders - not vacations, so they need to make commissions to cover their travel expenses and their time & work on the trips, even tho they often get resort & diving free if they have enough. If you can support your LDS with purchases, that's great - far more important than doing their trips. And I don't mind paying some more locally than online for local sales & services, just not tremendously more. My LDS is cool with all this and will match prices on most things for me. I don't buy much, just replacement and servicing incidentals usually. I did replace two computers and a damaged BC in recent years but Oceanic traded out at super customer discounts, but I try to shop with them when I can - and will probly get a camera from them next month. It'll cost me 8-1/4% more since I can have it delivered tax & shipping free, but they'll match the base price anyway and it's nice to give them some business when I can.

I did a trip with them once. Gawd, most pathetic excuse for a dive Op I've seen, and I told them that a few times, but we kept it safe enough and had fun. She thot she had good advice from the trip salesman but it failed. They do a couple of trips a year, but have really moved out of my price range - targeting locals who spend more freely than I, so I just do my own here. I sponsored a few in Singles forum but of course no good deed goes unpunished, so now I just go on my own - like Coz, FIBR, etc. It amazes me that any LDS does Coz or FIBR trips since it's so easy to do those alone, but some do.

I do question why any shop insists on charging much over $100 for a Nitrox course & card as it's just a 3 hour class and they need to be pushing it enough to have larger classes, but - most do, even tho some will do it for $100 or so. Grr!

 

[lionfish-eater]

hi just a quick post as I am heading to FI in 6 hours!!!!!!!! I agree that quality is hard to find nowadays, but as you experience more ops, you can see the differences, and know which ones to go back to. On Roatan the shop at Barefoot Cay sets a new high standard for all other shops to be compared to. Their boats and motors are first rate, Their rental equipment is scubapro, Their shop is clean and orderly. Their staff is very competant and serious. Of the many ops I have experienced, they have my best overall recommendation. I am going to FI because of the special price, but I might stop in for a day at Barefoot. That's all for now, Roatan here we come.

 

[CODMAN]

It amazes me that any LDS does Coz or FIBR trips since it's so easy to do those alone, but some do.

Because there are still lots of people out there who don,t know about Scubaboard or that most of these places you can book directly and save $$$... It's unfortunate, but true... Heck, if my LDS charged similar prices for trips as to what I can get myself, i'd definetly book through them... But they don't... In 2006 I got my week at FI for 600$... LDS was charging 1200$ for an organised week... Sorry, better try next time...:cool2: