Bad experience with Amigos del Mar

[Catito]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I just returned from 10 days in Belize. We stayed in a villa on Ambergris Caye. On Thursday 12/12/2019 I went on a full day 3-tank dive to Turneffe through Amigos del Mar. On the ride out, the crew had attached everyone's BCD to a full tank. When we arrived at the first dive spot we were told to move, two at a time, to the back of the boat and sit on the rail. I already had my weight belt on, so once I sat down I put my fins and mask on and the tank/BCD was brought to me to put on. Once I was ready I fell back into the water and moved away from the boat and prepared to descend. I was the first one in the water. At this point I could feel the regulator being pulled on by the air hose and I knew what was wrong. The crew had not strapped my BCD to the tank securely and the tank had slipped out.
One thing to note here is that none of the divers were given the opportunity to inspect their equipment. In hindsight I should have insisted, and next time I will insist.
At this point I moved back closer to the boat and told them what had happened. I was told by the dive master to stay on the surface and breathe through my regulator and that they would come to me and fix the problem (I pretty much always use my snorkel when on the surface). About 2-3 minutes later the dive master finally made his way over to me and fixed the issue. He then proceeded to chew me out about using too much air on the surface.
Needless to say, I ran out of air before anyone else. Once my air reached 700 psi I went to the dive master, gave him the low air sign and showed him 7 fingers. He moved up to me, grabbed me by my BCD and proceeded to drag me around for the rest of the dive. Once we surfaced and got back to the boat the dive master proceeded to chew me out in front of all the other divers about how unfair it was of me to the other divers that they had to end their dive early because I used too much air.
Never once did the dive master acknowledge that the problem had originated with their improper attachment of my BCD to the tank. I would not have stayed on the surface and I would not have continued to breathe through my regulator (which they instructed me to do) if they had not screwed up.
To add insult to injury, the boat captain started making jokes at my expense. Amigos del Mar does not seem to understand that they are in a customer service industry. Blaming the customer for the chaos caused by their poor workmanship is not only unprofessional, but completely uncalled for. Making jokes at the customer's expense just shows how out of touch with their industry these people are. IMHO, these people displayed very poor judgement when it comes to making sure everyone had a good time.
On the two subsequent dives I cam up with more air than several of the other divers.
Overall I would say that all three crew members failed to provide great customer service. The junior dive master assembled the equipment wrong, the senior diver master blamed my and the captain made jokes at my expense.
I am a well experienced diver with around 90 dives over the years, mostly at the Santa Barbara Channel Islands (I've spent the night on Conception at the same spot where it burned up, YIKES!), Monterey and Cozumel. I've never had any issue on any dive I've ever done before.
I did contact ADM and spoke to their manager who promised me he would speak with the crew and respond via email, but he never did. All I asked for was an apology. I never asked for and was never offered a refund. Money was not the issue and was not the solution.
A year and a half ago I did many dives, both day and night, at Cozumel with zero issues (and quite frankly, considerably better water clarity). The customer service, underwater beauty, and overall experience in Cozumel was, IMHO, far superior to Belize. For these reasons, not only will I never dive with ADM again, but I will likely never return to Belize again, there are too many other great places to dive to subject myself to that again. YMMV

CobraRGuy

Thank you for sharing. It is a good reminder for me to remember check everything even with “concierge” diving. The crew sounds very unprofessional. I will avoid that operation.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thank you for sharing. It is a good reminder for me to remember check everything even with “concierge” diving. The crew sounds very unprofessional. I will avoid that operation.

I hope that everyone has noticed that the OP joined the same day that he posted his negative review. OP has not returned to Scubaboard since. Makes one wonder.

 

[tridacna]

I hope that everyone has noticed that the OP joined the same day that he posted his negative review. OP has not returned to Scubaboard since. Makes one wonder.

Not doing much wondering. I had a similarly lousy experience with ADM and won’t be be in AC either.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Not doing much wondering. I had a similarly lousy experience with ADM and won’t be be in AC either.

You ran out of air from breathing your tank on the surface?

 

[tridacna]

You ran out of air from breathing your tank on the surface?

Lousy customer service from ADM. Reefs were meh. Same thing I suppose.

 

[Khrissi]

I have had ' over attentive dive support ' on a few occasions ( then I check it AGAIN myself.... ) couple of O rings blowing out etc . Whiney nit picky Dive Master. But the poster does have a point . Wouldnt arrange diving off a boat like that . But also - if you run out of air first ( someone has to !!! ) you shouldnt have the piss taken out of you . K

 

[scrane]

The junior dive master assembled the equipment wrong, the senior diver master blamed my and the captain made jokes at my expense.

CobraRGuy

This is just inexcusable.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Lousy customer service from ADM. Reefs were meh. Same thing I suppose.

Please describe the lousy service.

We can't be blaming the operators for the reef conditions.

It was pretty good when I first dove there 25 years ago but then there was a hurricane and much was damaged but over the course of a few years, I saw it recover. Then there was another hurricane, and eventually I felt that it was starting to recover but by then the lionfish had shown up. As we know, this has been quite devastating almost everywhere. The last number of times that I was there, almost no parrot fish whereas years ago, the place was just covered in them.

Other than that I've always described the reef as varying shades of beige interrupted by asure vases and some red and green encrusting corrals. Some sites are significantly better than others. Sometimes the visibility is better than others. I've seen some awesome things there and still quite enjoy the gentle drifting over or swimming within the tongue and groove canyons.

 

[divinh]

I think my tolerance for errors must be pretty big, as I didn't see such a big deal in the situation.

Loose tank would have just been a learning lesson, for me to check myself next time. I'm reminded of stories on here about the early days of diving, prior to BC's, where the tank wasn't very well attached. To me, that means solving the problem of a loose tank isn't fatal. Being able to resolve the situation before the actual dive, on the surface, doesn't seem to be a biggie, as far as dire situations are ranked.

As for air, one dive where air consumption was poor doesn't stamp the diver as a poor diver. Good skills underwater, like buoyancy, demonstrates a good diver and other divers recognize that, if appearance and reputation are important to the diver.

Certainly being chewed out isn't a happy experience and that shouldn't have happened, but loose tank and being the first with low air isn't fatal or uncommon. It seems only feelings were hurt and there's no inherent danger with this operator.

 

[FindingMenno]

I can't comment on how the ADM crew handled your complaint. I wasn't there, and usually there are two sides to the story I'd like to hear first.

What I can comment on:
a) The final check of your equipment is always the individual diver's responsibility - even in a valet diving situation. (side comment: As a dive pro I don't mind the extra labor of setting up guests' gear or providing the service. Bit as valet diving blurs the divers' responsibility I'm not a big fan of it).
b) A loose tank is not an uncommon circumstance. It can come undone upon entering the water, or as the strap slightly expands in water. Therefore fixing an undone strap by a buddy is part of the Open Water course. Alternatively, taking off and putting on a BCD/tank both underwater and on the surface is also part of the Open Water course so a diver can access the camband themselves. It should not be a big issue for any novice or experienced diver.