Caution Diving the Riviera out of Dana Point Harbor CA

[mainedvr]

Just a heads up for those considering diving the dive boat Riviera out of Dana Point Harbor CA.

My wife and I were scheduled to dive this morning with this outfit. When we arrived first thing I noticed is that they really get the boat loaded up to the max with divers, the boat is definitely small for the number of divers and the set up of the boat. This not a big deal, we have dealt with that before.

The biggest issue we had was I asked one of the operators where we would be stowing our second tank as we brought our own tanks (we let them know when we scheduled and so should have made arrangements cause they asked if we needed tanks), the person stated" just put them under the seats"!
My reply was I did not see anywhere to secure them properly, his response was "we will just put a few bags around it", and I asked if that was they're SOP and he said it will be fine.

I quietly started to remove our gear from the boat as I did not have confidence in this outfit from that point forward. The operator then asked me where I was taking the tank, and I stated " off the boat".
He then pointed out that he has done this for over 30yrs (not sure why that mattered), and the other person told me that I must not dive very much cause I don't know what I am doing. The other operator actually was confrontational with me stating "you don't want to start with me" but I definitely would have liked to but not worth my effort.

Anyhow, while others may have different experiences this was my wife and my experience and I wanted to pass it on for other safety minded individuals.

 

[muzikbiz22]

So just to clarify, you were going to lay them under the bench/seat, or on the deck, and anchor/secure them with a dive bag or 2/gear, so they wouldn't roll around, correct ?

 

[mainedvr]

Correct....that is what they wanted us to do

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've never been on the Riviera. From the looks of the benches they have room for forty tanks. I suppose they could have removed four tanks to accommodate you, but I don't see a problem asking you to store your extra tanks under the bench. I've been on boats where tanks rolled around on deck, slamming into divers' ankles. I would have taken the crew's suggestions and enjoyed the day of diving.

 

[diver 85]

MBt----"I've been on boats where tanks rolled around on deck, slamming into divers' ankles. I would have taken the crew's suggestions and enjoyed the day of diving."...that's what I was thinking----too....

 

[mainedvr]

Do not agree at all but hey I don't have to nor do you that's the nice thing about it. To me its irresponsible and if I am paying someone to take me out I expect them to cater to me not the other way around. But hey lesson learned on my part. And if I was being hit in the ankles with a tank there would be an issue there to.

Thanks

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The rolling tanks issue was on a private boat. When on any boat, private or commercial the Captain and crew make the rules. Their job is to taxi divers to the site, fill tanks and return the divers safely to port. They are not there to cater to anyone. You did the right thing by leaving. I'm sure that made the trip much more enjoyable for the crew and the other passengers. Every boat is different, but if you plan to dive from a commercial boat you need to put your big boy wetsuit on and follow their rules.

 

[AZTinman]

Max BT makes a good point. You probably made a good decision to leave. If you're unhappy about something with a dive op, leaving will probably result in a lot less stress on everyone including yourself.

Practices vary among boats & crews. I was on a boat a while back and several divers were unhappy with the dive/gear stations which the crew assigned to them. The boat was carrying a full load and the captain refused to shift divers around to make members of the disgruntled group happy. The unhappy divers left with comments about never using that particular dive boat again. Guess those guys weren't wearing their big boy wetsuits or maybe they felt a little too big for their wetsuit pants.

Last fall, I was on a dive boat in Mexico. The boat was a work in progress; tank racks had not been installed yet. We set up our gear and the crew stowed tanks with BCD's attached in a stack in the cockpit. Personally, I wasn't really thrilled about the arrangement because the arrangement looked like it would be hard on gear. The crew wanted everyone to attach masks to BCD's, but I declined because I was concerned my prescription mask would be damaged. It was probably a wise choice on my part as my dive partner's mask was broken. She wasn't happy about the broken mask, but seized the opportunity to make the move to a prescription mask. We wanted to dive and the tank storage issue never jeopardized anyone's safety on the boat. Being 'anal' about how gear was being stowed would have done little more than create contention.

This stuff said, individuals are entitled to differences of opinion and you're certainly entitled to yours. Why do something if it has bad karma stuff associated with it? Whenever I get hit with a dive boat cancellation I skip diving on that particular day rather than looking for a different op. Yeah, I know that's stupid, but I figure something's telling me not to dive on that particular day.

-AZTinman

 

[muzikbiz22]

I'm consistently on dive boats/charters with a variety of divers, and their specialized gear; Recreational divers, Tec Divers with doubles, bailouts, deco bottles, and rebreather divers with their rigs and their respective bailouts, deco bottles AND sometimes spare bottles of pureO2. Most of the time, most of this gear is "on the deck, stowed securely, under a seat/station", etc. This is common, and generally SOP. Not trying to be facetious or disrespectful, but I'm just not getting what the OP's complaint here is ? Tanks laying on their side securely on the deck, is no big whoop.

 

[mainedvr]

If the tanks are secured I could understand that but a tank with just a bag or two around it is not in my opinion safely secured and if they hit me I would not be happy, now if they are strapped down I would be ok with that, but the Operator immediately got confrontational and stated they had done it for 30 years and so on. I just quietly was removing our gear from the boat and had planned on no other exchange on our part other than we were not going so they could adjust they're roster.


I work in safety (and have a high risk job) and I am very anal retentive with it comes to safety Most things go unchecked until someone is actually hurt then SOPs are looked at for a better option, I have been trained to look at the what ifs and try to mitigate things prior to a near miss or something worse. Thant being said I was not impressed by the crew's attitude and the way they spoke to my wife and I so I would caution anyone using them find out more or ask in advance which I failed to do.
If the guy would have asked me do you have a suggestion I would have asked for a bungee or something to tie off the tanks and that would have fixed the whole thing, instead all I received was the years of experience of the crew member and a "you don't want to start with me" from another as well as oh you two must not dive much and don't know anything kind of attitude. And I really did not say anything to illicit this response while you may wonder what I said actually I said nothing at all I tried to just unload quietly and would deal with things later. (I did get all my money back from the booking agent)
Thanks for the input I did not realize this was something that while maybe not common place, I may run into so I will do better investigation into dive ops in the future.

/charters with a variety of divers, and their specialized gear; Recreational divers, Tec Divers with doubles, bailouts, deco bottles, and rebreather divers with their rigs and their respective bailouts, deco bottles AND sometimes spare bottles of pureO2. Most of the time, most of this gear is "on the deck, stowed securely, under a seat/station", etc. This is common, and generally SOP. Not trying to be facetious or disrespectful, but I'm just not getting what the OP's complaint here is ? Tanks laying on their side securely on the deck, is no big whoop.[/QUOTE]