jumsted65
Contributor
I was with Brian on the Sand Dollar. It was a very good time. He's right that we were just there to dive and the diving was, overall, pretty good.
What I did not like was the Sand Dollar's policy of the trip sponsor providing their own safety diver/divemaster, and the fact this was not communicated to the trip organizer. The co-captain stated it was the divers' responsibility to check in and out of the boat for dives. Crew provided minimal assistance with divers getting into the water, and little to no assistance for divers re-boarding the boat. The co-captain spent most of the weekend solo diving. At one point I was standing on the stern for a couple hours checking divers in/out, helping with fins, etc, and was concerned with the lack of crew presence. At one point the captain was the last one in the water and I got a little worried about him until I found his bubbles and saw him completing a safety stop.
It bothered me that the boat did not deploy the chase boat or current line on the second and third day until it was almost too late. The current picked up and a couple teams surfaced away from the boat. I wasn't there, but apparently when one diver asked for the current line and complained that it could have been tossed closer to him, the crew was overheard making rude and profane statments about that diver. One of our divers swam the current line out closer to the tired divers. Venting in the absence of customers is one thing, but their actions were unprofessional.
The physical boat was rustic, which was OK. We were a group of 11 divers. The boat felt full with that many divers. I believe their usual load is twice that which would have made me very uncomfortable. The galley is small. We were stepping over each other at times as it was.
I very much enjoyed the Vision last year. The captain was a younger guy. I found the crew to be very professional. The boat itself is large and comfortable. I understand that Truth aquatics allows groups to bring their own O2 and mix their own nitrox. We're looking into other options, including the Vision, for next year's trip. The group may decide to return to Sand Dollar. We did have a good time. For me, though, lack of dive safety staff was cause for concern.
The only other boat I've used down there was the Encore. That was about 10 years ago. I found it to be pretty crowded but had a great time nonetheless. No idea what they're like today.
What I did not like was the Sand Dollar's policy of the trip sponsor providing their own safety diver/divemaster, and the fact this was not communicated to the trip organizer. The co-captain stated it was the divers' responsibility to check in and out of the boat for dives. Crew provided minimal assistance with divers getting into the water, and little to no assistance for divers re-boarding the boat. The co-captain spent most of the weekend solo diving. At one point I was standing on the stern for a couple hours checking divers in/out, helping with fins, etc, and was concerned with the lack of crew presence. At one point the captain was the last one in the water and I got a little worried about him until I found his bubbles and saw him completing a safety stop.
It bothered me that the boat did not deploy the chase boat or current line on the second and third day until it was almost too late. The current picked up and a couple teams surfaced away from the boat. I wasn't there, but apparently when one diver asked for the current line and complained that it could have been tossed closer to him, the crew was overheard making rude and profane statments about that diver. One of our divers swam the current line out closer to the tired divers. Venting in the absence of customers is one thing, but their actions were unprofessional.
The physical boat was rustic, which was OK. We were a group of 11 divers. The boat felt full with that many divers. I believe their usual load is twice that which would have made me very uncomfortable. The galley is small. We were stepping over each other at times as it was.
I very much enjoyed the Vision last year. The captain was a younger guy. I found the crew to be very professional. The boat itself is large and comfortable. I understand that Truth aquatics allows groups to bring their own O2 and mix their own nitrox. We're looking into other options, including the Vision, for next year's trip. The group may decide to return to Sand Dollar. We did have a good time. For me, though, lack of dive safety staff was cause for concern.
The only other boat I've used down there was the Encore. That was about 10 years ago. I found it to be pretty crowded but had a great time nonetheless. No idea what they're like today.
