doogisar
Registered
My wife and I went on a cruise recently to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. We decided what the heck, why not get in a dive or two while there in port.
The dive instructor and company in Puerto Vallarta was good. There were only 4 divers. We were on the same boat with the snorkle and kayak people and were diving near the same location of the snorklers. Would have much perfered to be farther away but it was not too bad and I was not expecting a whole lot. Diving was kind of boring but it was good to get wet and dive in 86 degree water.
We got off the boat in Cabo and arrived at the Dive Excursion director. I was concerned about diving with others doing their check out dive and if we would be grouped together. The director said that we would be in separate groups. When we got to the boat, we were briefed that we would be in the same group as the two others doing their check out dives. And the dive would end when the first person reached 700psi. The brief was detailed. When the brief was over I looked around and we were still in the harbor, maybe 1/2 mile from the marina in the same location as the snorkle and kayak boats. It was like a meri-go-round. Entered the water and majority of us did not have enough weight, after getting that fixed, we spent about 15 mins on sand in very poor visibility, I did make it out off the sand eventually. Then before I knew it we were back on the sand at 15-18ft and stayed there while two divers finished doing their skills to get certified then the DM/Instructor signaled to go up. We finished the dive at 27 minutes and I still had 1890psi. I was so disappointed that I cancelled the second dive and told the dive shop manager that he might have been in correct ratio of DM to divers but should have had a separate DM for the other 6 divers for an enjoyable dive instead of wasting our time with a poor dive location and very short dive due to beginner divers who were not even certified yet.
I wanted to let other seasoned divers know that this might be the type of experience you also receive when going with a Cruise Ship to do your dive excursions in port. I'm not out for anything or to scar anyone or operation. I consider this a Lesson learned. I did file a complaint with the dive operation. Next time I will contact a separate dive operation and meet them for a much more enjoyable experience worthy of my time and money.
The dive instructor and company in Puerto Vallarta was good. There were only 4 divers. We were on the same boat with the snorkle and kayak people and were diving near the same location of the snorklers. Would have much perfered to be farther away but it was not too bad and I was not expecting a whole lot. Diving was kind of boring but it was good to get wet and dive in 86 degree water.
We got off the boat in Cabo and arrived at the Dive Excursion director. I was concerned about diving with others doing their check out dive and if we would be grouped together. The director said that we would be in separate groups. When we got to the boat, we were briefed that we would be in the same group as the two others doing their check out dives. And the dive would end when the first person reached 700psi. The brief was detailed. When the brief was over I looked around and we were still in the harbor, maybe 1/2 mile from the marina in the same location as the snorkle and kayak boats. It was like a meri-go-round. Entered the water and majority of us did not have enough weight, after getting that fixed, we spent about 15 mins on sand in very poor visibility, I did make it out off the sand eventually. Then before I knew it we were back on the sand at 15-18ft and stayed there while two divers finished doing their skills to get certified then the DM/Instructor signaled to go up. We finished the dive at 27 minutes and I still had 1890psi. I was so disappointed that I cancelled the second dive and told the dive shop manager that he might have been in correct ratio of DM to divers but should have had a separate DM for the other 6 divers for an enjoyable dive instead of wasting our time with a poor dive location and very short dive due to beginner divers who were not even certified yet.
I wanted to let other seasoned divers know that this might be the type of experience you also receive when going with a Cruise Ship to do your dive excursions in port. I'm not out for anything or to scar anyone or operation. I consider this a Lesson learned. I did file a complaint with the dive operation. Next time I will contact a separate dive operation and meet them for a much more enjoyable experience worthy of my time and money.
