Disappointment with German Yanez

[macado]

If this is the same guy, it might explain a few things ... View attachment 476839

Hmm. Did you join just to post that? I know there are two sides to every story but the incident you posted above is missing key details and happened a long time ago (I believe said incident was in 1996).

German and the group supposedly had permission to remove said artifacts. Paperwork checked out and they were released from jail. This was apparently a big deal when it happened in the cave community. At least that is my understanding of the incident but I was not cave diving back then so I don't have all the details.

EDIT: Since I can't edit my above post. I did end up seeing German when I was gearing up to dive Aerolito. He was teaching a full cave course which I can only assume is why he blew me off as it pays better money than guiding. I still think it was in poor taste to blew me off but I do understand. Sh*t happens. I kind of downplayed the whole interaction and told him that I knew he was busy and no worries.

We talked about getting together to dive another day but the timing did not work out for me.

 

[SCUBAwithMitch]

No, I've been a long time lurker and had looked at using German for so.e guiding on a future trip. I have no skin in this game. It was just something I came across.

 

[macado]

Gotcha. I still consider him a good instructor but think his communication can be improved.

I am certainly not discounting the incident from above but I think there were not all the facts. I'd be curious myself to hear it from someone else. When German explained it to me it was a huge misunderstanding with the authorities.

 

[SCUBAwithMitch]

That would not surprise me at all. There are a lot of crazy things that go on down there. I'm sure he's a good instructor, but based on your story alone I'd probably pass on using him. Life, and vacation, is too short to have to deal with crap like that.

 

[SCUBAwithMitch]

AND I honestly thought it was a recent situation. Not something that occured that long ago.

 

[boulderjohn]

Having poor communication skills is (or at least was) common there. A number of years ago I wanted to plan a tech trip to Cozumel. I wanted to do some deep deco dives, followed by some cave dives. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it all on Cozumel (being taken over to the mainland for some of the caves) or split the locations. Over weeks of planning, I sent emails to a number of operations. One operation in Cozumel responded so badly (clearly not reading anything I wrote) that I quit trying. I ended up doing a week of deep diving on Cozumel with the only other operation there that answered my emails (Deep Exposure) and a week diving caves on the mainland with the only person there who answered my emails (Natalie Gibb). Natalie was then just beginning as a cave instructor/guide there, and she told me she got her business by being pretty much the only one who answers emails.

One of the people who did not answer my emails, despite multiple attempts, was German Yanez.

 

[Dogbowl]

No wonder a shop owner/cave instructor in Playa Del Carmen gave me a rant about how he didn’t understand why his competition was so bad in communicating with clients. I suppose he was treated poorly himself and he told me he vowed to be a good communicator and always respond to emails quickly and accurately. I didn’t get why he was so passionate about this at the time but now I understand.

 

[Billy Northrup]

My take away is the place sounds ripe for a business opportunity!

 

[KevinNM]

My take away is the place sounds ripe for a business opportunity!

There are people there who solve competition issues with machetes and car bombs...