Divetech - quick whine

[Rhone Man]

Although I said I was going to let this incident go, I just can't quite... Coming to Grand Cayman on business for a week, so decided to tack on the weekend before and the weekend after to get in some diving. After a bit of humming and hawing decided this would be a good chance to do some deeper dives, so I contacted Divetech about doing some guided technical dives. The very helpful lady at Divetech says no problem - guided technical shore dives are US$150 plus gases - may depth 140 feet. That's fine, I say (I assume we will get to go deeper on later dives if they get comfortable that I am not an idiot). Little bit steep, but a solo tech diver has to live with this. But I ask, can you just tell me what gas costs are just so that I know. We are not going that deep so I tell her I was just use air as a backgas and single deco mix. Didn't actually get a response until the day before we are due to dive, and she says the deco mix will be whatever it is, and the air will be CI$30 (or just under US$37).

So I email her back: Sorry, come again - you want to charge me nearly 25 cents a cubic foot for air....? Yes, she replies. Adding by way of explanation that they need to O2 clean the cylinders. I am just about to send back a snarky reply saying I hope they O2 clean them every single day for that kind of price, and I remind myself that she is just the messenger, so I email back saying: thanks, but too rich for my blood - I am afraid I have to cancel. She emails back to thank me for letting them know.

I rebook with another local dive operator nearer to the hotel, and when I am on the boat I have a bit of a bitch about this incident. One of the instructors tells me he can top that. He booked to go with Divetech with his rebreather, and as they are gearing up he asks if he can take one of the spare Al 80s as a bailout bottle. Yes, they tell him, but that will be CI$25 (just over $31). Similarly, he is confused - he has to pay a hefty fee for a bailout bottle that he will almost certainly return unused? And then, for good measure they tell him he has to buddy up with an insta-buddy who is on open circuit...

Now, Divetech can charge what they like. It is their business model, and good luck to them. But the impression that I was left with is that although they advertise ability to cater to tec divers, it definitely felt like a "reluctantly if at all" approach to tec. And that's fine. But put it on the website. That way I would have had to haul my tec gear literally half way around the planet before I found out.

 

[Ste Wart]

Charging for a tech dive normally includes Twinset, Air fill & 50% for deco. So to be charged to fill a twinset with air is ridiculous. Do they charge Rec divers the same way? I doubt it. You rent a tank it comes with Air as standard. You want something fancy, you pay.

As for the bailout. I'd charge him for using the bottle as no-one else can use the bottle while he's diving with it.
Do you charge for the gas? Well tricky. I'd say yes. For one dive with an RB it comes out as pricey. A weeks diving with the same bailout then you're golden.

As for the insta-buddy on OC. Not cool. That was clearly a money saving gimmick.

Shame as a buddy of mine has gone to work at Divetech.

 

[Insta-Gator]

I find this a little confusing. We're just rec divers but have never encountered those prices with Divetech. $12.50 for air, $15.00 for nitrox, AL80. I wonder if the bailout bottle also included the rental for the reg set?

Divetech Rental Prices

 

[Scared Silly]

I find this a little confusing. We're just rec divers but have never encountered those prices with Divetech. $12.50 for air, $15.00 for nitrox, AL80. I wonder if the bailout bottle also included the rental for the reg set?

Divetech Rental Prices

Even with the reg rental that pricing does not come out.

 

[Doctorfish]

Divetech is ok but not my favorite dive op. I've been on their boat when they tried to accommodate tech divers, recreational divers, newbies, and students all at the same time and as a result the experience was diluted down for everyone. It was a few years back and maybe they have sorted out this issue.
They were also not so good at totaling up the bill at the end of the week. I did not agree with the amount so they added it all up another 2 times and came up with a different amount each time.
I have never had this problem with Wall to Wall or DNS. There is always a correct itemized print out at the end of the week.

Still if I was staying at Cobalt, I would dive with Divetech as it is part of the package.

 

[danvolker]

I am not going to say you should do the following...just that it would be a way I might get around this nonsense....

First, a diver can easily swim off the beach to the wall.

Second, if you have a backplate and wing set up, you can rig a 2nd 80 al-- you would rent it as a standard air tank, and use it as a stage bottle..It clips off on your chest d ring and hip d ring on the left side...Of course it needs it's own reg, and pressure guage, and you use surgicval tubing to hold the hose and 2nd stage in place......you can google how to set up a stage bottle, and it is easy enough to do on a trip to Cayman....then you are diving independant doubles.....on air....which while not exactly in line with my DIR preachings, was how we did many hundreds of dives before manifolded doubles and trimix....and not so much different than SM....How deep you would go needs to be up to you and your background, as well as your buddy.... For 130 to 160 feet, this might be good for you--if you have lots of experience at 200 or more with doubles( it sounds like you are a tech diver, not a newbie...)

I would completely ignore the operator you spoke of.....there must be plenty that are renting tanks to people that want to dive the areas off the beach...at least there were last time I was on 6 mile beach ( granted more than a decade ago).

On the other hand, this is massively off the chart WRONG for acceptable DIR or GUE behavior.....AND again, I am NOT saying you should do this

 

[Divetech Cayman]

Hi - Nancy from Divetech here and I just wanted to offer a few comments. Firstly, I am sorry that you did not choose to dive with us but respect your decision. By way of explanation, we do not charge for doubles or bailout bottles, they are included in the gas fill. We charge $12 for a normal tank of air, and $18.50 per tank for a set of doubles. This is $6.50 extra over a regular 80cuft tank of air, and the double tanks have manifolds, isolation valves, bungie, DIN valves and rigged to dive doubles. All of our doubles are in O2 service, which means additional costs on servicing the tanks, but also, we have to fill them from our blending station with Grade E air, triple filtered, synthetic oil compressor, etc. This requires dedicated staff to do this (as they are not filled with our normal air tanks) so is more labour intensive. I felt that we were charging a very small surplus for having the specialized equipment on hand, inservice and ready to go, but am sorry that you do not agree and again, respect that.

I cannot speak for the Rebreather diver, we have them every week and some dive rec OC profiles with their buddies, many dive rebreather profiles with our staff or their buddies, and we are quite flexible with this. We do not pair CCR divers with OC rec divers as a matter of course. And we welcome all kinds of CCR or OC tek divers year round.

The $140 for the guided dive was to cover the cost of a separate staff member diving with you only on a proper 140' profile, for their time and their gases. For a 1/2 day, this does not even cover our costs so again, we are doing the best we can for our cost of business here.

I hope that this sheds a bit of light, and only wish impart a tad of understanding in this. Thanks so much for listening, Nancy

 

[abnfrog]

Hi - Nancy from Divetech here and I just wanted to offer a few comments. Firstly, I am sorry that you did not choose to dive with us but respect your decision. By way of explanation, we do not charge for doubles or bailout bottles, they are included in the gas fill. We charge $12 for a normal tank of air, and $18.50 per tank for a set of doubles. This is $6.50 extra over a regular 80cuft tank of air, and the double tanks have manifolds, isolation valves, bungie, DIN valves and rigged to dive doubles. All of our doubles are in O2 service, which means additional costs on servicing the tanks, but also, we have to fill them from our blending station with Grade E air, triple filtered, synthetic oil compressor, etc. This requires dedicated staff to do this (as they are not filled with our normal air tanks) so is more labour intensive. I felt that we were charging a very small surplus for having the specialized equipment on hand, inservice and ready to go, but am sorry that you do not agree and again, respect that.

I cannot speak for the Rebreather diver, we have them every week and some dive rec OC profiles with their buddies, many dive rebreather profiles with our staff or their buddies, and we are quite flexible with this. We do not pair CCR divers with OC rec divers as a matter of course. And we welcome all kinds of CCR or OC tek divers year round.

The $140 for the guided dive was to cover the cost of a separate staff member diving with you only on a proper 140' profile, for their time and their gases. For a 1/2 day, this does not even cover our costs so again, we are doing the best we can for our cost of business here.

I hope that this sheds a bit of light, and only wish impart a tad of understanding in this. Thanks so much for listening, Nancy

Nancy i believe you were a party to this was an incident , that happens when i was diving with your company . i had a group ding scr rebreather ( i was the instructor ) i talked to an older lady as to the dive profile i was going to do (you i believe ) i showed her my written out dive profile requested the appropriate gas and was told ok no problem , i arrived at the boat day of , nothing was said then we left the docks (i was told the gas i ordered was on board ) i analyzed the gas .. it was wrong e i asked what happened i was then told by the boyfriend of the boats captain . that i could not do the dive as HE decided i did the calculations on the bag content not on the bottle and i wasn't being let to do the dive ... the reason he told me was they didn't want any trouble .....he said im an instructor on that unit so i know it well .....i told him i was an IT on the unit and i did too ... plus i have o2 monitoring. He said oh sorry i didn't know that ........it totally ruined my diving that day i also asked why i wasn't contacted about it the day before (as i gave a 48 notice of what i intended to do ) he then got very aggressive, and said I MAKE THE DECISIONS ON ALL TECH DIVING .....i thought about getting aggressive right back but as i had students i let it go ....but as a ex sf paratrooper and combat vet i could have been VERY persuasive but it was his lucky day so i let it go . i just decided to let all my students that are going to GC NOT to use your service ( i also talked to someone from your co at the sportsman show here in Toronto and was very put off by there attitude .....so need less to say i haven't changed my about your company

 

[AggieDiver]

Nancy, thanks for coming here to provide your side of the story. Everybody will have their own opinion on who is or was right or wrong, but I appreciate it when operators are willing to come here and try to clarify situations being discussed involving their operations. Thanks!