OP
pakman
Contributor
I had used Steady Eddie Dive Center (I know, nice name...)
Well my complaint had to do with what seemed like a completely ridiculous itemized breakdown of the final bill the girls at their Donsol office produced after I demanded one. Ridiculous extras like extremely high fuel surcharges, boat capt + crew fee, 2 DM fees (?), on top of $26/ dive fee etc. Roughly came out to be $40+/ scuba dive... [for 2 divers. owner has clarified via email that the per dive cost was high as we were only 2 and their min. is 4 diver per boat]
The explanation I just got from the owner via email is that since it was the 2 of us for most of the dives, we got charged for what is a minimum 4pax per boat... Nice... Well at least he offered to give us credit for 1 of the 6 planned dives we didn't do... But I probably won't be going back anytime soon.
My recommendation would be, just go to Donsol for the whale shark interaction. If you can, try to book a room at Vitton Resort directly. When you get there, just swing by the whale shark center right next door to pay for things directly (much cheaper than what the dive shops charge). I'd say skip the diving... not worth it, unless they've already got enough divers or you're going in a large group and can command a discount.
Silly part of all this is, they make it sound like they are so gung ho on promoting tourism in the area. DoT head was giving some lecture while I was there and Vitton has some Canadian tourism consultant. But if the dive ops keep trying to milk the foreigners with excessive dive fees, divers are gonna opt for cheaper alternatives in the Philippines or just go to Donsol strictly for the snorkeling. Real shame as Joel from Solana has been holding training sessions for the local guides to really expand the diving possibilities in the region. There is some real nice dives there like in San Miguel Island, but nothing that puts in on par with Anilao, PG, or any of the Visaya locations.
