Eagle Ray Divers, Cozumel......Review

[Lsufootballfan]

Dude, I gotta tell you : it's MEXICO, you aren't in Kansas anymore.

You lost your paperwork, you got off your cruise ship with out a single clue where you were going, somebody helped you out, you found your way to the dive op destination late, a guy who was totally honest with you in every way, you treated him like he was a criminal. Your wife sucked water in her mouth and panicked, your buddy aborted the dive and you abandoned her without ever making contact with her to find out if she was okay, passed out, dead or who knows what.

Where exactly did anybody but yourself cause any of your problems?

Please, get your wife certified in the states or do it on a week long vacation, don't put her at risk anymore diving in the ocean, until she gets training and posseses the basic scuba skills she needs to be safe. Research your dive ops and don't choose based on low prices, choose based on reputation. Jumping off a cruise ship for a one day dive is pretty much a cluster f**k no matter where you go. It's certainly no place for a 'discovery' dive with your wife who isn't certified. Under water is under water. If she's so uncomfortable that a DM adjusting her gear caused her to emergency accend due to getting water in her mouth, you're lucky nothing worse happened to her. (does she even know how to make an emergency accent?)

You actually stumbled upon one of the top dive ops in Cozumel -- Aldora. Book a weeks vacation in cozumel, contact Aldora and set up a week of diving and get your wife certified and get some more dives under your belt too and put this behind you. I'm sorry, but to me you over-reacted to everything, you held everybody to a way higher standard then you did yourself. I'll say though when a Mexican wants to refund your money because he can't stand you, you have really accomplished something. You really need to Chill out.

Don't dive off a cruise ship unless

#1 everybody is dialed in on their dive skills (certification is a bare minimum)
#2 you are certain you're with a really good dive op
#3 lower your expectations and enjoy the ride. If you make it back without missing the boat you've had a good day.

If you can't do any of the above, book your dive through the cruise ship and enjoy a 25 minute dive.

And above all keep in mind one thing when you're in Mexico... you are in Mexico.

And really my friend, you freaked out about having to do a back roll off the side of a boat?

Mfinley, dude, sorry but I don't buy the excuse of "because it is Mexico"........It is inexcusable to provide poor customer service “because it is Mexico”……..It is inexcusable to be unsafe “because it is Mexico”……………It is inexcusable to be unprofessional “because it is Mexico”………(refer to the post by Cuddlefish to see what proper, professional and courteous service looks like)

If you would be so kind as to read my post again and pay particular attention to the reason that my wife sucked water into her mouth then you may be able to comprehend the unsafe practices that I talk about. To save you some time, my wife sucked water into her mouth due to the DM jerking on her regulator hose causing her regulator to be pulled sideways in her mouth. No DM/ or Instructor should EVER attempt to do the things that he did to my wife underwater, especially when he was unable to communicate to her what he was trying to accomplish. If this communication was impossible due to her lack of training then she is wearing a BCD that can hold air. Inflate the BCD to obtain neutral buoyancy.

Also, look up Discover Scuba and see exactly what it entails.....She has not been trained, she does not know how to perform an emergency accent, she was in a discover scuba dive, therefor it is the resposibility of the DM to ensure her safety and not be the one that causes the issue.

When I can see my wife climbing up the ladder and onto the boat on her own, she obviously wasn't passed out or dead. If something would have been wrong with her then I would have expected my competent DM to let me know this when he descended back to us and not to tell me twice that she was okay. As for as leaving my dive buddy....Are you serious?? My dive buddy became a 14 year old child as soon as my competent DM decided to cause my wife to panic and shoot to the surface. If you think that I should have followed the DM and left the 14 year old child by himself, 40 feet under water then I sure hope my child never happens to be on a dive with you.

 

[Lsufootballfan]

I hate to say this, but I think the OP's inexperience is speaking here. More experience diving (for him and his wife) would likely result in a different report. FWIW, I think I've seen a small office for Eagle Ray Divers in the caleta next to Living Underwater. It's just a niggling memory so I may be mistaken.

Sorry MMM, I just can't see what my inexperience in diving has to do with expectations on professionalism, safety and customer service. These things should be expected and demanded of any operation, whether it is a dive shop or any other operation that you pay for. If YOU do not expect this from the people that you pay your money to, then YOU are the reason that these incompetent operations exist.

 

[David_57]

Poor Dave

Lets think about this loses paper with phone number and directions, limited experience rush to get in a dive while on shore from a cruise ship etc etc sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

I dunno about you guys but I have a few dives under my belt I always take a day to familiarize myself with the dive OP, do a check out dive to check my gear is working, weight and buoyancy dialed in. And come on no platform on dive boat in Mexico LOL, take my advice mate don't consider a cheap dive OP in Cuba as no ladder either LOL.

 

[jeancmo]

"This put the boat leaving at 8:00am, the same time that we deported the cruise ship."


Are you sure the the ship time was the same as Cozumel time. If ship left from Miami or any Florida port, most ships stay on Eastern time. Cozumel is Central time.

So your 8:00 am ship time is Cozumel 7:00 am- so possible you did miss the dive boat by just a few minutes?

 

[Lsufootballfan]

"This put the boat leaving at 8:00am, the same time that we deported the cruise ship."


Are you sure the the ship time was the same as Cozumel time. If ship left from Miami or any Florida port, most ships stay on Eastern time. Cozumel is Central time.

So your 8:00 am ship time is Cozumel 7:00 am- so possible you did miss the dive boat by just a few minutes?

The ship that I was on left from New Orleans, La. New Orleans is in the Central Time Zone. Same as Cozumel

 

[Christi]

Eagle Ray Divers is well known on Cozumel. You say that the person at Aldora told you they had never heard of them; it seems to me that someone is/was not being completely honest.

A plan which needs everything to go right to succeed is not a good plan, IMO. I understand your frustration, but there were far too many unknown variables in your plan for it to have much of a chance to end well. You would have been much better off booking a dive through the cruise line. It would have been more expensive, but the details would have been taken care of without depending on you to make it happen. You don't know the island, the dive op (an op is not a shop), or any of the people involved, and you lost the only documentation of what you were supposed to do and where you were supposed to go. You only had a few hours to make it all come together, and you were improvising in an atmosphere of ignorance. I'm a little surprised that you got to dive at all.

In all fairness, I have no direct experience with Eagle Ray Divers, so I cannot speak to their treatment of you, but I will say that they were dependent on you to know what you were supposed to do to connect with them, and it appears to me that you dropped the ball.

Agree with most of what you said Gordon - although many of us know Eagle Ray Divers simply because we know Chellie and Antonio, they are a small shop and many are not familiar with them. The same happens with many shops actually - there are people that say they've never heard of my shop and I've even heard someone say that they had never heard of Dive Paradise. Point being to the OP, just because you run across someone that hasn't heard of the shop you are looking for, is no reflection on them as a business.

I am going to assume that Memo was the person that helped them and even tried to make calls to Chellie - this doesn't surprise me at all - that's how Memo is! I had a couple that have been diving with me for years, but hadn't been here since I moved my office and didn't notice the new check-in procedures in the e-mail I sent them prior to arrival. They stopped in at Aldora (down the street from my old shop) and Memo called me for them. He's a great guy and a very honest guy! I have the utmost respect for him and really doubt he was trying to mislead the OP in any way!

I am more concerned with the issues of the uncertified diver being taken down in a group and no indication or reference was made to ANY training whatsoever prior to entering the water OR practicing the basic skills required for a Discover SCUBA dive prior to the actual dive. The skills must be performed in water shallow enough to stand up in before proceeding with the "tour" portion of the dive. Was she briefed, did the instructor go over the skills with her, did he show her the equipment and how to use it? Where and when did he teach and practice mask clearing, regulator recovery, BCD deflation and inflation, equalization, etc. This is what stood out to me as the biggest concern - aside from the OP's experience with customer service, etc.

 

[Lsufootballfan]

Agree with most of what you said Gordon - although many of us know Eagle Ray Divers simply because we know Chellie and Antonio, they are a small shop and many are not familiar with them. The same happens with many shops actually - there are people that say they've never heard of my shop and I've even heard someone say that they had never heard of Dive Paradise. Point being to the OP, just because you run across someone that hasn't heard of the shop you are looking for, is no reflection on them as a business.

I am going to assume that Memo was the person that helped them and even tried to make calls to Chellie - this doesn't surprise me at all - that's how Memo is! I had a couple that have been diving with me for years, but hadn't been here since I moved my office and didn't notice the new check-in procedures in the e-mail I sent them prior to arrival. They stopped in at Aldora (down the street from my old shop) and Memo called me for them. He's a great guy and a very honest guy! I have the utmost respect for him and really doubt he was trying to mislead the OP in any way!

I am more concerned with the issues of the uncertified diver being taken down in a group and no indication or reference was made to ANY training whatsoever prior to entering the water OR practicing the basic skills required for a Discover SCUBA dive prior to the actual dive. The skills must be performed in water shallow enough to stand up in before proceeding with the "tour" portion of the dive. Was she briefed, did the instructor go over the skills with her, did he show her the equipment and how to use it? Where and when did he teach and practice mask clearing, regulator recovery, BCD deflation and inflation, equalization, etc. This is what stood out to me as the biggest concern - aside from the OP's experience with customer service, etc.

Hi Christi..... I am glad that someone gets the point.......To answer your questions, my wife has had very little training. She did 2 resort type dives (Discover Scuba) in Jamaica October 2010. She was instructed on the basic skills of scuba and was required to practice them in a swimming pool prior to making these dives. I don't know if you would call that training. Other than this, she has no experience with scuba..........On the boat ride to the dive spot, Antonio did talk to my wife about the basic skills of scuba and even demonstrated them to her. He did not however have her practice them in shallow water or even have her demonstrate to him that she knew how to perform them.

My main complaint is the unsafe actions of Antonio. I have talked with 6 local divemasters who could not believe that he would even attempt to do the things that he did to my wife on a discover scuba dive. She did not have any training to deal with the situation that she was put in. I think that some people are missing the point..... It's not the fact that my wife panicked and bolted to the surface. The fact is that the DM's actions are what caused my wife’s reaction. He jerked on her equipment, he removed her weights and he dislodged the regulator in her mouth causing her to suck in water. I ask, how would ANY person, that has not had proper training, react in this situation??

The second compliant is the customer service or lack thereof. If the employees of Aldora could provide me with professional and courteous service, even when I did not pay them, then why should I expect anything less from a dive shop that I paid? I have received outstanding service from dive operations in the U.S., Jamaica, Roatan and Belize...... why should I expect anything different from a dive shop in Mexico?.....Your right, I shouldn't.........

If other people have had nothing but great experiences from Eagle Ray, good for them.....ours was horrible!!

 

[Brules]

While local DM's in the US might think it abhorent to take weights off of or put on a diver while diving, I have seen it MANY times in Mexico. I have seen DM's dive with extra 1's or 5's after offering it to "AOW divers" who turned it down even though the DM knew they would need it.....get in the water and diver cant get/stay down and here comes the DM with extra weight adding it mid dive.

Same goes for removing it from grossly over weighted divers who would not listen to the DM's.

If the DM thought your wife as over weighted, I tend to believe he with probably 5-10,000-15,000 dives knows more than you (24?) and your wife who isn't certified. The DM's can usually looka t a person and guess within 1lb how much weight they need. The DM you had most likely has more dives than all of your friends and instructors combined. He was most likely doing what he does quite often and didn't think about it freaking your wife out. To him it was standard procedure.

Re-weighting happens regularly (I bet everyone here has seen it happen at least once), and I think your wifes inexperience and general uneasyness compouned the issue greatly. SHE IS ONE LUCKY LADY as the end result (sucking in water) could have been much much worse.

Next time (and I hope you go back!!! Cozumel is a great dive destination!) find a shop who will give you that level of service you expect (Aldora, BlueXTC, Scuba Mau etc etc), while also providing the level of attention and detail that a new or non-experienced diver diver really should have.

I am glad no one was injured and hope your wife continues her diving education and becomes fully certified before her next trip.

 

[Mike]

Dave, the professionalism that we received at your shop is what I and everyone should expect from any dive operation. Because of the professionalism and courtesy demonstrated by your shop, you have earned my business the next time we are in Cozumel. The employees of your shop definitely went above and beyond good customer service. Thank you for the pleasant experience.

But will Dave accept you as a customer? :blinking: I wouldn't, but that's just me. I often turn people down as customers because I don't think the match is correct and some people have unrealistic expectations, sometimes much better to let the competition have you and the crap trip reports sure to come while they save your spot for a customer that fits their profile better. I'm sure Dave will help you out, but if your emails don't get returned.... just say'in....

As for this

When I can see my wife climbing up the ladder and onto the boat on her own, she obviously wasn't passed out or dead. If something would have been wrong with her then I would have expected my competent DM to let me know this when he descended back to us and not to tell me twice that she was okay. As for as leaving my dive buddy....Are you serious?? My dive buddy became a 14 year old child as soon as my competent DM decided to cause my wife to panic and shoot to the surface. If you think that I should have followed the DM and left the 14 year old child by himself, 40 feet under water then I sure hope my child never happens to be on a dive with you.

All I can tell you is what I would have done or wouldn't do. If I saw my wife emergency accend I would want to verify personally that she was okay. If at that moment I was insta-buddied with this 14 year old as a result of what happened, I would have got him and signalled him that we were to surface. I would have made contact with my wife and made a decision to thumb the dive at that point or not.

That would have been even if I thought the DM was a competent pro, I still would not rely on anybody but my wife to tell me she was okay. In time you'll realize there are a myriad number of issues that can happen to a person as a result of an underwater incident and a casual, okay from anybody but the person that this happened too is a disaster waiting to happen. Even an okay from your wife isn't a guarantee of everything is okay. DCS could show up in your wife 10 seconds after you resumed your dive or 10 hours or not at all. She could have had an air embolism perculating, have felt a little twinge and ignored telling you (as you said for her great love for you and wanting you to enjoy the dive), 2 minutes after you left it could have gotten worse and 4 minutes later she might have been unconcious in convulsions. There are an unlimited number of scenarios that could happen to a diver shortly after they get on the boat and feel okay right at that moment.

I implore you to learn not to ever rely or trust a 3rd party when it comes to your or your wifes safety no matter what your level of confidence is in that person. You'll have nobody but yourself to blame later that you should have, could have, would have.. if only I had....

You don't ever want to be in that position. DMs are tour guides, they are not in control of your safety or needed to be blindly followed, you have to be responsible for your own safety, your wife needs to get certified and she has to be resopnsible for her own safety and as dive buddies you have to be responsible for each others safety, after that nobody else is really responsible for you guys.

And as Brules said, that kind of weighting thing goes on... especially when (I know you don't think it matters, but...) you're in Mexico with Latin DM who have a tendency to be a little mucho macho, combine that with a diver they feel is over their head and they will go into that mode.

 

[ggunn]

Dear Gordon,

We have ongoing DM training programs and interns (mostly US citizens) who learn the dive business, and some of that is in the front office. The fact that this person's first contact after walking into our office did not know of Eagle Ray divers WAS NOT dishonest. Indeed, Eagle Ray Divers may be well known to a regular Cozumeleno like you, but not nearly as widely known as you suggest.

The other fact, that our staff went through the effort to find a number for them and make a call should quash such a insinuation on your part.

Actually, my insinuation was pointed in the other direction. Sorry if it wasn't obvious enough, but in any case I stand corrected.