I've been to FI in 1995, 2000 and 2007. The dive shop manager in 1995 and 2000 was the same. There was a new one in 2007. While I had no complaints about the manager in '95 or 2000, I do remember there being a lot of maintenance issues in '95, and that tank fills were erradic. The new manager I met in '07, seemed to maintain a more consistant operation. He maintained the laid-back atmosphere of FI, but behind the scenes, you got the impression that he held the staff to a tighter standard. This was partly evidenced by the air-fills, which were consistantly between 3000 and 3100.
I did learn from him, while I was there, that the staff expanded and contracted depending on the number of reservations for that week. If they had a particularly heavy crowd expected, they would put out a request for DM's all over the island. And, would even borrow boats from Coco View and other resorts.
The DM I had in '07 was quite good; confident, skilled and friendly. If they had a particularly large crowd, I can imagine that some of the DM's they brought in, might not be as skilled as the core group. This is not an excuse. I'm just trying to think of how the FI that I've been to, might mesh with the experience related in the story.
