Sac11550
Registered
I wanted to share my recent experience diving off the Great Escape, based out of Long Beach Ca. I almost always dive off the Vision, based out of Santa Barbrea. However, they were not available on the weekend I wanted to dive. So I signed up for a three day live aboard out to the Channel Islands on the Great Escape. I was told to board the boat by 10:00 pm the night before we left. On the past 10 channel Islands trips we always leave the harbor around 2-3 am and wake up at the dive site around 7 am ready to dive.
However, I woke up on the Great Escape around 6 am and was shocked to see we were still at the dock. I asked a memeber of the crew what time we were going to head out and he said, "when ever the captain wants to move the boat". I said I was used to waking up at the dive site on most live aboards and was surprised we had not moved and he said, "I guess the captain is not ready". So I went back to bed and woke up around 8 am. I went out to the deck and I was shocked again to see we were still in the port of Long Beach, but we moved to get gas. We did not leave the port until 9:00 am.
I also noticed the boat seemed in very poor condition and appeared it needed a few dozen hours out of the water. But I was not going to let the rocky start ruin my dive trip. However, we did not go right to the Channel Islands. Instead we did 4 dives off the coast of Long Beach before heading to Catalina for a night dive. The captain never once gave us a description of the dive site. I had to ask each time how deep we were, is there a current and what the site was like. There was no safety briefing, and the boat did not have an inflatable chase boat. They did not do a hard head count before moving the boat. They just counted BC's. Keep in mind we had several divers that would come in and then head out and free dive. Twice I saw them start the engines with someone on the swimm ladder.
On the night dive there were no briefings and they did not make sure everyone had two lights and a tank light. Again no site description, depth, current etc...
The other disgusting thing they did was dump their sewage while divers were in the water. Three separate times they dumped sewage while divers in the water. Twice I swam thru a cloud of toliet paper and other items! on my way to the swim ladder. Two of the three times we were about 50 yards off the shore of Catalina. I have never, every had a dive boat do this while divers were in the water! It was gross.
Now let me tell you about the cook. She was covered in tatoos and had long stringy black hair, and lots of under arm hair. She looked like a biker girl. I found black hairs in four of my meals. Many other divers also found hairs in their food. The food was not good at all. Usually I look forward to food on the live aboards. They ran out of soda, ketchup and ice. Most of the crew smoked none stop on the deck. On most boats people will got to the front of the boat to smoke.
The captain of the boat had a dog on the boat. The dog pissed all over the upper deck and it ran down the side onto peoples dive gear. The smell was horrible and did not make for enjoyable time while getting suited up for a dive.
These are just a few of my complaints. This just confirms that the Vision out of Santa Barbra is the way to go. I would never dive this boat again.
However, I woke up on the Great Escape around 6 am and was shocked to see we were still at the dock. I asked a memeber of the crew what time we were going to head out and he said, "when ever the captain wants to move the boat". I said I was used to waking up at the dive site on most live aboards and was surprised we had not moved and he said, "I guess the captain is not ready". So I went back to bed and woke up around 8 am. I went out to the deck and I was shocked again to see we were still in the port of Long Beach, but we moved to get gas. We did not leave the port until 9:00 am.
I also noticed the boat seemed in very poor condition and appeared it needed a few dozen hours out of the water. But I was not going to let the rocky start ruin my dive trip. However, we did not go right to the Channel Islands. Instead we did 4 dives off the coast of Long Beach before heading to Catalina for a night dive. The captain never once gave us a description of the dive site. I had to ask each time how deep we were, is there a current and what the site was like. There was no safety briefing, and the boat did not have an inflatable chase boat. They did not do a hard head count before moving the boat. They just counted BC's. Keep in mind we had several divers that would come in and then head out and free dive. Twice I saw them start the engines with someone on the swimm ladder.
On the night dive there were no briefings and they did not make sure everyone had two lights and a tank light. Again no site description, depth, current etc...
The other disgusting thing they did was dump their sewage while divers were in the water. Three separate times they dumped sewage while divers in the water. Twice I swam thru a cloud of toliet paper and other items! on my way to the swim ladder. Two of the three times we were about 50 yards off the shore of Catalina. I have never, every had a dive boat do this while divers were in the water! It was gross.
Now let me tell you about the cook. She was covered in tatoos and had long stringy black hair, and lots of under arm hair. She looked like a biker girl. I found black hairs in four of my meals. Many other divers also found hairs in their food. The food was not good at all. Usually I look forward to food on the live aboards. They ran out of soda, ketchup and ice. Most of the crew smoked none stop on the deck. On most boats people will got to the front of the boat to smoke.
The captain of the boat had a dog on the boat. The dog pissed all over the upper deck and it ran down the side onto peoples dive gear. The smell was horrible and did not make for enjoyable time while getting suited up for a dive.
These are just a few of my complaints. This just confirms that the Vision out of Santa Barbra is the way to go. I would never dive this boat again.
