We were on a cruise a few months ago and decided to book with Explore Scuba. I could not find any reviews, which was a bit strange but decided to take the leap since it was so convenient. They will pick you up very close to the ship and the price for 4 of us on a private charter was equal to a bigger boat.
At first things were great, they were just a few minute walk from the ship and the boat was waiting for us when we arrived. We had been told that all equipment would be there including wet suits. When we boarded we were told- oh the water is so warm we decided you would not need the wet suit. This seemed a bit strange especially since the "dive master" was in in full wet suit.
We had a lovely short trip to the first dive site. We missed the next signal that something was not right when we were told that the dive master would not be going down with us, but would come down every once in a while and tap us on the shoulder to get a thumbs up that we were ok. It ends up that this guy never put on a respirator and I think if we ended up going down he was just going to snorkel above and check on us. BTW the tides were very strong at this area.
It took a very long time for them to suit everyone up. My 14 year old son was first and took about 20 min to get him ready, they put him in the water to wait. The 16 year or with us told my son that he was using the emergency respirator not the regular one- but the dive master said that was ok. (forgive me if I get the terminology wrong - I actually don't dive but was there on the boat just to go along for the ride).
Next was my husband it took a few changes of equipment because some did not work. When he got in the water her respirator was leaking something bad so they had to switch it out. He finally went in. Then my friend went next they go her started but then when she got in the water her respirator was blowing out tons of air- worse than my husband's.
She went to go back on board to figure things out. They did not want my son or husband to get back on but my son was freezing now being in the water for 40 min or so waiting for everyone else. My husband swam over to the boat and told me he was thinking that maybe diving with there people were not a good idea.
I went to the captain of the boat and told him that we were getting concerned about the safety of the dive. He thought about it and decided to call off the dive- which was very nice. As everyone boarded he told me he was very sorry but did not think it was a good idea for he was worried about everyone's safety because although the equipment was new it just kept failing.
There was some drama after this about us not getting charged, but I won't get into that now. We ended up tipping the captain and the "dive master" but did not end up paying for the trip.
I usually do not write negative reviews, but I feel like I need to make sure people are aware of what happened.
Lisa
At first things were great, they were just a few minute walk from the ship and the boat was waiting for us when we arrived. We had been told that all equipment would be there including wet suits. When we boarded we were told- oh the water is so warm we decided you would not need the wet suit. This seemed a bit strange especially since the "dive master" was in in full wet suit.
We had a lovely short trip to the first dive site. We missed the next signal that something was not right when we were told that the dive master would not be going down with us, but would come down every once in a while and tap us on the shoulder to get a thumbs up that we were ok. It ends up that this guy never put on a respirator and I think if we ended up going down he was just going to snorkel above and check on us. BTW the tides were very strong at this area.
It took a very long time for them to suit everyone up. My 14 year old son was first and took about 20 min to get him ready, they put him in the water to wait. The 16 year or with us told my son that he was using the emergency respirator not the regular one- but the dive master said that was ok. (forgive me if I get the terminology wrong - I actually don't dive but was there on the boat just to go along for the ride).
Next was my husband it took a few changes of equipment because some did not work. When he got in the water her respirator was leaking something bad so they had to switch it out. He finally went in. Then my friend went next they go her started but then when she got in the water her respirator was blowing out tons of air- worse than my husband's.
She went to go back on board to figure things out. They did not want my son or husband to get back on but my son was freezing now being in the water for 40 min or so waiting for everyone else. My husband swam over to the boat and told me he was thinking that maybe diving with there people were not a good idea.
I went to the captain of the boat and told him that we were getting concerned about the safety of the dive. He thought about it and decided to call off the dive- which was very nice. As everyone boarded he told me he was very sorry but did not think it was a good idea for he was worried about everyone's safety because although the equipment was new it just kept failing.
There was some drama after this about us not getting charged, but I won't get into that now. We ended up tipping the captain and the "dive master" but did not end up paying for the trip.
I usually do not write negative reviews, but I feel like I need to make sure people are aware of what happened.
Lisa
