plongeursousmarin
Contributor
I was only able to dive two days (2 two-tank trips) with two very different operations: Grand Bahama Scuba and Xanadu.
Grand Bahama Scuba was awesome, Fred and Melinda made me feel right at home and the dives were great (Theo's Wreck and Shark Junction). When I called to reserve my spot for the next day, Melinda asked where I was staying and asked for my room number (this detail is important for later) and called me in my room from the reception desk the next day. I was not sure how the pick up was supposed to take place (as we were staying at the Lucaya Yacht Club we were next to the Marina and I tought that maybe the boat would pick me up there, like in Cozumel) but she came with the shop's beat-up van. As stated earlier the diving was great, we talked a lot on the boat with the other divers (including a father and son team from Canada that I say hi to if they're reading this). Fred surprised me with the amount of knowledge he has of all things related to the sea, not just diving. A great, great experience.
In contrast, Xanadu was just awful for me. When I called Xanadu, Thomas, the German owner (I think) told me that he would pick me and my wife up at our hotel the next morning at 7:45 and asked for our room number. The next day, as my wife and I had had to make plans to hire a baby-sitter for our 4-year old girl, both the sitter who was supposed to show up at 7:30 and Thomas were late. We had to stay in the room for the sitter to show up and eventually she did at 7:50 or so. My wife called Thomas to figure out what was going on and he told her to hop in a cab as he was not coming back to get us, that he had waited in the lobby and had taken off. We got in a cab and drove to Xanadu ($15) and there, as I was not happy, I asked why he did not call us or have us paged in our room. He said that he did not have our number. So I said that at least he had my name and he could have at least asked the reception people to page us, I also told him that I had dived with Grand Bahama the day before and how they had called me in my room and had not made a big deal at all about it, but he maintained that the plan was to meet in the lobby and he said he did not want to "argue about this all day". I really did not feel like giving my money to this axxhole at this point but after hiring a sitter, paying a cab and making the special arrangement to finally dive with my wife, what the hell, I caved in and paid. Ray was a little more friendly, but I made the mistake of telling him what I thought of his boss. We dove Theo's Wreck (vis was not as good as the day before) and since it takes my wife a loooon time to get down (ears not clearing) we were last to ascend at the line. As I got on board, Ray proceeded to rip me a new one for doing a deco dive (I was indeed in deco for a 1 minute stop at 15 feet and added a 3 minute safety stop once the deco cleared on my computer), my wife's computer data showed a no-deco profile all along. I couldn't believe it and I think it was payback for being considered a "problem customer" maybe, I don't know. Anyway then they took us to some bland site where we saw a whole lot of nothing and circled around under the boat for 40 minutes or so. Once that was done, Thomas took us back to our hotel without a word. That's my story.
Grand Bahama Scuba was awesome, Fred and Melinda made me feel right at home and the dives were great (Theo's Wreck and Shark Junction). When I called to reserve my spot for the next day, Melinda asked where I was staying and asked for my room number (this detail is important for later) and called me in my room from the reception desk the next day. I was not sure how the pick up was supposed to take place (as we were staying at the Lucaya Yacht Club we were next to the Marina and I tought that maybe the boat would pick me up there, like in Cozumel) but she came with the shop's beat-up van. As stated earlier the diving was great, we talked a lot on the boat with the other divers (including a father and son team from Canada that I say hi to if they're reading this). Fred surprised me with the amount of knowledge he has of all things related to the sea, not just diving. A great, great experience.
In contrast, Xanadu was just awful for me. When I called Xanadu, Thomas, the German owner (I think) told me that he would pick me and my wife up at our hotel the next morning at 7:45 and asked for our room number. The next day, as my wife and I had had to make plans to hire a baby-sitter for our 4-year old girl, both the sitter who was supposed to show up at 7:30 and Thomas were late. We had to stay in the room for the sitter to show up and eventually she did at 7:50 or so. My wife called Thomas to figure out what was going on and he told her to hop in a cab as he was not coming back to get us, that he had waited in the lobby and had taken off. We got in a cab and drove to Xanadu ($15) and there, as I was not happy, I asked why he did not call us or have us paged in our room. He said that he did not have our number. So I said that at least he had my name and he could have at least asked the reception people to page us, I also told him that I had dived with Grand Bahama the day before and how they had called me in my room and had not made a big deal at all about it, but he maintained that the plan was to meet in the lobby and he said he did not want to "argue about this all day". I really did not feel like giving my money to this axxhole at this point but after hiring a sitter, paying a cab and making the special arrangement to finally dive with my wife, what the hell, I caved in and paid. Ray was a little more friendly, but I made the mistake of telling him what I thought of his boss. We dove Theo's Wreck (vis was not as good as the day before) and since it takes my wife a loooon time to get down (ears not clearing) we were last to ascend at the line. As I got on board, Ray proceeded to rip me a new one for doing a deco dive (I was indeed in deco for a 1 minute stop at 15 feet and added a 3 minute safety stop once the deco cleared on my computer), my wife's computer data showed a no-deco profile all along. I couldn't believe it and I think it was payback for being considered a "problem customer" maybe, I don't know. Anyway then they took us to some bland site where we saw a whole lot of nothing and circled around under the boat for 40 minutes or so. Once that was done, Thomas took us back to our hotel without a word. That's my story.