Mabul - SMART or Water Village
- Thread starter myleong7
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myleong7:
Stayed at SWV in late July, as mentioned in these post, the resort is top notch, great food and service, and a beautiful setting. I would have to agree the dive shop could use a few improvements, and once again, expect to pay big$$$$
hypermount
Registered
seok:
I stayed there and I agree the price is NOT cheap. There's nothing wrong with the dive centre with a bunch of nice and knowledgeable DMs. The unlimited dives from their jetty is included in the package too which I think is pretty neat.
I stayed at SWV earlier this year and agree that the location, food and staff are really good. The unlimited shore diving is definietly a bonus, you can get 6 dives a day if you try hard enough (or are crazy enough). The dive centre is a little basic and unexciting but its still adequate in my opinion, perhaps doesn't attain the high standards of the rest of the resort but its a great place on the whole.
SWV is my favorite. Is the new place that was being built next to SWV finished yet?
I was at SWV earlier this year and I'll go back again next year. The resort, food, personel are top notch fantastic. You pay for good service, and you get it.
We didn't have the best experience we could have with the dive center, so it has naturally formed our opinions of it to the negative. The next time we visit we'll be taking more advantage of the unlimited house reef diving, and spending less time on the boats.
The problems we had with the dive center were that we got grouped with japanese only dive boats (and dive masters) twice in a period of three days. We don't speak japanese, we are not japanese, and we weren't in Japan. So I think it's a little short sighted to hire so many dive guides that could only speak japanese and very little of any other language. At that time, there were four guides that spoke japanese and little or no other language.
I would recommend SWV and the Dive center 100% but be informed and ask lots of questions and don't be afraid to make requests or ask to change boats or guides. It's your holiday, enjoy it!
I was at SWV earlier this year and I'll go back again next year. The resort, food, personel are top notch fantastic. You pay for good service, and you get it.
We didn't have the best experience we could have with the dive center, so it has naturally formed our opinions of it to the negative. The next time we visit we'll be taking more advantage of the unlimited house reef diving, and spending less time on the boats.
The problems we had with the dive center were that we got grouped with japanese only dive boats (and dive masters) twice in a period of three days. We don't speak japanese, we are not japanese, and we weren't in Japan. So I think it's a little short sighted to hire so many dive guides that could only speak japanese and very little of any other language. At that time, there were four guides that spoke japanese and little or no other language.
I would recommend SWV and the Dive center 100% but be informed and ask lots of questions and don't be afraid to make requests or ask to change boats or guides. It's your holiday, enjoy it!
TheNitroxinator
Contributor
Underwaternet, in another thread you stated that SWV limits you to a 45 minute profile on the boat dives. Does anybody know if SMART does the same?
I was going to book with SWV, but, after finding out that SWV limits you to 6 AM to 6 PM for shore diving (and that's out by 6 according to their representative in an e-mail), and charges more, I was sold on switching over to SMART. If the boat dives are limited to 45 minutes, its just that much more of a negative. SMART has 7 AM to 7 PM shore diving, which should allow for doing a little bit of night diving, although I'd prefer that it go to 8 PM (an e-mail from SMART confirmed that 7 PM means out at 7). SMART also has air conditioned rooms, which may or may not be critical in March. I haven't read anybody specifying whether the DMs limit your dive time. I'd also be curious to know what the typical boat dive schedule is. Is it possible to get the 3 boat dives and do 2 reasonable length shore dives at Mabul? I'm currently figuring on 4 dives per day, but going halfway around the world to a place where I won't see the everyday Southern California stuff, I want to maximize my dive time.
I was going to book with SWV, but, after finding out that SWV limits you to 6 AM to 6 PM for shore diving (and that's out by 6 according to their representative in an e-mail), and charges more, I was sold on switching over to SMART. If the boat dives are limited to 45 minutes, its just that much more of a negative. SMART has 7 AM to 7 PM shore diving, which should allow for doing a little bit of night diving, although I'd prefer that it go to 8 PM (an e-mail from SMART confirmed that 7 PM means out at 7). SMART also has air conditioned rooms, which may or may not be critical in March. I haven't read anybody specifying whether the DMs limit your dive time. I'd also be curious to know what the typical boat dive schedule is. Is it possible to get the 3 boat dives and do 2 reasonable length shore dives at Mabul? I'm currently figuring on 4 dives per day, but going halfway around the world to a place where I won't see the everyday Southern California stuff, I want to maximize my dive time.
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