Martin Duran

[Roooter]

Good luck, Narced!

I know that we've steered at least a few people away from Aqua World. I'm sure that you have too.

 

[divadiver]

I was interested to read both of your aqua world stories and thought I'd add my 2 cents worth....I dove with them on one day in Sept of 2000...scheduled in Cancun through the resort. I had to wait quite a while before a small boat took me to their main facility. Finally after an hour of waiting and being shifted from a cattle boat I was placed on a small boat with two other divers. The dive staff...who were a couple.... gave very little briefing of the dive sites and weren't particularily interested in anyone but each other. As a new diver on my first real open water dive I felt pretty neglected...now that I've logged over 60 dives I realize just how neglected I was!

The next day I showed up to do the full day trip to Cozemel at 6 am. After waiting 2 hours, I finally found out what the difficulty was....Hurricane Keith was possibly heading our way and they didn't know if the Cozemel port was closing. Finally they decided to send a boat out to do a local dive and were checking people in. I guess the seas were running 3 to 5 feet at that point. I asked one of the staff if he felt that an inexperienced diver should risk going out and he wouldn't give any answer. I then found another staff member who did say that although he couldn't advise me what to do, if it were him...he wouldn't want to be pounded by the surge and there would be nothing to see. I decided to dive another day...and was shocked to see a diver who had just been certified be talked into going out!

I had thought that maybe I just had a fluke experiece especially as they seem to be highly rated by Padi...now I realize my gut feelings about them were confirmed. Maybe they will get the message or other divers will...and they will clean up their act! I appreciate this forum for the advice received...thanks!

 

[Roooter]

the more I hear about Aqua World & their "customer service", the more worried I get. I would be curious to know how many incidents/accidents they've had. it seems to me that they take advantage of a newbie's inexperience to make a buck...& so what if you get hurt.

 

[AsylumDesign]

I've dove with Martin Duran several times over the last few years. If you can get in contact with him, you will be treated very well - and safely. He follows the rules but allows you the latitude to trust and follow your dive instincts.

Todd Cherniawsky, IDSA

 

[Roooter]

Thanks Todd!

I think we'll be contacting Martin when we return to the area in the spring of 2003.