Oh man... AquaWorld... caution

[IchiroBoston]

Hi Everyone,

Im new to this forum but thought this important enough.
Usually im happy and "HI" but this is kind of serious.

1. Equipment (BCD, Tanks, 1st Stage, and regulators were all in VERY poor condition) One of our friends (a certified diver with over 70 dives, this is the 1st time he has ever experienced this problem) equipment failed, not just the main regulator but at the tank valve area itself. It was not the Tank but a VERY dirty 1st stage. Both regulators failed and the pressure gauges showed very little PSI and moved while breathing. He was fortunately close to my wife so he was able to grab her 2nd regulator and they both surfaced. This cut their dive short.
The Dive master did not apologize or help any bit. Even after the dive none of the crew gave a damn, all they did was replace the unit and that was it. My friend was having some headaches because he surfaced a bit too fast but of course none of the Crew cared. This dive was on May 6h, 2006

Fortunately My Wife and Friend are both certified so they were able to stay calm and surface, but if this happened to anyone of our other friends (Resort divers) it could have ended very badly.

2. On another dive two of our BCD's failed, I had to repair mine by myself while under water. My friends was so damaged she had to get assistance by another diver because she could not stay afloat. She did the Resort Diving cert and this was her 1st dive! This dive was on May 3th 2006. And again, NO one from the Crew or AquaWorld gave a damn about us.

3. Our dive on May 6h, 2006 was in a "cliff" area (Los Palmas, Cozumel), most of us were flying within a day and some of us were also resort divers anyways so we were not certified for anything below 10m. I noticed that I did not have a depth gauge so I asked to replace my gauge. They gave me a new depth gauge (I reset the max setting knob).
After surfacing I noticed that we maxed out at 65 feet (19.82m)!!!!! We were following the Dive master the whole time!!

Again the crew on the boat did not apologize or help our friends that were in distress.

Both my wife and I have done 7 tank dives with AquaWorld and will never deal with AquaWorld Because of the poor equipment supplied to us. I don't feel safe with AquaWorld and will never refer AquaWorld to anyone.

I hope ANYONE thinking of diving with them seriously think twice about it.

I have notified AquaWorld (but of course have not gotten any reply from them) but I also notified PADI about this. PADI has replied to me (very quickly).

Thanks for reading my post. And I hope this helps

 

[scubawife]

There are so many dive operators in Cozumel. If you didn't feel safe or comfortable with this one, then why did you continue diving with them? I have no experience with this operator, but I don't think any shop intentionally puts divers in danger by renting bad equipment. It wouldn't make any sense from a business standpoint.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I've had nothing but great dives in Cozumel and elsewhere in Mexico. If you do go back to Cozumel and want to dive, do some research in advance and select a dive shop that has lots of positive feedback and you will have a safe enjoyable trip.

Next time you dive, keep in mind that it's important to always check you gear (rental or your own) pre-dive and make sure everything is in working order. The resort divers may not have known to do that, but the certified divers should be aware of pre-dive procedures. Visually inspect your gear. Turn on the tank and check the pressure guage, reg and octo, BCD inflator, etc. If there were problems with the rental equipment at this point you could have tried a different set of gear and avoided some of the underwater problems that ended the dives.

During the dive, the diver should be regularly checking their gauges. The DM is sort of like and underwater tour guide. They will guide you through the best parts of the site and point out interesting things to see. With a group divers at different experience levels they want to provide a dive that will be interesting and challenging enough for the more advanced divers and still be comfortable for the new divers. It is up to the individual diver to monitor their own limits. DM's usually will tell you in the dive briefing what the max depth of the dive will be, and that they don't want divers ahead of them or below them. I haven't seen a DM yet who's gotten upset at a diver who stayed a bit shallower then the DM, as long as he/she could always have visual contact and the diver returned an "ok" sign when asked.

 

[IchiroBoston]

I understand what your saying, last year they were very good.
All of their equipment was in very good shape, everyone was surpised how bad it was this time. This also was a beginner trip, we had people have had never dived before so they dont even know how the equipment works 100%. They only got a 1hr Pool course by PADI. AquaWorld knew this and need to make sure things are perfect.

I was able to check but there was some trust in their operation. The other company we dived with was almost over cautious, even "not perfect" seal botherered them.

 

[ScubaDivaDivemaster]

Definitely check out several places to dive with. You did the right thing by contacting management and contacting PADI. They need to make sure they are following safe procedures, for you and anyone else using their services.

There are many places that run so many divers through they don't check and service their gear regularly. That is sad, but true. I won't rent gear anywhere except from my LDS, even when I'm flying to a distant location. I know they service it and check it regularly, they go over everything with me and test it when I pick it up. I carry my reg on the plane and I know how it is handled. (Now I actually own all my own equipment, but I would still rent my gear locally and carry it). The resorts and dive shops in distant lands are not always able to handle the number of people they are expected to deal with, unfortunately the equipment suffers, and so do their customers.

Glad nothing worse happened and no one was seriously hurt.

Happy diving!

 

[talonraid]

Hey,

No offense, but I would encourage folks not to bash AquaWorld or draw any more conclusions until they (Aquaworld) have a chance to respond. Or, perhaps one of the other dive operators down there who know this Op might respond.

IchiroBoston, I'm not saying your story is not true. Don't panic or get offended. I'm just saying I have read other threads like this one, where ten or so pages later everyone comes to the conclusion that the original story was not quite right.
Read the "lost at sea in cozumel" thread in the Accidents and Incidents forum. It just sounds like an awful lot went wrong in a very short amount of time.

After surfacing I noticed that we maxed out at 65 feet (19.82m)!!!!! We were following the Dive master the whole time!!

Also, we all make mistakes, but ultimately you are responsible for your own actions....as a certified diver the DM is not there to teach you to dive. It's your responsibility. I await the spears I know will come.

 

[timetraveler]

I had a bad experience with AquaWorld too. It was several years ago. On my first dive with them in Cancun, they rented me a broken depth gauge. On my second dive with them in Cozumel, the rental equipment was fine but the captain started the boat and headed for shore while divers were still in the water trying to climb up the ladder.

 

[Christi]

The OP cross-posted this in two SB forums.

My issue with this is that the OP seems to be on a mission to trash Aqua World and takes absolutely no personal responsibility for anything here. He indicates that he contacted Aqua World, but my question is did he attempt to speak to management immediately after the dives? Did he even give them a chance to compensate him or provide any explanations.

I am not for or against Aqua World, but I don't support these tirades without making reasonable attempts to resolve your issues with whoever the service provider is. They cannot "fix" or "make good" on a problem if they are not aware of how you feel or what happened.

Aqua World is one of the largest dive operators in the region and is a PADI 5 star and IDC facility, which means they have high standards to maintain. They are a high volume operation and not known for a "personalized" experience. If that was what you were expecting, then I have to blame you for not doing your research.

Here is the other thread with the same original post.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=142614

 

[timetraveler]

Aqua World is one of the largest dive operators in the region and is a PADI 5 star and IDC facility, which means they have high standards to maintain. They are a high volume operation and not known for a "personalized" experience. If that was what you were expecting, then I have to blame you for not doing your research.[/url]

Where did I say that I was expecting a "personalized" experience? I was not. But even if I were, that would not have relieved AquaWorld of the responsibility for safe rental equipment and safe boating practices.

 

[Christi]

Where did I say that I was expecting a "personalized" experience? I was not. But even if I were, that would not have relieved AquaWorld of the responsibility for safe rental equipment and safe boating practices.

I don't believe you were the OP (original poster) were you? I didn't address your post at all as a matter of fact.

I also didn't claim that they were exempt from the obligation to provide safe equipment and boating practices.

 

[Rafael]

Christi i have to agree with you, i dove Aquaworld a few times before, and as you mention they are the biggest operator in the Cancun area, and for that reason i decide not to dive with them anymore, but if something Aquaworld does well is Costumer service, they were always nice to me, helped me out as much as they could, in my case i do not like anyone setting up my gear, which i own so i can speak for their rentals, but as we all now or at least we should know, the gear use for rentals take a lot of misstreatment from divers, since is not their own they do not care or just by no being familiar with it they punish it to the limit, now do you think after taking groups of 15 divers at the time they are coming back tothe dock and test every regulator, Bc's, hoses... befor they rented again, maybe no, so is your responsability as a diver to check the gear before you get in the water, i check mine every time and that is mine, i treat it right, but you never know so CHECK YOUR GEAR!!! is your life support underwater.

Now IchiroBoston, i do not think is a need for you to post this more than once i'm sorry you had a bad experience but remember less is more, if you posted the same thing in several forums you are risking your credibility.

Please contact Aquaworld, mention what happen to them, i never contacted aquaworld with a complaint, but last year i sent a couple E-mails, and they responded in two days, i know it sounds like a long time but it was right after Hurricane Wilma, they were very nice, and i'm sure they will be nice with you too.

Other advice for you will be use the smaller operators if you are not sure you are good enought to flight solo go out in small charters with a DM, that will help you to build up confidence, since you are in Boston, take some charters here, if you become a good diver in the north atlantic you will do very well in the caribe.

Take care.