dfhage
New
Dear All,
I thought I would relate my experience of the PADI 5 Star dive centre at the Shandrani resort in Mauritius. I went with 3 other divers to the resort. 2 of the divers are only part qualified, myself an open water diver but with only a few dives under my belt. The fourth diver more experienced, but never in the Tropics.
Diving at the resort was free, on the day, after signing some paperwork, we were presented with our gear, and actively discouraged from inspecting it, because time was short. I noticed one of the high pressure hoses was quite perished at the joint, and 5 minutes later whilst being loaded on the boat the hose failed, with a loud bang. Not an encouraging start!
Once we arrived at the dive site, we were shooed off the boat, with a briefing I swear took 30 seconds and told me nothing about the site whatsoever. Bearing in mind that 2 of the party had never exited a boat before. I was told to wait for my buddy on the bottom, not something I have ever done before. After a wait of about 10 minutes I resurfaced to find one of the divers still trying to get their bouyancy sorted out. The dive master then took us round a reef in shallow water (8-10m) and proceeded to poke at fish in an alarming manner, which I found quite troubling.
This was not a dive holiday, and after the first day of diving I decided not to do any more with the dive centre as I felt my inexperience coupled with their cavalier attitude to safety did not make for comfortable or safe diving. All of my colleagues felt the same.
I wonder is this typical of a PADI dive centre, do they ever inspect these places on a regular basis, are there any standard written down? Clearly as the diving is free, they are cutting corners on maintenance and safety. I will be voicing my concerns to the resort and PADI.
On a more upbeat note Mauritius was a fantastic place, can anybody recommend any dive companies there?
Many thanks
David Hage
I thought I would relate my experience of the PADI 5 Star dive centre at the Shandrani resort in Mauritius. I went with 3 other divers to the resort. 2 of the divers are only part qualified, myself an open water diver but with only a few dives under my belt. The fourth diver more experienced, but never in the Tropics.
Diving at the resort was free, on the day, after signing some paperwork, we were presented with our gear, and actively discouraged from inspecting it, because time was short. I noticed one of the high pressure hoses was quite perished at the joint, and 5 minutes later whilst being loaded on the boat the hose failed, with a loud bang. Not an encouraging start!
Once we arrived at the dive site, we were shooed off the boat, with a briefing I swear took 30 seconds and told me nothing about the site whatsoever. Bearing in mind that 2 of the party had never exited a boat before. I was told to wait for my buddy on the bottom, not something I have ever done before. After a wait of about 10 minutes I resurfaced to find one of the divers still trying to get their bouyancy sorted out. The dive master then took us round a reef in shallow water (8-10m) and proceeded to poke at fish in an alarming manner, which I found quite troubling.
This was not a dive holiday, and after the first day of diving I decided not to do any more with the dive centre as I felt my inexperience coupled with their cavalier attitude to safety did not make for comfortable or safe diving. All of my colleagues felt the same.
I wonder is this typical of a PADI dive centre, do they ever inspect these places on a regular basis, are there any standard written down? Clearly as the diving is free, they are cutting corners on maintenance and safety. I will be voicing my concerns to the resort and PADI.
On a more upbeat note Mauritius was a fantastic place, can anybody recommend any dive companies there?
Many thanks
David Hage
