Socorro islands

[TheUWPhotographer.com]

Joe, I don't have anything against the Aggressor and yes, I do have a strong affinity with the Solmar V, having been on the boat many times. I have that same relationship with many live-aboards around the world. I'm not working for any undercover organizations, I don't have access to the files of the Mexican authorities, nor am I being coached by anyone. Nothing covert here. I just really love to work with quality operations, regardless of who they are, and will stand up for them when I see people post crap like this: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5786532-post49.html

You know as well as I do that neither one of us are privy to seeing the permits. We both also know that this isn't the first time the Baja Aggressor had problems with permits. They sold other trips to passengers to Guadalupe and Socorro when they didn't have all their permits in place. In one case the passengers were taken my another available boat and the Guadalupe charter got sent back to port. So I don't need to look at a piece if paper to determine something is not right here. They have also done a good job of making things right for those passengers who were affected by this.

You are certainly entitled to your opinions, but you chose to come on a public forum and accuse reputable operators of sabotage, in$inuate payoff$, and go on to quote people based on rumors, that you had absolutely no first hand knowledge of. Yes, you were there, listening to a bunch of people who were pissed off because they found them self in a bad situation again, looking for someone else to blame.

 

[Joe Burns]

To suggest that I am basing my conclusions on only listening to a bunch of pissed off people is to underestimate my diligence and intelligence. And frankly it mis-reads my posts. (and forgive me if I don't feel the need to repost links to quotes in an effort to make my assertions appear stronger as seems the vogue - late joiners to the discussion can simply navigate back...)

I'm sorry you don't like the conclusions I've drawn. I think they provide a useful perspective and discussion for a public forum where people go to research their options for dive travel. This discussion in particular has revealed a lot things that I would like to have understood better before I embarked on this trip.

I'm experienced enough to be able to read through threads and separate between people's personal opinions, and the noise made by people who "protesteth too much". I hope the rest of the forum has similar skills because the rhetoric on this thread could mislead less skilled readers.

 

[Shasta_man]

Thanks Wookie for those comments. Understood completely on the tight industry. Your comments about "what it's like to work in the wild blue yonder" were exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again for your time.

Commendations to you Joe for reasoned response where little was warranted and uncovering an oracle that needs no facts to make decisions. I appreciate and encourage comments like yours because I want to hear real experience and decide my own comfort level to make my own travel decisions. It's up to each reader to determine its validity and I want to see it because I can also separate fact from fiction or real concerns from what I can live with. Good luck with the future trip.

 

[oldladydiving]

Per my Feb. 19 post, my mistake about the names of the boats.NAUTLIS was our. I wrote that entry w/o looking at my log book. Very sorry.

 

[dweissnj]

We were on the Baja Aggressor Mar 4-12 charter and the permits were all in order. Of course we were concerned, having read about previous problems. Contacting Aggressor Fleet, we were told that the permit application was filed incorrectly that time.

We of course put in at the naval station in Socorro, and had no problems with the authorities.

There were plenty of other issues see : http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/5817424-post7.html

 

[divengolf]

Go read the post cited by dweissnj above on the Baja Aggressor. It is a first hand account of the problems they observed while on board. Liike I said earlier, you get what you pay for. While they may have solved their permit problems for now, they certainly have a host of other issues to deal with. And these issues severely degrade the diving experience for their customers IMO.

And if I were Aggressor corporate, I'd be all over this franchisee to bring their op up to Aggressor standards. This situation degardes the entire Aggressor name and brand.