Thanks B&B!!

[resumeman]

We just got back from an amazing week in Maui, where we did our Open Water check-out dives with B&B Scuba. It was a great experience with fantastic people and I just wanted to publicly say thanks.

Prior to our trip, my wonderful gal Beth struggled a bit with our OW certification attempt in Monterey CA. We knew that there was no way she was going to get certified in cold water. Fortunately we had a trip to Maui planned just a week later.

Based on some extensive Scubaboard forum searching, we were already booked to do 2 boat dives with B&B when we arrived, having expected to be already certified. After our Monterey misfire, we contacted them immediately, and they had no problem re-configuring our visit as referral dives.

The first day of the certification was not without a few hiccups, but we got through the first phase. Brad was great, at once calm and reassuring.

The second morning (a few days later due to some schedule limitations), we watched in horror as B&B was pulling their boat out of the water as we arrived. It had a leaky heat exchanger, and couldn't run that day. There was really no other time in which we could finish up on our vacation, so we were pretty alarmed.

Fortunately, Brad simply hooked us up with a day of shore diving at Makena Landing. This was kind of scary in itself, since we had identified the fact that Monterey was a shore dive as the biggest source of trouble the prior weekend. But, Makena was super-gentle, with the "surf zone" consisting of one 9-inch wave, and we were easily able to get in and out of the water with our lighter loads.

The final two checkouts went smooth as could be, and we had a nice long 45 minute dive on our second tank, even entering a "bubble cave" (with a pocket of fresh air inside) and saw as another diver got coated in octopus ink I'm ultimately glad that it worked out the way it did, since it got us past the generic concerns with "shore diving" per se, and focused the concerns on the specific issues we'd had. So I expect that we may shore dive again much sooner than we otherwise would have.

All in all, we had a great time and felt in good hands with B&B. We'd recommend them in a heartbeat, and will surely dive with them again when we return to Maui.

So -- thanks B&B!!

 

[kidspot]

Glad it went so well for you - Brad has a good presence about him that inspires confidence in his students, he makes you feel safe and ready to try something new at the same time.

Aloha, Tim

 

[divebri]

B&B is my new favorite op in Maui, having done several trips with them in January.
I watched Brad with a BOW student from above while I was there. The student was a young kid, maybe 14. His patience, his control of the student, positive reinforcement, and calmness was very evident, and the kid, although struggling with one particular skill, got through it after a few tries and became certified. Brad and Blesi and all the staff I dealt with are great. I hope that young man continues diving. He sure was excited about it, and his dad was on the boat and was excited too.
One of the mantras of dive shop owners is "would you trust this instructor with your loved ones?" and I can say that I absolutely would with Brad and Blesi.

They're a lot of fun for advanced divers to dive with, too. I'll be there again in June and am going to use them for my dives out of Kihei.

 

[DiveMaven]

Doesn't it feel great to find a dive op that you want to dive with again and again??

 

[Teamcasa]

First let me congratulate the two of you for sticking with it and becoming part of this great diver community.
My lovely bride struggled in the beginning but like Beth, she stuck to it and now is a very competent and safe diver. More importantly, stick with it.

Get in some more dives as soon as you can. Since certification, we make it a point to dive once a month. Nothing gets in the way of this commitment. We are very fortunate to live within striking distance of Catalina so a quick day trip there is easy. For you two, it’s more of a challenge. Join a local dive club or two, you will soon be in the water enjoying more of the undersea beauty!

Have fun and keep us posted.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

3 of my former students have been spending the past week on Maui diving with B&B. They are sending me taunting type of emails and I hate them for it but as always, those I send to B&B end up happy.