The Truth about Dive Paradise and the ScubaBoard Invasion

[Aggiebq86]

I absolutely enjoyed my time with the group. One comment earlier caught my attention regarding diving with 100 people. If there had been 100 people at the dive site, I would have been upset. If there had been 30 people on the boat I would have been upset. Fortunately, neither one of these happened. At most we had 16 divers on a boat and 8 people in a dive group. Once we were in the water, I didn't see anyone except my 8 man dive group until we surfaced.

During our time on land you could spend as much or as little time with the rest of the invasion crew. That statement was reinforced whenever we had a get together. It was up to us to decide who we saw and what we did. I had a great time sitting around the pool with several different people that I only knew as Texas Torpedo, Scuba Jenny, Lowvizwiz, and Pansiren to name a few. Some nights we went into town for dinner and other nights we ate at Hotel Cozumel. Some nights we went into town for dinner as a group of 6 other times it was just 3 and a few nights it was just 2 of us. Unfortunately there were some I didn't really get a chance to talk with other than when we were on the boat. But, I guess that means we will have to see each other this next year.

 

[Brules]

Wow - what a bunch of senseless hating going on - by someone who didn't even go on the trip!

Wheres the dis-like" button when you need it.......

 

[driftin' by]

Just about any group of 10 or more includes the same package for free to someone, usually the organizer. To the service provider, it's considered advertising... and damn good advertising at that. Hell, my dentist gives me free teeth whitening if I refer 3 patients. DirecTV gives me $100 for every friend I refer. My employer gives me $500 for every candidate I refer that they hire. Everyone does it and should never be held against anybody that takes the fringe. Lol, I don't think you can give it back to service provider? It's pretty much there for the taking. Would it make any sense to let it go unused? If the deal is good and the organizer gets something out of it, good for him/her... it's no skin off my back.

I hope that's not at all the case. I figured they organized it because they wanted to, not because they were getting something out of it.

:hatin:

Cool. I'll start planning right away. How does next May sound? We can call it "Scubaboard Incursion 2012".

Rats! I looks like I'll be washing my hair for your event... whenever that is.

But if 3 is a crowd, 100 is definitely a crowd. No thank you. Nothing personal, but you can pay cardzard and ROXANNE all you want for them to run huge group trips, I'll do my own thing and have a fine time.

You're contradicting yourself... and it smells like crap too!

Now would I be up to organizing an event for 100+ divers without remuneration? Sure, I'd love to. In fact, I know a few TAs that would love to organize it. Wanna help me get started?

 

[LowVizWiz]

Once we were in the water, I didn't see anyone except my 8 man dive group until we surfaced.

I'm sorry for you, when I was underwater I only saw the 4 beautiful women diving with us. PDT#8!

It was great hanging with you.

 

[cardzard]

PRECISION DIVE TEAM #8
What happens in COZ stays in COZ!!!!

This is how legends are made

 

[scubafanatic]

Boy oh boy! The saying no good deed goes unpunished sure does apply.

I just find it so sad (this is my opinion only)that others are so miserable with themselves that they feel the need to tear things apart. Shame on you, but again that's what ScubaBoard is all about! The free internet forum to voice your opinion, toot your own horn, dis a dive op or host a great trip for those who wish to meet with old friends, make new friends and enjoy a great sport. Carry on!

I'm not sure I'd characterize mfinley's in-person report about the dive ops as tearing things apart. While I couldn't care less about who is making how much $/perks off this trip (as I expect trip organizers to make profits/perks on all my other trips where I employ their services, so why should this trip be treated differently on that front) I DO care about potential false advertising, meaning a substantial disconnect between the organizer's statements of how the dive operates versu the REAL way it operated based on divers who attended the prior trip...that's deceptive and I'd be very upset if that contradiction between advertising and reality jacked up my trip!

 

[ROXANNE]

I'm not sure I'd characterize mfinley's in-person report about the dive ops as tearing things apart. While I couldn't care less about who is making how much $/perks off this trip (as I expect trip organizers to make profits/perks on all my other trips where I employ their services, so why should this trip be treated differently on that front)

I'm sorry if you misunderstood that I was referring to this post and this person.

Go to groups.google.com and search for "dive with greg" (include the quotes) and count the number of posts on the various threads related to these monumental events. Your piddly "invasion" pales in comparison even with the full resources of the might Scubaboard and all its advertising sponsors behind you. Out of how many thousands of Scubaboard members, you only got 90 something to show and that's including the organizers?

Viva la free internet and the spirit of volunteerism!

An example of grass roots at its best:
rec.scuba | Google Groups

Boy oh boy! The saying no good deed goes unpunished sure does apply.

I just find it so sad (this is my opinion only) that others are so miserable with themselves that they feel the need to tear things apart. Shame on you, but again that's what ScubaBoard is all about! The free internet forum to voice your opinion, toot your own horn, dis a dive op or host a great trip for those who wish to meet with old friends, make new friends and enjoy a great sport. Carry on!

I was NOT referring to mfinley919 post in any way. We welcomed any opinion from the members who ATTENDED last years event to make this years event better.

We did our best to make it possible for as many members as possible to have time together with different members by rotating the groups of 8. We also tried to have the smaller boat in the rotation for as many as we could also. We will be incorporating more boats into the mix this year as we know better as to how things work and what can be managed so everyone has a wonderful experience. Just as we are trying to add and improve on the experience in other ways incorporating feedback from the group last year.

I DO care about potential false advertising, meaning a substantial disconnect between the organizer's statements of how the dive operates versu the REAL way it operated based on divers who attended the prior trip...that's deceptive and I'd be very upset if that contradiction between advertising and reality jacked up my trip!

mfinley919 posted this after his other post to help clarify, but I don't wish to speak for him.

"New" meant new people, not necessarily newbie diver, just a new group that you haven't dived with yet. "dived" really means shared a boat ride. Two groups of 8 on the boat for a total of 16 all together. You splashed with your group of 8 every day, and the other new group of 8 splashed with their DM.



This was wrong on my part. I checked my log book and there was a small boat on rotation, we were on it on Wed. Just want to clear that up, they did have a small boat in the rotation, my mistake.

If the trip sounds like fun for anyone, then attend.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/invade-cozumel-2012/396102-invade-cozumel-2012-package-deal.html
If it's not your idea of fun, then don't.

 

[The Chairman]

If the trip sounds like fun for anyone, then attend.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/invade-cozumel-2012/396102-invade-cozumel-2012-package-deal.html
If it's not your idea of fun, then don't.

Consider me THERE. I'll bring some extra supplies with me for LowVisWiz!

 

[LowVizWiz]

Hey Pete, can you include bigger coolers in those supplies? You're going to need them to carry the excess haterade.

Move on people, nothing to see here! Life is too short.

 

[cardzard]

You just need to FOKUS!!!!!!!! :shocked2: