I just completed a five day dive trip to La Parguera with some friends. This has been my sixth or seventh trip to La Parguera and it has become sort of a yearly pilgrimage. Based on a friend's suggestion, we decided to try West Divers (Scuba Diving in La Parguera, Puerto Rico) again. I had sent an e-mail to West Divers using the address on its web site. I received a response within a few days and placed my reservation with Marilyn. I did have to call her to provide my credit card information.
In addition to its store near the end of Route 304 in town, West Divers now has a dockside office behind Parador Posada Porlamar. It is the office that used to be used by Parguera Divers years ago. We were told to go to the dockside office at 7:30 each day.
So, we showed up at 7:30 and met our dive leader, Bam Bam (his actual name is Eliel Ramos) and the boat captain Miguel. Bam Bam has logged over 4500 dives and has been diving for years. We were asked to fill out paperwork with certification information, contact information, insurance information...all the standard stuff. On subsequent days, we just had to put our names down as well as our signatures and date. We then received a safety briefing on the vessel per Coast Guard regulations. The thing that was different with Bam Bam is that when he gives his safety briefing, you can tell he cares. It's not mundane to him. He really wants you to be safe.
We then boarded the boat and headed out to the dive sites. The first site was usually a wall dive and the second was somewhat closer and more shallow. Dive times averaged 40 minutes. Normally, I would consider this short, but we had a few days of strong currents and high waves so I burned through my air faster and needed to come up. December is usually a very calm month so this was a bit surprising. No matter how much you plan, you can't plan the weather.
On our final day, we had two boats come out because we had a larger group of divers. I decided not to go down on these dives and stay on the boat because the waves were a bit to strong for me. After the second dive, we had a bit of a surprise...we couldn't start the boat. The second boat had to tow us back to the dock. This added about another hour to the trip. Why am I mentioning this? Because sometimes things happen no matter how much preparation everyone makes. What really matters is how the shop handles a problem when it arises and I feel Bam Bam and West Divers handled this very well.
After we made it back to shore, I gathered my belongings and went to the main dive shop on Route 304 to settle my bill. I asked the woman at the store if I had to pay for the last day of diving since I couldn't dive. She called the owner who said it was no problem.
I had a great time. I was very happy with the operation and extremely happy with Bam Bam and Miguel.
In addition to its store near the end of Route 304 in town, West Divers now has a dockside office behind Parador Posada Porlamar. It is the office that used to be used by Parguera Divers years ago. We were told to go to the dockside office at 7:30 each day.
So, we showed up at 7:30 and met our dive leader, Bam Bam (his actual name is Eliel Ramos) and the boat captain Miguel. Bam Bam has logged over 4500 dives and has been diving for years. We were asked to fill out paperwork with certification information, contact information, insurance information...all the standard stuff. On subsequent days, we just had to put our names down as well as our signatures and date. We then received a safety briefing on the vessel per Coast Guard regulations. The thing that was different with Bam Bam is that when he gives his safety briefing, you can tell he cares. It's not mundane to him. He really wants you to be safe.
We then boarded the boat and headed out to the dive sites. The first site was usually a wall dive and the second was somewhat closer and more shallow. Dive times averaged 40 minutes. Normally, I would consider this short, but we had a few days of strong currents and high waves so I burned through my air faster and needed to come up. December is usually a very calm month so this was a bit surprising. No matter how much you plan, you can't plan the weather.
On our final day, we had two boats come out because we had a larger group of divers. I decided not to go down on these dives and stay on the boat because the waves were a bit to strong for me. After the second dive, we had a bit of a surprise...we couldn't start the boat. The second boat had to tow us back to the dock. This added about another hour to the trip. Why am I mentioning this? Because sometimes things happen no matter how much preparation everyone makes. What really matters is how the shop handles a problem when it arises and I feel Bam Bam and West Divers handled this very well.
After we made it back to shore, I gathered my belongings and went to the main dive shop on Route 304 to settle my bill. I asked the woman at the store if I had to pay for the last day of diving since I couldn't dive. She called the owner who said it was no problem.
I had a great time. I was very happy with the operation and extremely happy with Bam Bam and Miguel.
