Who to dive with in NC?

[SilverSurfer7]

Check out Cape Fear Divers. They have a pretty good web site.

 

[packman]

Angela, are you definitely going out on the weekend of July 15th or are you flexible? The reason I ask is that there are a group of us that will be going out with Cape Fear Divers the following weekend (the 22nd). All the wrecks we will be diving on will be less than 100 ft. Plus, with the wrecks we'll be diving, you might find something to take home...a trinket or a critter.

Come join us...it's going to be a blast!

 

[packman]

BTW, Cape Fear Divers' web site is capefeardivers.com. You can check out the upcoming trips and sign up for them online, too. Did I mention you should join us on the weekend of the 22nd?

 

[divematt]

The last time I drove out to Carolina Beach to dive with Cape Fear Divers (May 20 for a dive May 21st dive) I drove 500+ miles round trip, paid for a hotel, showed up at the boat at 7:00am to be told that they had no captain because he was sick. They had no available back up captain either. A whole dock full of boats and no one could arrange for a back up captain or two. And since then, I've received not one single email or phone call for an apology. The owner, Jim Conner wasn't at the boat that morning, just a divemaster.

What a shame they run a business that way. I could elaborate but it gets worse and I was upset enough.

I would try to dive with Aquatic Safaris, Spearit Dive Charters, or any of the others mentioned above further north of Carolina Beach.

Matt

 

[packman]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them. Have you tried to contact Jim since then?

 

[divematt]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them. Have you tried to contact Jim since then?

No,

Should I be the one to be trying to contact him?

I'm quite sure his divemaster let him know that we were there, ready to go diving, trucks full of gear, hotels and restaurants paid for, hundreds of miles driven and tanks of gasoline used up getting there and back! All we got was, "The captain is sick, he was sick yesterday but he thought he might feel better today"!!!! Do you think that maybe if you knew that, you might at least have a backup captain that was available? Do you think it might be helpful to tell everyone that his captain may not make it and we have no one else if he doesn't feel better? I drove 250+ miles one way to be the required 5th diver to send out a dive trip. I talked to Jim the day before and he said that he needed me to be the necessary minimum 5th diver to send out the boat otherwise they couldn't go. He didn't go out the 20th (Saturday) as he had only 2 guys signed up. (go figure)!
So I agreed to come all of the way up there by myself to be the minimum 5th diver so that the other 4 could go out as well.

Well, none of us went, and the divemaster said I don't know what Jim will do! I guess I took that as maybe we'd get a free trip or something like that for all of the wasted time and money spent.

I've had other problems with this dive op and I know some of you like them, but my experiences have not all been that great with them. Again, I will not elaborate here. I'm not trying to start anything. I'm just very disappointed with what I've seen on the boat, and with this trip, and with a couple of other things that I've heard from other divers about cancellations, refunds, bad weather cancellations etc. But that's another story that I'm not a part of and don't want to get into.

I even wanted to use the bunk house to save some hotel money as I came up there alone. Jim called the divemaster locally, and he said he didn't have a key. So how in heck are you supposed to offer the bunk house to us if no one local has a key. Just because Jim the owner from Raleigh wasn't going to come down and dive this trip, couldn't you leave a key there with someone? It's nuts to advertise on the web site that you have a bunk house and not have a key there with someone locally.

It's one thing to be blown out by bad weather, but no key locally for the bunk house, and no available back up captain at a dock with dozens of huge charter boats is just plain bad business.

It's just a shame as Jim the owner seemed nice as did the divemaster.

Now I've experienced it for myself and have learned my lesson.:shakehead

Sorry,
Matt

 

[Cape Fear Divers]

Matt, sorry you were disappointed. I was too. I don't know anything about the captain having been sick the day before. All i know is that i got a call that morning shortly before the charter was to leave from the captain saying he'd been up throwing up all night, and couldn't go. I called the divemaster, told him the situation, and asked him to meet the divers at the dock. I do have two back up captains, but i do not send the boat out with a back up captain unless i can be aboard. I could not that day.

This is the first time in a year and a half a charter had to be called for lack of a captain. Hope it never happens again.

I'm sorry about the long drive and hotel. Matt, please remember that you called me only as a back up for the charter you'd signed up with out of Topsail (Spear It) who had also cancelled on you, if i recall correctly. You kept me (and the other four divers) hanging for hours while you decided what to do about the other charter, which was having trouble deciding whether to go or something. I certainly did not intend for you to feel you needed to come so that we could make a charter. I run 5 person charters only as a courtesy to the divers--they rarely pay for the fuel and crew costs, much less the other expenses involved in running them. In any event, i spent a long time in several phone calls on Friday afternoon and evening with Matt, trying hard to help him find a way to go diving, a place to stay, etc, etc. Thought I was bending over backward to help a fellow diver on the day before the charter was scheduled to go out, who actually had planned to go out with a competitor. Sounds like i tried too hard, and should have simply said 'no' in the first place.

The key situation has been solved. The bunkhouse is a new thing for us, and that issue hadn't come up before.

Anyway, sorry you had a hard time that weekend, Matt. I would have been happy to help you out in some way if you had called or emailed me about it.

Jim

 

[SPEARIT]

I'm sorry about the long drive and hotel. Matt, please remember that you called me only as a back up for the charter you'd signed up with out of Topsail (Spear It) who had also cancelled on you, if i recall correctly. You kept me (and the other four divers) hanging for hours while you decided what to do about the other charter, which was having trouble deciding whether to go or something.

Mr. Conner
Since you have decided to drag me into your publicly aired dispute with this diver by stating assumptions made by you to be facts about me; I'd like to set the record straight.
Number One, you don't know me but I can guarantee you that I am anything but "indecisive", my trips for that weekend were cancelled early because of weather conditions. I contact my groups to inform them of possible weather problems early to attempt to prevent useless drives/motel costs. By the way, wasn't this trip scheduled for a Sunday instead of Saturday.
I've been around the dive business in this area for a long time now and seem to have a pretty fair reputation for running charters. I believe had this situation been reversed, I would have called you first to find out the details before just posting something on the internet.
Tom Collins

 

[divematt]

Matt, sorry you were disappointed. I was too. I don't know anything about the captain having been sick the day before. All i know is that i got a call that morning shortly before the charter was to leave from the captain saying he'd been up throwing up all night, and couldn't go. I called the divemaster, told him the situation, and asked him to meet the divers at the dock. I do have two back up captains, but i do not send the boat out with a back up captain unless i can be aboard. I could not that day.

This is the first time in a year and a half a charter had to be called for lack of a captain. Hope it never happens again.

I'm sorry about the long drive and hotel. Matt, please remember that you called me only as a back up for the charter you'd signed up with out of Topsail (Spear It) who had also cancelled on you, if i recall correctly. You kept me (and the other four divers) hanging for hours while you decided what to do about the other charter, which was having trouble deciding whether to go or something. I certainly did not intend for you to feel you needed to come so that we could make a charter. I run 5 person charters only as a courtesy to the divers--they rarely pay for the fuel and crew costs, much less the other expenses involved in running them. In any event, i spent a long time in several phone calls on Friday afternoon and evening with Matt, trying hard to help him find a way to go diving, a place to stay, etc, etc. Thought I was bending over backward to help a fellow diver on the day before the charter was scheduled to go out, who actually had planned to go out with a competitor. Sounds like i tried too hard, and should have simply said 'no' in the first place.

The key situation has been solved. The bunkhouse is a new thing for us, and that issue hadn't come up before.

Anyway, sorry you had a hard time that weekend, Matt. I would have been happy to help you out in some way if you had called or emailed me about it.

Jim

Jim,

I told you my previously booked dive was called due to weather conditions. I mentioned that I like those shark tooth dives and do them regularly. That dive was to go out 30 miles offshore and Tom called it long before I made a decision to drive all of the way out there. I admire a dive operator for doing that. I made that clear when we spoke. When I called you, you mentioned that you were going out to a near wreck, much closer than the 30 mile offshore trip and I understood that the dive could have been called due to weather also. With your large boat and the distance out that you'd be going, you felt it was worth the trip for me and you mentioned that you only had 4 guys signed up. If I had never called to dive, the other previously booked divers couldn't have gone correct? Was I not the 5th caller for this trip? My only problem is the fact that Kevin, your divemaster told us that your captain didn't feel good on Saturday either. Also, a back up captian that can't go out without you doesn't do any of us any good if the first captain doesn't show up. Also, Kevin said your back up captain was booked on another trip, he never said that you'd have to be there with him. What you are telling me here doesn't coincide with what Kevin told us that Sunday morning. I also would have liked to have heard something from you as Kevin had mentioned. I'm not looking for a handout, but an email or phone call would have gone a long way in making me a less disappointed customer.

Matt

 

[NCSCUBADOOBA]

packman,
we've actually moved up the trip to july 1st. we're going with aquatic safaris.
angela