Captain Lost Our Group

[Brules]

Wow 55 minutes is definitely too long.......I am pretty shocked over that. I floated for 20 min but the boat was picking up the other people in my group lol.....

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience! It isn't always like that lol!

 

[Billiken1]

Christi,
I just saw your post and thank you for the apology. I'm glad you have all the confirmations of emails and calls even though you told me on Friday morning you hadn't received my messages. This wasn't about asking for a refund, although I appreciate the gesture. As I said, Miguel was great and handled the situation very well. As you know, this was our first time in Cozumel, so the experience was just a little disappointing. No one at the hotel told us you came by and we had no indication you were trying to reach us. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the apology and look forward to speaking with you.

 

[Christi]

Correct, I told you that I did not receive an e-mail from you Thursday night, only the message from you and the message a few minutes later from the B & B owner. I know you were not asking for a refund, but I could not possibly expect for you to pay for such a horrible experience! I will call you in the next 30 minutes.

 

[scubawife]

In all my Cozumel trips and plenty of dives, I've never been on the surface more than 5 minutes, and never heard personally from another diver who waited more than 10 for their boat. Being left for almost an hour is definitely not a regular occurrence in Cozumel, no matter which dive operator you go with.

Communication... in this day and age of the internet, texting, cell phones, etc., etc., I think a lot of us have come to expect instant response to every contact we make anywhere for anything, and for some people, if they don't get it, they see that as poor communication. I don't think waiting a day or two to hear back from someone is unreasonable, especially when you're dealing with a small business that doesn't have a dedicated admin or customer service person.

If I had been left for almost an hour after a dive, and it was my first experience with a shop, yup, I'd be pretty upset and angry about it. If I didn't have the owner (or in some cases at least the manager, if there is one), make contact with me within 24 hrs to acknowledge what happened and hear what they were going to do to compensate me, I'd be contacting them. Signing up on a forum and using my first post to slam them publicly, that would not be how I would approach the situation, but to each their own. Maybe as a very last resort if I exhausted all my options.

Kudos to the divemaster for doing a great job and keeping everyone together, calm and safe. Kudos to the shop for refunding you immediately after hearing what happened from their staff, and for trying to make contact with you. I don't know where you were staying but it sounds like leaving a message at the desk wasn't an option?

If this was my first Cozumel diving experience, it would probably be awhile, if at all, before I went back again. I've had a couple pretty crappy experiences elsewhere and they are places I liked enough that I will go back, but I'll use a different dive shop. With diving, if you do it enough, eventually you will have gear problems and a few less than stellar experiences. I hope the new diver in your group enjoyed the diving enough to get past the experience that happened after the dive and not be scared off. Glad it all ended well, everyone made it back safe and sound, and hopefully you went on to enjoy the rest of your stay in Cozumel.

 

[cvchief]

Well, I think we have fair trip report and good response from Christi making it as right as she can. It seems to clear the air nicely. It seems the facts are not particularly in dispute. It also shows how Christi runs her OP and I think it speaks well of her. I don't think we need to pick on the Billiken1 for putting it out there.

As a side note, Brules, mine is that big.....:shocked2:

 

[nimoh]

55 minutes is a long time, and it sounds like the captain was responsible, glad to hear that everything worked out.

However, things can happen on a drift dive, such as a mechanical failure on the boat, separation from your SMB carrying DM. All divers regardless of experience should be prepared for it. On any open ocean dive, I carry an SMB, a signal mirror and a whistle. Yes, I don't know that the whistle is all that useful for getting a boat's attention, but I carry it anyway.

Also, for the diver that couldn't establish buoyancy due to a leaking BC, were their weights dropped?

 

[Dan Kom]

Hello All,

I am the owner of the hotel where the guests were staying for 3 nights. When they arrived in the late afternoon, one of the first things they wanted to do was to try and contact the Dive Operator as they did not know where to go to be picked up. They used our phone twice to call and left a msg. I then later called and left a msg. The following day, they said that they reached the Dive Operator and was told that no msg was received. They said that all was good and had the pier in which to meet for the afternoon dive.

When they returned to the hotel later that evening, I could tell something was not right. The young lady was visibly shaken up. After hearing that they were left by the boat and later swam to shore, i thought they were joking. Another diver who was staying with us, could not believe what had happened either.

When they left our establishment, they still were not contacted by the Dive Operator. I also just spoke with my maid, who is very reliable in passing on information to me, advised me that no-one came by to ask for me nor the guests.

I am not here to lay blame, nor pass judgment on what occurred. I am here on the record to explain what I witnessed. This was a very bad experience for both parties. I am also greatful that no-one was injured during this whole ordeal.

 

[ReefHound]

Communication... in this day and age of the internet, texting, cell phones, etc., etc., I think a lot of us have come to expect instant response to every contact we make anywhere for anything, and for some people, if they don't get it, they see that as poor communication. I don't think waiting a day or two to hear back from someone is unreasonable, especially when you're dealing with a small business that doesn't have a dedicated admin or customer service person.

In general throughout Mexico it seems things operate on a less rushed, more informal basis whereas we Americans have come to expect instant response with every detail nailed down and triple confirmed.

 

[Brules]

As a side note, Brules, mine is that big.....:shocked2:

LOL!I bet it takes a while to pump it up! :dropmouth:

 

[Christi]

I have spoken with Billiken and have made things as right as I possibly can - we had a very pleasant conversation (other than the topic of course). I asked Billiken to send me an e-mail with his account of what happened (which I have already received) and also have written reports from both Divemasters on board so that I can present this to the labor board. Yes, it was a horrible experience and trust me when I say how mortified I was to hear of this incident.

This captain was put on immediate suspension and I am in the process of going through the legal process of terminating him permanently, but he has not and will not be on my boats again - I can assure everyone of that. I can also assure everyone that my 1st Captain Nibardo a/k/a Nivo is a very experienced, professional and responsible Captain. Unfortunatley, he had he afternoon off Friday but I am confident that this would not have happened had he been working that day.

Dan, I assure you that I went by the hotel Saturday morning and as I mentioned above, I did receive one phone message from Steve and one from you Thursday evening when I returned from dinner after 10pm, but I did not receive an e-mail that evening which is what I was referring to when I said I had not received the message. I am sorry that I was not in the office after 6pm, and as you know, running a small business requires me to wear many hats, so I am not online or in the office 24/7 - I am in and out all the time as I am sure you are. Thursday afternoon, I met a diver at Casa Mexicana and then had dinner with my other divers and it was after 10pm when I got the messages, so I did not return the call Thursday night. Friday morning, I had just gotten into the office from meeting divers at the pier when Steve called and I was planning to call him within minutes of him calling, he simply beat me to the call.

Again, my sincerest apologies and assurances that this will not be a repeated incident!