- I tried this dive shop in Gili Trawangan for DSD, but dont want to continue with them for OW
- On my 1st visit to the shop on the mainland I was completely ignored !
- On my 2nd visit I found the sales people to be too pushy ! And they wanted to charge me for the boat trip to the island where the diving takes place.
- When I got to the island despite my gut instinct of not using this dive shop, I went in and had a long chat with the manager of the dive shop, and she convinced me that it would be a safe and a nice experience. I did explain to her that I am very nervous about diving and I would need someone experienced.
- When I booked DSD, I was assigned an instructor with 15 years of experience and when I turned up the next morning I was given the instructor who has been teaching for only 1 year !. No explanation whatsoever I was just told that the instructor who was assigned originally had to do some other stuff !!!
- ****Warning*** It was not very reassuring when the instructor said that he dived 42 meters on a previous occasion when he knew he was out of air ! (apparently he thought it would be a good idea to buddy breath with his girlfriend)
- Towards the end of my first open water dive I panicked ! (later reading the book and watching the video I figured out that this was probably due to over exhaustion )
- I was too exhausted after the end of the first day (DSD pool session and open dive + 30 laps in the pool , for OW + floating 15 mins for OW + 3 chapters of the book + 3 sections of DVD + 3 knowledge review Instructor was watching porn on his laptop while I was doing my self study vids, reviews and stuff, which I thought was nice)
- I turned up on the 2nd day still feeling very tired and asked the instructor maybe we could schedule it so that I will have time to recover. His response was if you take a day off today you will have to do 3 dives tomorrow !!!
- 3 dives in one day (when I just had 1 dive under my belt and panicked at the end of that single dive), so that the instructor can teach more students and dive shop can get more money. I was told in no uncertain terms that this was a business so you have to do 3 dives the next to complete my OW.
- I made it clear to the instructor and the manager that while money was their priority safety was my primary concern and that I will NOT do 3 dives in one day with my limited experience and that I will NOT dive when I am physically exhausted !
- Other issues
- The PADI manual they used is an old 2008 book, I have the 2010 version ! Which i've read 5 times, so I had to use my own book for the knowledge reivew.
- Malfunctioning DVDs (probably outdated) and DVD players
- The PADI manual they used is an old 2008 book, I have the 2010 version ! Which i've read 5 times, so I had to use my own book for the knowledge reivew.
- On my 1st visit to the shop on the mainland I was completely ignored !