Dive Locker in PCB

[scubamiller]

That is too bad about your bad experience; I guess that since my wife and I both own our gear, we had no issues with ill fitting rental gear, or anything not working. We did our deep dive and wreck dive on a day with 4-5 foot seas also; I gotta say that the water is the best place to be when the seas get like that, being on the boat just makes the motion sickness worse. Day #2 had equally bad conditions, and the staff did cancel our boat dive and move up to Morrison's springs...a smart idea for the safety of their OW students/staff that were also scheduled for the boat that day.

I think dive shops probably have good days and bad, but it is all about expectations--my wife and I are both very self-reliant (as trained by the incredibly thorough instructors out of our LDS) and do not really expect a lot of attention from the staff elsewhere. Again, sorry if my recommendation mislead you, but circumstances being what they were/are, everyone came back in one piece & safe...so just another life-lesson learned?

 

[moosicman]

Not a good experience. To start things off, the shop ran out of equipment. I had to use a BCD that was one size too small, and they had to take one off the shelves for my buddy. They gave us piecemeal regulators that weren't completely functioning properly. .

To top things off, the seas were rough....probably too rough to go out....and some us got a little sea sick. Deckhand rushed everyone into the water, too.

Probably would not use this shop again.

A couple questions....

Did you call ahead and reserve letting them know you would need gear or just walk in?

Do you think maybe the deckhand was hurrying folks into the water because it would help with the sea-sickness/nausea issue? The quicker you get in, the sooner you'll feel better. That was probably for your benefit actually although you don't really go into much detail so that's hard to know.

 

[terrylowe]

RamblingManta, I gotta admit that I am biased as I am a Dive Locker fan. My family has gotten certified there and are quite comfortable diving now.

Had a few comments about your post though....

They took a new BC off of a shelf for your buddy? Really? Cool! How many dive shops would do that?
Good thing you could fit into the smaller one.

I am assuming that you dove Sat 25 and Sunday 26. I was out there on the 25th. The water was great. I didn't experience any waves bigger than three feet. Mostly in the twos though. I was in a much smaller boat that the Narcosis and am prone to getting seasick and didn't have a problem with Saturday's seas.

Sunday was a different story. Then tropical storm Isaac was starting to blow. We decided to not put the boat in the water. It was a very wise decision to NOT dive that day. Did you do anything different? Go to one of the springs? Tell you to finish up on another day?

If people were getting seasick, the dive masters try to get people into the water before it gets worse when the boat is not moving in forward direction. They will often have you get your gear on prior to your actually arriving at the site. Then the second that the boat is tied off....everyone in.

The most concerning thing you mentioned is piecemeal regulators that were not functioning properly. Would you expound on this? I just can't imagine any dive operation that would intentionally put someone in the water with a malfunctioning regulator.

Not a good experience. To start things off, the shop ran out of equipment. I had to use a BCD that was one size too small, and they had to take one off the shelves for my buddy. They gave us piecemeal regulators that weren't completely functioning properly. .

To top things off, the seas were rough....probably too rough to go out....and some us got a little sea sick. Deckhand rushed everyone into the water, too.

Probably would not use this shop again.

 

[RamblinManta]

We called ahead weeks in advance to reserve equipment so that shouldn't have been a problem. The BCD that they took off the shelf for my buddy was still one size too small, so it wasn't really doing us a big favor.

My buddy's regulator mouthpiece was missing part of the bite down piece. Every time he took in air, he said a little water got in.

Them rushing us into the water did have more to do with the seasickness, but it was almost too much. I barely had time to get by fins on before getting in. It may have been just one of those days where things just weren't going right for anyone. Whatever it was, it was enough for me to consider another shop the next time I dive in PCB.

 

[RamblinManta]

Terrylowe -

Our trip was actually in July, not August. The Gulf was pretty rough the day we went out. I did the first dive to 100 ft that day, but I ended it after about 12 minutes since I just wasnt feeling it. Coming back up the anchor line was a chore. The boat was rocking so much that it was hard to even do the safety stops while holding on to the line.

It's too bad that my trip went the way it did. I was really looking forward to diving the Black Bart on dive #2.

 

[terrylowe]

Terrylowe -

Our trip was actually in July, not August. The Gulf was pretty rough the day we went out. I did the first dive to 100 ft that day, but I ended it after about 12 minutes since I just wasnt feeling it. Coming back up the anchor line was a chore. The boat was rocking so much that it was hard to even do the safety stops while holding on to the line.

It's too bad that my trip went the way it did. I was really looking forward to diving the Black Bart on dive #2.

Ah...gotcha.

 

[captain]

Great shop.

 

[PatMyGreen]

I use Trip Advisor when I go out of town to plan all my adventures and accommodations, it hasn't steered me wrong yet on places to stay, eat or experience. But google reviews are good too.