I really do not understand why this thread has turned into an Aggressor bashing thread as that was not my intent. I do appreciate feedback good or bad but after staying on this boat during the week of 6-12 Aug I did not experience the terrible trip that Ilikeair did. I will try to give my opinion of Ilikeair’s complaints but again they are just my opinion.
Ilikeair stated that “I have never seen such disregard for environmental and basic diving safety procedures from a dive crew in my life.”
I can only answer this statement by first saying that I am truly sorry you felt that way. My wife and I did not see this from the crew, they were very professional. Upon first set-up of our gear those that did not have safety sausages and power whistle got them issued. They also issued emergency locators to buddy pairs, they did have enough for all but as my wife and I were not worried about being separated and she didn’t want anything extra on her BCD I wore the thing. The safety/dive briefings were top-notch in my book with the crew going to great detail explaining the dive site, currents, and plan. Not even once did I feel uncomfortable.
Ilikeair, “the most amazing thing to me was the complete disregard of the buddy system by the Aggressor II staff and also the disregard of basic environmental preservation practices.”
I am of the opinion that diving with a buddy should be a personnel choice not something that the crew should enforce. I usually dive with my wife as she already understands my diving habits and how to dive with someone who is taking pictures. I would even say that if I for some reason couldn’t dive with my wife I would rater dive solo, (depending on conditions) than dive with an insta-buddy. As for environmental preservation you make it sound like the staff are the ones killing the coral. I never witnessed any of the Aggressor staff touching the live coral or with anything other than an excellent horizontal profile. What I did see were poor dive profiles by many of the guest with equipment dangling around. My suggestion to you if saving the environment is your thing, become an instructor teach people proper diving technique and you will save many reefs. Come to Scubaboard and complain, nothing is solved.
Ilikeair, “Now I believe that all divers are responsible for their own safety and safety of their buddy, but to have a dive operation that knows that their customers are basically diving in an unsafe way that goes against every scuba diving organization in the world and does not care enough to say one word, is irresponsible and actually criminally negligent.”
I do not feel that the diving I did in Palau with the Aggressor was any more unsafe than diving I have done at any location. The drift diving does add another element that some may not be used to but if you practice safe diving, stay with your buddy and use all of the safety devices as needed your chances of survival are pretty good. For you to say that their way of diving goes against every scuba diving org in the world I can only assume that you are an expert on all certifying agencies. What are your credentials? I would assume that you can not know everything about every agency, I could be wrong; there are some people in this world who know everything about everything you may be one of them.
Why would you state criminally negligent? Are you also an attorney? To me that sounds like possible slander but that’s just my opinion.
The reef-hook issue. Yes it is very simple to use by a diver with some experience. I can see how it might be quite hard to use by a diver with little or no experience which is the category that I assume you are in, not a bad thing , keep diving. I just don’t think that making the general statement about reef-hooks is the best thing to do. I have only used it in Palau but neither I nor my wife had any problems. I do agree with you that the hooks cause coral damage and yes most of the coral on the Blue Corner plateau is dead and you are right to state that if this practice does not stop it will kill more coral. But it has been stated before that Blue Corner is the signature dive in Palau. If you, I, and everyone on Scuba Board told everyone that we knew and they did the same you would not be able to stop people from diving there. To this day it is a breathtaking dive and I suspect that it will always be. The attraction there is not the plateau itself but the abundance of sea-life that lives by the currents up and down the wall. I am an advocate for environmental conservation but Palau has miles and miles of beautiful living coral and I just don’t believe you will ever get people to stop diving this popular spot.
I have to address this mold problem. Giving Ilikeair the benefit of the doubt, (I did not go in every room). My stateroom, room #3 did not have any mold. I would even go as far to say that the crew does an excellent job keeping the boat in great condition. I have been around boats all of my life and I know how much maintenance and cleaning must be done to combat the moisture and salt air. The boat always smelled clean but being fair there were 8 other state rooms that I did not go in.
I am not affiliated with the Aggressor in any way. I am just a very satisfied customer. My wife and I just had the vacation of a lifetime and I hope that other people can go to that wonderful country and experience the same thing, it is by far one of the best places I think I will ever dive on this earth and the crew of the Aggressor made it that way for us…Ilikeair I am truly sorry that your experience was not like our. To anybody reading this please just go and see for yourself, read all that you can but please do not make a decision based on other people’s opinions. Thanks to the crew of the boat, no need to mention names but I sincerely hope that Angie and I can come back to see you…Thanks Tal
