longincscuba
New
My wife and I were on the MV Hallelujah recently (Jan 26 - Jan 30, 2012). We booked our trip through Marcia Fisk (Gekko Divers - "Quero" on this forum). I echo some of the comments here that you WILL NOT be treated differently because you booked through an agent - we were treated the same and fed the same awesome food!! Oh the food was yummy. The boat was large, very comfortable (but you should still bring ear plugs if you are an extremely light sleeper, nothing unique to the Hallelujah, you are going to experience more noise in the night as they motor from one location to the other regardless of which boat you get on). The boat crew was extremely helpful in getting you into and out of the water, and making sure that you are comfortable and attended to when you are top side. The dive briefings were detailed, and the dive leader/captain did their utmost to make sure they got us to the dive sites at the best times either to avoid the other dive boats or to catch the "best show" in the water. And all the while ensuring safety was a top priority.
My wife is a relatively new diver, I've had about 60-80 dives logged, and this was our first diving liveaboard. Marcia, convinced us to hire a private DM for our trip. I was skeptical at first, but boy, the extra attention we got from our private DM made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the trip for the both of us (and in particular, my wife). If either one of you is relatively new to diving or if this is your first liveaboard, the extra attention is definitely very helpful. The other divers who were assigned to the DM's (hired by the dive operation) were grouped into group sizes of 4-6 divers. The DM's main job (rightly so) is to show you stuff - hence the amount of personal attention is limited. And somewhat echoing Marcia, if you decide on hiring a private DM from the boat, you won't know whom you will get until you get on. Just reading the previous postings, it is clear that the boat hires different DM's for different trips based on DM availability. On my trip we had Steve, Todd and Joe. Steve is the only constant because he is a full time staff from the dive operator, the rest of the DM's are generally freelancers. If you go down the route of getting a personal DM, i highly recommend Marcia - if she can't do it herself, she has access to a a group of highly professional and experienced instructors and divemasters. She got us Sean Porter (a master instructor/DM) who was amazing, caring, professional and mature in his approach.
If you need additional information about the boat, pls let me know.
My wife is a relatively new diver, I've had about 60-80 dives logged, and this was our first diving liveaboard. Marcia, convinced us to hire a private DM for our trip. I was skeptical at first, but boy, the extra attention we got from our private DM made ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the trip for the both of us (and in particular, my wife). If either one of you is relatively new to diving or if this is your first liveaboard, the extra attention is definitely very helpful. The other divers who were assigned to the DM's (hired by the dive operation) were grouped into group sizes of 4-6 divers. The DM's main job (rightly so) is to show you stuff - hence the amount of personal attention is limited. And somewhat echoing Marcia, if you decide on hiring a private DM from the boat, you won't know whom you will get until you get on. Just reading the previous postings, it is clear that the boat hires different DM's for different trips based on DM availability. On my trip we had Steve, Todd and Joe. Steve is the only constant because he is a full time staff from the dive operator, the rest of the DM's are generally freelancers. If you go down the route of getting a personal DM, i highly recommend Marcia - if she can't do it herself, she has access to a a group of highly professional and experienced instructors and divemasters. She got us Sean Porter (a master instructor/DM) who was amazing, caring, professional and mature in his approach.
If you need additional information about the boat, pls let me know.
