How do you choose your dive centre while travelling?

[Jpalcg]

Hi,

I have recently written a post about choosing a dive centre while travelling. My intention is to share the criteria I use when selecting a dive operation that might help the less experienced divers. I am sure I have missed plenty of great tips in it, but these simple 3 have been helping me dive safely for the last few years. But I would like to extend and complement my own criteria, so please share with us how you select your dive centres.

Cheers
Joao

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I want to know if they will let me dive Solo.
If I have to buddy up with someone will they pay me to do it or comp the dives?
Do I have to follow a DM or Guide? If so I'm likely to not use them.
How close do they stick to a schedule?

 

[Mike]

Hi,

I have recently written a post about choosing a dive centre while travelling. My intention is to share the criteria I use when selecting a dive operation that might help the less experienced divers. I am sure I have missed plenty of great tips in it, but these simple 3 have been helping me dive safely for the last few years. But I would like to extend and complement my own criteria, so please share with us how you select your dive centres.

Cheers
Joao

Might be centric to where you dive, but your criteria #1 is their website, and I don't consider that really a big part of it, especially when even though it's 2014, depending on where you dive, many times the dive community is so small that many don't have much if any websites at all.

 

[DeputyDan]

Sometimes they are the only operator that will answer an e-mail.
When we went to Hawaii I contacted every operator I could find on Kona. (More than once).
only one bothered to respond.
guess who got three divers for five days and all the money that we spend on diving.

 

[Wingy]

When I have pinpointed where I want to go I look for

1) Longevity of the operator - a dive shop that has been in constant operation under the same ownership for 20 or 30 years has to have survived for a good reason.
2) I then find as many reviews (tripadvisor is my last review point not my first - i like wannadive.net and dive the world.com dive and blogs from divers on the site I moderate reviews not was on a cruise ship for a day and dived with x type reviews)
3) Hit youtube and watch as many clips of the site as possible, If i see the op i have in mind has clips up I pay particular attention to everything they have posted and watch their diver and DM behaviour)
4) Go over the ops website with a fine tooth comb. Im not looking for grammar mistakes im looking for depth of information, transparency of rates and dive sites listed etc. As I am usually diving in a foreign country I like an English translation option. Looking for their equipment hire - not that i hire equipment but the brand and quality can give me an idea if they are cutting costs.
5) Once 1 - 4 have satisfied me I then correspond with them via email - as a single solo female travelling diver I like to hear back ASAP that they are able to arrange transport and suggest accommodation etc and gauge the ''vibe'' of the people I will be diving with.
6) If Im drifting with no plans and decide to dive somewhere after Ive walked past a shop I have a chat and go back to my hotel and repeat steps 1 - 4 again before I commit to that outfit.

 

[kerrycorcoran]

I check reviews from other SB posters - you can usually find a balance between cost/expertise/professionalism

 

[Damselfish]

It's certainly wonderful and useful if an op has a good website full of all the information I want to know about them. However, there's often not much relationship between good web sites and the quality of an op, or how safe they are, or how well they will suit me. (While it generally amazes me that there are still so many businesses around without decent websites or any kind of useful web presence, I know there's still plenty of folks out there that just don't think or work that way - including many who are otherwise very good at what they do.) But if I email questions, I have a pretty low tolerance for lack of good responses.

Forums and other non-magazine reviews and listings are near my first resources, and will often provide more info about what I really want to know than even a "good" website. I read as much as I can find, and put the information through my personal filters of how believable it is and how it applies to me.

My choices are also heavily influenced by where I am thinking of staying, as these 2 questions often go hand in hand for me. A great place to stay without convenient access to a good op, or a great op without anyplace good to stay, will probably not be high on my list (as I want it all.

 

[TSandM]

I've learned the hard way that a small and limited operation can have an awesome website.

I have to admit that my methods for choosing dive operators or boats are: 1) Feedback from people I know who have used them; 2) Reports from ScubaBoard or our local forum. Where I haven't been able to decide using those things, I've corresponded with SB members and asked more detailed questions. I have yet to be unhappy, except one operator where I simply didn't inquire into the details of the term "rustic".

 

[KeithG]

Hi,

I have recently written a post about choosing a dive centre while travelling. My intention is to share the criteria I use when selecting a dive operation that might help the less experienced divers. I am sure I have missed plenty of great tips in it, but these simple 3 have been helping me dive safely for the last few years. But I would like to extend and complement my own criteria, so please share with us how you select your dive centres.

Cheers
Joao

I use SB and undercurrent as research resources. I generally ignore websites as they are simply marketing conceptions and generally do not tell you anything useful. According to them, everything is awesome and world class. Especially all those ops in Jamaica.

I never inspect the compressor room! Just like I never inspect the kitchen at a restaraunt. I have no idea what to look for.

I generally ensure my "safety" by not using third world or fly by night operators.

 

[BRT]

I'm the opposite of some. I agree that long term operators can be good at what they do but sometimes they have lost their love of diving and it is just a business. I look for an owner who still dives most every day. They want to see the best stuff and don't mind a little extra fuel to do that. Lets face it. A lot of people start dive shops because they like to dive. I like to dive with people who like to dive.