Galapagos Sub-Aqua Dive operator

[jerrywinokur]

Just wanted to post a BEWARE notice for Sub-Aqua Dive shop in the Galapagos. We were in the Galapagos 2 weeks ago aboard a naturalist boat. We had arranged to dive 1 day with Sub-Aqua. Arrangements had been made 45 days before our travel. We wired money as instructed. During our stay in Quito enroute to the Galapagos, 2 out of our 3 divers developed food poisoning and were very ill for 3 days. The last of 2 of these days were on the boat in the Galapagos. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and were to dive on Monday morning. The captain called the dive office at 7am to cancel our dive for the day. The dive boat was to arrive at 8:30. The dive boat arrived anyway at 10:00am and said they had received no message. I called Sub-Aqua to reschedule the dives later in the week and they said they could not accomodate us nor would they give us a refund. I am still trying to resolve this but have been quite unsuccessful and they have not been cooperative. Just becareful of this operator. Any other questions regarding this operation could be sent to us via the private messages.

 

[Doc]

This is going to sound harsh, and sorry your trip was difficult, but consider the basics of the supply and demand economy of dive ops in the Galapagos.

You're way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you chartered with a shore based dive-op that required money up front to reserve your spot to go. I can see why they would do that. They need to plan their days in advance. If they didn't, they would lose their shirts by blocking space what with people calling all willy-nilly.

So then everybody on the charter gets sick but continues to head towards that appointment to go diving.

1.5 hrs before your meeting time, your call to cancel is initiated. The "office" apparently was notified, but maybe they didn't have a hot line to the guys who rolled out of bed at 05:00 and were gassing up the dive boat, putting your lunch and iced drinks on board- then chugged on over to see you on your naturalist boat.

I think that 1.5 hr cancelation window might make a dive operator offer you a small discount for a new rebooking if they had any space available later that week. Not sure if I would have held that space open for you without an additional deposit, either- but that's just my wild guess.

Dive ops along Main Street in Puerto Ayora hang up the equivalent to No Vacancy signs all the time. They do book up, sometimes days in advance. Their time is money, their lost work days are gone forever. They might have been more agreeable to a refund if you had called when you first got sick, a few days earlier.

I've never been terribly impressed with them either, but I think you were treated about as any other day dive op would have handled this.

 

[oceancat]

I am sorry, but I agree with the previous poster on this one. Stuff happens and if you get sick and have to miss things...that's why you get trip insurance to cover those things. On our trip, 3 out of our group of 6 were completely down for the count at one point or another and had to miss activities--that's just kind of how it goes sometimes. It's part of traveling someplace exotic. On my dive cruise, one of the divers fell getting into the panga on day 3 of the trip and missed the rest of the diving and most of the land tours because he severely injured his leg. He didn't ask for a refund for the trip, nor did he blame the crew for his accident. People need to make a living and when you give basically zero notice (had you cancelled a couple of days before--that would be different), you can' t really expect a refund. Sorry.

 

[Chamius]

Strange that for oldest dive company in Galapagos there are so few mentions of them on web boards and such. Any further feedback on them?

Thanks!

Jaime

 

[Dorit]

Hi - I dove with them in May. Floreana. Just one day - two dives - when we were sold to them from Nautidiving whom we prebooked with.
Only problem I had with diving with them was that Nautidiving hadn't send all the right equipment (some of my personal gear including personal mouthpiece!), but that was not Sub Aquas fault.
They seemed quite allright safetywise. We were only a small group of 4 divers (3 on second dive) but they still had a dive master trainee in the back of the group who also went up with divers who ran out of air early and doing the safety stop with them, while the rest of us could stay down.
Unfortunately our dive master that day had a new mask on who kept fogging, so she was more concerned with cleaning her mask than being a naturalist guide. So what little we saw, we spotted ourselves.
I think that when dive conditions are easy, the dive master should mainly be a naturalist guide who spots and show you the underwater life - so in that regards it was a bit disappointing.
However, in the surface interval we had time to go snorkeling with the sea lions, which were fun.

 

[gravity]

I can understand why they wouldn't take a cancellation 90 minutes early, but i think they should take a cancellation for their being 90 minutes late (if i understand the story correctly).

 

[gringo]

We dove 8x with Sub Aqua in early June and had a great time, they were reliable, knowledgeable, professional, safe. Leodan, the MD really knew where to find great stuff to see. They met us out on Floreana even tho other booked divers had cancelled. They let us clean and store our equipment in the shop. We are novice divers and they taught us a lot, gave personalized support- really can't say enough good! ONLY down side is that Leodan speaks very limited english.

 

[canasm00]

I’m sorry for what happened to you, but this is a lose-lose situation. These operators work with short margins and require planning their schedules with enough time. If you book and then cancel 90 mins before the appointed time, they have no way to make up for it; basically that is why you have to pay in advance.

Normally, diving in the Galapagos is something you plan ahead (like you did); you don’t walk-in a diving operation and expect to dive the same morning, therefore they don’t get walk-ins to make up for cancelations.

I know you feel cheated out of your money and nothing short of a full refund will make you happy, but as harsh as it might sound, it’s not their fault you got sick. If they had missed the appointment and left you hanging, then you would be entitled to a full refund and more, but it was not the case, had you been OK they would have taken you diving, that was the deal.

It is the same way where I dive in the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. If you don’t book, most probably you won’t dive, and if you cancel within 24 hours of your dive, there is no refund.

Cheer up, for what it sounds not diving was not the worst of the trip.
:vintagediver:

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

I have never been diving with Sub Aqua, but they are 1 of only a handful of shops that have been awarded new cupos for land-based diving. These are the new permits that the National Park is awarding right now to finally regulate land-based diving in the Galapagos. Only 2 other Santa Cruz shops have won permits (Nautidiving and Scuba Iguana), however, some boats do now have them. The question is when they will begin to enforce the new regulations and word is that most local shops will rent the boats with permits to stay in business.

The more remote you go, the more careful you need to be. Currents can be very strong and almost more important than who you dive with is who the boat capitan is. Some novices do not allow for how far the currents can carry divers. And all Galapagos dives are drift dives. Local shops do not carry sausages nor dive alerts. I've had friends left out in the water for over an hour last year...someone I know in Isabela was left in the water for 10 hours into the night (very lucky to be alive thanks to a good divemaster who happened to have a flashlight/strobe for a morning dive). Last month, one motor wasn't working on a boat I was on and when the marinero (not even the capitan) took off, he did not account for currents pulling divers towards the motor or the spin one motor at full rev would create for the boat. I am lucky I did not have a very bad accident that day. Live and learn and figure out the hard way who has the best to offer which does not necessarily equal who is the cheapest nor is the most expensive necessarily any indication of higher quality.

Word on the 'street' is that 500 divemasters in GPS have certifications, but few actually have the training. One instructor recently told me he was approached to 'sell' certifications, but refused. The good news is that things are changing for the better, though. And that is not easy. As one shop owner said to me, "When all is said and done, I'm going to put all this paperwork on my boat to see if it will sink."