Blue Hole - Amigos Del Mar - Very Poor

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Snoweman - yeah i noticed that. Clearly they are trying to suggest they are still affiliated without displaying the logo.

I guess they will have some deal going with another local shop.

I have suggested to Pro Dive Belize that they stop booking their clients on Blue Hole trips with AMD though - otherwise they will risk their own accreditation.
 
They are listed on SSI's website, but it doesn't look like an easy website to lodge a complaint. They do have facebook and twitter accounts. If you don't get an adequate response from there Central America division, I would post on social media.
 
. I was there a couple of weeks ago picking up tanks. I saw a SDI logo in several places but they are NOT a PADI shop.

SDI only lists one company in Belize on their website - Belize Diving Services in Caulker Cay. It's not impossible that Amigos is SDI certified without being listed, but I wonder if they have kicked them out, too.
 
The Blue Hole is just that. It's blue and it's a hole. I refuse to go back. Too many of these shops take ill-prepared divers there, take them past recreational limits & hope they have enough air left to get to the surface interval. If you want to see stalagmites/stalactites go to the cenotes in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The Lighthouse Caye dives are much better. I really like Turneffe Atoll but weather kept us from going back there.
 
I've been on that trip dozen or more times and have never experienced what you have. Terrible day for you.

Chilly! Where have you been? I've missed you. Good to see you back. I'm going to send you a PM.

Back to topic, did ADM at least hang some tanks at 15 feet I hope?

The three times I've done the BH, which I found to be a fascinating dive, was with Turneffe Island Lodge/Resort. The ratio of staff to divers was something like 1:4. The crew watched over us like chickenhawks on chickens, constantly checking our air and looking for signs of narcosis or other trouble.

I know Splash in Placencia has several requirements for diving the BH, like a certain minimum number of dives and demonstrated competence, and they always have a high ratio of guides to guests.

The point is that it can be done reasonably safely, even on AL 80s. Whether a BH dive is your cup of tea is up to you. But if it's not being done safely, you need to tell PADI, SSI, DAN and, in my mind most importantly the BTB since they're in a position to effect change, as well as anybody else who will listen.
 
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Wow, this is almost as crazy as someone killing their neighbors dogs and faking a heart attack to get deported to the US...

In all seriousness, (rhetorically speaking) how could my own experience with AMD 5 yrs ago be the exact opposite to this experience... ?
 
Wow, this is almost as crazy as someone killing their neighbors dogs and faking a heart attack to get deported to the US...

In all seriousness, (rhetorically speaking) how could my own experience with AMD 5 yrs ago be the exact opposite to this experience... ?

Sorry mate you lost me in the analogy there!

But in answer to your question - I guess greed and complacency has set in. This was a $265 day trip plus tax and park fee. So, until someone dies through their stupidity - they'll just keep raking it in.
 
Sorry mate you lost me in the analogy there!

Maybe this will help you understand :wink:



But in answer to your question - I guess greed and complacency has set in. This was a $265 day trip plus tax and park fee. So, until someone dies through their stupidity - they'll just keep raking it in.

10-4, understand. When I dove with them for BH they were almost too safety conscious.
 
We dove with Amigos Del Mar back in 2011 for the local stuff. They were decent enough for the most part, but definitely remember the lackadaisical attitude. I recall their level of openness was a little on the cold side too. Seemed like it took about a week for them to open up to you personally; maybe cultural or something. Anyway, by the end of the trip we were feeling more of a sense of connection with them and, all-n-all, had a very memorable trip.

As for diving the outer atolls; we had to use one of their competitors due to ADM not having enough headcount on those days to make it worth their bother. The name of this other Op escapes me, but I believe the owner was either British or Australian, and their operational staff was mostly from other Caribbean countries. They were generally much friendlier and more professional out of the box.

When we arrived back at ADM the next day for our regular two-tanker, one of the boat captains asked what happened to us the day before. I told them we went out to dive the outer atolls with that other dive operator due to lack of availability with ADM. The boat captain paused and gave me this pretty serious look of disapproval, and then preceded to inform me that "...they are not from here; they are not locals". I got the sense that there was definitely an undercurrent of racial tension and/or inter-communal/cultural/nationalist animosity; not just between these two operators, but just in general. Like, these other groups were taking jobs and income opportunities away from those in the community they deemed more deserving. That was a bit of an eye-opener for me at the time, as I don't think I would have ever even noticed otherwise.

In light of today's politics, sadly it doesn't seem so surprising now.
 
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