Dive Paradise?

[newgentry]

We like small fast boats, shops that are on time and go to shore for SI.

Then go with the Dive Paradise fast boats. I always use their fast boats and I can count on one hand the number of times we HAVEN'T done a surface interval at the beach, and that's normally either because there wasn't any room to tie up at the pier or we were going straight to a very shallow second dive, like Columbia Shallows.

 

[Christi]

We have used them many times.

I have always wanted to try out other operators, but haven't done so because we know, and like, a few of the DM's a lot.

If you happen to know and like diving with Martin a/k/a "Wech" (previously with DP for 20+ years) - he joined the Blue XT~Sea Team full time in March - alongside Pedro Pablo, Nivo and Pato - Arturo is still our primary Instructor.

 

[divezonescuba]

If you have a dive package, you don't get any choice as to which boat you get assigned to. They have a list in the morning on which boat you will be on. They put a lot of people on their two slow slow boats Aires and Paradise Diver. It takes those boats an hour or more to get to the southern sites.

If you want to go to punta sur or further south, you have to pay a large surcharge plus pay for any unused seats on the boat. We did that and they gave us a dive guide who had never done devils Throat before and couldn't find the reef let alone the hole. He went up island, down island, inshore, and offshore trying to find the reef. Eventually, he jumped over the side and was being towed in the water trying to find the reef. Are you kidding me?

This was particularly irritating as we found out just before we left on the trip that the the normal dive guide for Devils Throat would not be going. I asked Rafael, if the new guy knew what he was doing and he repeatedly insisted that he did. If we had known that the replacement dive guide had never done that dive, we would not have gone. Rafael also told us the reason why the normal guy was not on the boat was because he was on vacation. We later learned from the guise that he was actually not, but was diving on another boat that morning.

It took a lot of complaining for them to agree that we should not have to pay all that extra money because they didn't deliver. They wanted to charge us extra again the next morning for the same dive that we were not able to do the previous day. That was the last time we used them.

If you want anything other than the usual cattle boat dive package which is a good value, use somebody else.

 

[ron_dodge]

If you happen to know and like diving with Martin a/k/a "Wech" (previously with DP for 20+ years) - he joined the Blue XT~Sea Team full time in March - alongside Pedro Pablo, Nivo and Pato - Arturo is still our primary Instructor.

Ha, sounds familiar. See you all in January.