Dive With Martin? Hmmm...

[PNW Dive Girl]

I too have had excellent service from DWM and will be using them again the first week in December. I do feel it's somewhat "telling" that no one else has posted similar experieinces with DWM and therefore I feel that this is an isolated incident. I will, of course monitor this thread as I think it's prudent to do so.

 

[vlkr]

martin was a friend of mine. stayed at his house while on the island, before he married. i can't say i know any of the facts in this case but i can tell you that martin was a very demanding boss. that even extended to members of his family including his brother sergio and his father. what i am trying to say i guess is that setting high employee expectations was part of the culture of the operation before this brother (who i have never met) took over.
dm's and boat captains seem to switch employers fairly frequently on czm. many work on call for several operators.

 

[mweaver40]

I am very late to this thread but I just found out that Pablo was no longer with DWM. I only dove one week with DWM but Pablo was my favorite DM. I remember him as a very nice guy and a careful DM. I also remember him saying some things that while maybe true showed a discontent with the management that took over after Martin died. My guess is his being fired was probably due to personality conflicts and an inability to accept the changed situation. Whatever the cause I will miss him and I hope he doing well somewhere else.

 

[OceanSailor]

I have been diving with DWM since Martin Aguilar started the business after leaving Aqua Safari where he was a DM. No one has been fired because they complained about a tank fill. The employee was let go because of a personality conflict between him and the new management (Martin's brother Julio).

 

[billindenver]

We used DWM for half of our last trip this past March (other half was Aldora) and it should be said that DWM is putting out great service. I have no complaints about the dives we spent with them at all. I prefer Aldora's boats and steel tanks, but that comes at nearly twice the price. DWM was quite good, they handled and washed our gear, DMs were friendly and knowledgable, surface intervals were spent at the same pier that we used when we dove with Blue XT Sea and were given the same water/fruit snacks. All in all, I was more impressed with them than I expected to be by far. Bang for the buck, I'm not sure how Dive With Martin could be beat and I would dive with them again without thinking twice....if and when I'm not looking for steel tanks that is. Of the aluminum tank ops we've tried thus far (BXTS, Dressel, DWM).....Dive with Martin is far and away our favorite.

 

[Nitrox624]

There is a simple fix to this whole situation. Learn to control your breathing and 2600psi is not a problem.

 

[deepstops]

Another DWM fan here. They've never failed to take me on good, safe dives.

 

[CZMDM]

There is a simple fix to this whole situation. Learn to control your breathing and 2600psi is not a problem.

I agree that learning to control your breathing is a good idea. The main thing with controlling your breathing is to relax and try and not make a lot of unnecessary movement. Most peoples air problems however have to do with being out of shape. The more aerobically fit you are the longer your bottom time will be.

On the other hand the dive op is not giving anyone service gratis.....they owe you a full tank and not to do so is unprofessional. If you have a low tank and you point it out to your DM, he/she should switch your tank. If they just blow it off, I would find another op.

I am not specifically speaking of DWM or any other op. I am speaking of all op's.

 

[ggunn]

There is a simple fix to this whole situation. Learn to control your breathing and 2600psi is not a problem.

No matter how good your air consumption is, a 2600 psi tank is going to give you less BT than a 3000 psi tank.

But this is a problem with the fill service, not the op. Ops do not pressure check every tank, and short fills happen. The usual procedure for handling this is the DM takes the short tank.

 

[CZMDM]

No matter how good your air consumption is, a 2600 psi tank is going to give you less BT than a 3000 psi tank.

But this is a problem with the fill service, not the op. Ops do not pressure check every tank, and short fills happen. The usual procedure for handling this is the DM takes the short tank.

I don't know about anyone else, but we check all the tanks before we depart. We are the one's offering the service and in the end we feel that we are the one's responsible for divers' satisfaction. Just like if we need to rent gear from an outside source, we feel responsible for it's condition, even though it is not actually our gear.

There is one thing....a lot of equipment, bcd's, regs, etc. might have small leaks. Once the equipment is set up and checked the air should be shut off as even a small leak while on a long trip can deplete the air supply.