I'll be posting a thorough trip report soon, but I just spent a week in Palau with Sam's and a week in Yap with Yap Divers from April 8-24.
I really liked Sam's operation. I was told it was a Thai holiday when we were there and Sam had to actually rent boats, drivers, and tanks from other shops to handle the number of people booking with him. Even with the extra traffic at Sam's it never felt chaotic or crowded.
Our DM, Dexter, allowed people to stay down as long as they wanted. When he saw people starting to go shallow around 50-60 minutes into the dive, he sent up his sausage and usually stayed down with those below. He was a pro at reading the currents and we would have made some tough swims had he not helped us dive the site with the current.
We also got to pick the dive site for every dive. If Dexter advised against our choice, it was for good reason and he made every effort to get us back to that site when conditions or currents were more suitable. He also tailored our departure time, either earlier or later than the other boats so we minimized the crowds on the sites.
He also obtained AL100s for a guy in our group who used his gas a little sooner than the rest to help keep everyone around the same consumption.
Also, I'm not sure if this is the norm or what, but we were able to use the Sam's vans to get rides all over Palau instead of calling taxis. On more than one occasion, the driver gave his number to a restaurant we were at with instructions to call him when we were almost finished so we didn't have to wait for a ride. He was tipped well. Some driver's refused payment.
It was the little extras like the vans, tanks, and DMs that make me want to go back to Sam's the next time I'm in Palau.
I really liked Sam's operation. I was told it was a Thai holiday when we were there and Sam had to actually rent boats, drivers, and tanks from other shops to handle the number of people booking with him. Even with the extra traffic at Sam's it never felt chaotic or crowded.
Our DM, Dexter, allowed people to stay down as long as they wanted. When he saw people starting to go shallow around 50-60 minutes into the dive, he sent up his sausage and usually stayed down with those below. He was a pro at reading the currents and we would have made some tough swims had he not helped us dive the site with the current.
We also got to pick the dive site for every dive. If Dexter advised against our choice, it was for good reason and he made every effort to get us back to that site when conditions or currents were more suitable. He also tailored our departure time, either earlier or later than the other boats so we minimized the crowds on the sites.
He also obtained AL100s for a guy in our group who used his gas a little sooner than the rest to help keep everyone around the same consumption.
Also, I'm not sure if this is the norm or what, but we were able to use the Sam's vans to get rides all over Palau instead of calling taxis. On more than one occasion, the driver gave his number to a restaurant we were at with instructions to call him when we were almost finished so we didn't have to wait for a ride. He was tipped well. Some driver's refused payment.
It was the little extras like the vans, tanks, and DMs that make me want to go back to Sam's the next time I'm in Palau.