Nassau Dive Shop: BEWARE

[DiveCarolina]

I just returned from a RCCL cruise and booked 2 dives through their dive shop excursion desk. The dive in St. Thomas was good. But in Nassau it was awful!! Divers Beware: We used Nassau Scuba Center and I will NEVER dive with them again. I am a relatively new diver (14 dives logged now) and the experience was quite a range for others on board the dive boat from newly certified (check out dives) to hundreds of dives logged.

The rental equipment was old and torn. The BC's were all ripped in various places. I asked them if they had any BC's that weren't ripped up like that and they said no. "The people who dove with them this morning made it back, so they must be okay." The reg I used felt like I was sucking air through a straw. There was no air flow control on the reg. I told them when I came up that it sucked and was awful. No spares for me to switch. When we were all swimming together I saw three tanks come loose from the BC's. I strapped one diver's tank in and other divers helped the others. No dive master around. One dive master told us not to go in the wreck (Ray of Hope) before we got in the water and the lead DM led everyone right through it. The dive boat was old and spewing black smoke so bad that you had to go above to be able to breathe.

I would never use this operator again. The folks were nice, but they are running a really bad operation there. It is an accident scene waiting to happen. I called RCCL today and let them know what I thought. For all others, if you use them BRING YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT and have a good dive buddy with you.

Just my two cents.....

 

[Soggy]

For all others, if you use them BRING YOUR OWN EQUIPMENT and have a good dive buddy with you.

If you're serious about SCUBA, you should have at least your own lift support equipment. That eliminates this problem from the get-go.

I understand your frustration, but I think you'll find most large operations have similarly maintained equipment. I used Stuart Cove's and was satisfied with them. I did not rent any equipment, however, other than weight and tanks.

How were the dives?

 

[DiveCarolina]

The dives were good locations. (Karen (sp?) Reef and the Ray of Hope wreck) The Stuarts Cove boat was beside us (thanks for attracting all the cool sharks guys!). I would use them next time. I agree that people should buy their own regs. However, I thought that renting equipment a few places would give me a wide range of regs to try out underwater. Forget that. Off to my dive shop pool.

Like I said, the dm's were really cool, as was the boat captain. But I guess this is my first experience with really poor equipment. I will take it as a lesson learned!

 

[DiveCarolina]

Nassau was actually a really nice dive site. Especially with the shark feeding from the Stuarts Cove outfit. It was really awesome diving with all of those sharks!

 

[RAD Diver]

When did you dive with them? We were there Oct. 23rd with RCCL & sitting on back of boat.It didnt seem to bad of spewing smoke. It is a diesel & they do smoke.I also had all my own equip. which I was glad of for every shop that we dove with rental equip. was shoddy looking.We (my buddy/wife) had the best dive of the week, maybe of my diving life,but we have only been cert. since June 04.

 

[DiveCarolina]

We went out with them on 11/6. Just two weeks after you! The smoke wasn't too bad on the way out, but really bad coming back in to the dock. We all had to go to the upper deck. The diving site was really cool. ESPECIALLY with all of the sharks. But the equipment was really scary. I would think that safety was of the utmost important to these shops. The diving I've done in St. Thomas and Cozumel had brand new, nice equipment. Maybe I just got lucky with those trips. Either way, no more guessing for me. I'm going to get outfitted soon!

Here's to hoping Santa will check out the dive shops for me!

 

[Puck]

My buddy and I had our first ocean dives with them, back in February of 2004. We rented the equipment, and while it looked a bit worn, it did work well. We didn't have anything to compare it too, so I cannot say much about it. I did tell our DM, Ronelle Johnson, that we were brand new divers (I told her at least twice), but we did not recieve any extra attention or a watchfull eye. In fact, when my buddy had problems clearing, we were delayed and almost lost track of our group (I stayed between our group and my buddy as he caught up). In then end, everything worked out for us, the dive was awesome, and the equipment no problem. We did come up one short on the recount beofre departing to our second dive site, one diver apparently went too deep, lost the group, and we had to drive the boat to pick him up. (What must have gone through his mind when he heard the engines start with the boat pointed in the other direction!).

The second dive was lame, because there was a group of intro to scuba people with us, and it was all of about 10-15 feet of water and not much to see if you were experienced. I was not, so it was a good chance to get comfortable with the equpment and see some fish.

All in all, they were fine. I never noticed the fumes from the boat, and the people were very polite and helpful. As far as owning your equipment, I now rent from my local dive shop and bring the stuff with me, so I know that I am getting good, reasonably new equipment, but if I got to dive more I would probably justify the cost to buy.

 

[RAD Diver]

We did a Discover Scuba with RCCL 2 yrs ago & all their equip. was brand new & top of the line,but even when we were getting certified our LDC rental didnt look much better than what we saw on our trips.I will say that a private trip I took in St. Thomas with Blue Island Divers it seemed their rental gear was up to par.It is a pain to travel with your own gear ,but Im glad I did & will continue to do so.

 

[pete340]

When did you dive with them? We were there Oct. 23rd with RCCL & sitting on back of boat.It didnt seem to bad of spewing smoke. It is a diesel & they do smoke.I also had all my own equip. which I was glad of for every shop that we dove with rental equip. was shoddy looking.We (my buddy/wife) had the best dive of the week, maybe of my diving life,but we have only been cert. since June 04.

Just to follow up: I dove with Nassau Scuba Center this past January, and there were doing some major overhauls. See their website for details: www.divenassau.com.

 

[qglad]

I don't know where to start. You are a certified diver. Which means you should be responsible for yourself above and below the water.

1. If your tank slip out of the BCD... it is because you where to lazy to check it.
2. If the equipment was questionable... why did you get in the water with it? Don't put yourself at risk and then blame the dive operator.
3. If you loose the DM. Where is your dive plan? "Jump in and follow me" is a VERY poor plan.
4. Diesel engins smoke... sit in the front of the boat

In end, I sence you are looking for the gentle hand to lead you through your dive. Which is fine. But you need to book a private instructor guild and quite looking for someone else to be responsible for you.

...Of course I could be wrong...