Seabreeze bungalows, bunaken divers. Don't go there

[andwi]

Hi!

Just wan't to tell you all about my opion about
Seabreeze bungalows (Bunaken divers) in bunaken, manado.

The accomodation is not worth the price.
I stayed in a standard room, and the room was poorly maintained
and the cleaning was really bad.
Talked to a couple that was staying in the honeymoon suite, and they were dissapointed
as well.

There are cheaper and better/cleaner places to stay on bunaken.

The diving facility (called Bunaken Divers) was the worst dive operator I have seen!
Been diving since 2001, mostly in malaysia, thailand and indonesia.

Equipment:
Changed regulator 4 times. The depth gauge did not work on a couple of the regulators.
When I told the owner, he just said. -"You don't need a depth gauge. Just stay above
the dive guide".
None of the regulators that I was given had
both functioning first and second stage.
The owners reply to this -"You don't need two stages
when diving in a group".
My girlfriend had to change regulator 2 times and bcd 2 times.

Dive guides:
During our 4 days in bunaken the dive guides never did the signal for safety stop.
They lost 2 divers during 1 dive.
Did not care to see if everyone was ready to go down.
Left a couple of snorkellers behind, the boat left with the guests in the water.
One open water student went out of air because the diveguides never told him
to signal when he was low on air.
One BCD-exploded under water.
We were never asked to show our divers licences.

Otherwise Bunaken offers really good diving, just don't use bunaken divers.

Have a nice trip!
A.

 

[V_kids]

Wow..!! that's really bad!
thank for information

 

[Scubalover111]

Hi Andwi,

Jeez, I’m sorry to hear that you had such a bad time at Seabreeze Resort. I’ve been at the resort for 3 times now and I only had GREAT experiences!!!!! (I’m just back from my last visit)

I love the bungalows at the Seabreeze, they have really nice beachfront bungalows with great views and I never had any problems with the cleaning service, did you turn in your key every day, so they could clean the room???? I have to admit I never been in a Standard bungalow, but the Beachfronts and Garden Bungalows I’ve been in where amazing, inside and outside!!!!

The first time I was there I came with my parents and we all did a course. Terry the instructor and owner has been nothing but great. He gave me a great course and if someone doesn’t know the signal for low on air or how to check his gauges, he should read the book again!!!

About the safety stop I would say that if you did some dives with Seabreeze you would know that most of the time you spend the last 10 minutes at 5 meters while watching the beautiful coral reef on top.
I agree with you that it’s not right to lose divers under water, but I never experienced this here, because in the briefing the guides make clear to stay close to the diveguide.

I never in my life heard about exploding BCD’s under water! Could you please explain to me how that happened because the only reason I can imagine is that someone did a backroll with a BCD that was to full, but there is no way that a BCD could explode underwater. What did they do put explosives in it or something .

The equipment was always good organized when I dived with Seabreeze. Maybe you had a lot of bad luck or it might have been really busy. And then it still sounds odd to me, since I’m just back from the resort and it was fully booked and there were no problems with the equipment. The only time when I got a reg. without a depth gauge, was when I got my own computer.

I’m actually wondering when you told Terry about your equipment, because the way I know him is definitely not like that. Normally he is really on top of things and he makes sure that everybody is happy and of course safe! This is also proven by the fact that Seabreeze is one of the only resorts on Bunaken that brings oxygen and first aid kit on the boat.

Well I’m going to stop getting arguments to fight your experience, because everybody has his own opinion and reading your email, I think we both have a realy different impression about Seabreeze.

I hope everybody who reads this forum keeps an open mind about Seabreeze and I hope I meet some people who read this at Seabreeze on my next visit!!!!!

Ok one last comment:

The diveguides at Seabreeze are in my opinion the best diveguides I ever had, and I dived all over the world as well!!! (Egypt, Caribean, Germany, Mediteranian) I never felt unsafe with them and they always kept a close eye on the guest!!! Next to that they are also able to spot all the good stuff on the reef like scorpion fishes, rare nudibranches, leaf scorpion fishes, and even the pygmy seahorse which is my personal favorite. They also are good shark spotters, I’ve seen eagle rays with them and I’ve seen an amazing group of Barracuda my last stay (at least 200).
They will do everything in their power to help the guest and they don’t care how much work it is! It’s rare to find guides (and people) like this and I think it’s too bad when people give this kind of reviews about those hard working honest and lovely people as I know them!!!!!

So the only thing I can say is: GO TO SEABREEZE!!!!!!

R.

 

[ScubaSteve]

None of the regulators that I was given had
both functioning first and second stage.
The owners reply to this -"You don't need two stages
when diving in a group".

Really? Seriously? What happened when the first stage was failing?



--------------------------- EDIT



They may not be interested in responding to this obvious dramatization of reality, but I have sent Bunaken Divers the link to this thread so that they can dispute the allegations if they want.

 

[andwi]

Scubasteve:
About first and second stage:
My fault, I mean second stage and octopus. English is not my native language.

Scubalover111:
"I never had any problems with the cleaning service, did you turn in your key every day, so they could clean the room????"
Always.
Both me and a couple of other guests, who was living in the honeymoon suite, had
old soaps (from other guests) lying around in the bathroom.

"He gave me a great course and if someone doesn’t know the signal for low on air or how to check his gauges, he should read the book again!!! ".
He was a open water student at Bunaken Divers,
so maybe the pages in bunaken divers book was missing?

"..agree with you that it’s not right to lose divers under water, but I never experienced this here, because in the briefing the guides make clear to stay close to the diveguide."
There was no briefing.

"but there is no way that a BCD could explode underwater."
Don't now about this, heard it from another guest who, like me, is not that good in english.
Mabe he said explodes because he didn't now the correct word.

"The diveguides at Seabreeze are in my opinion the best diveguides I ever had"
They didn't point anything out at all.

"I’m actually wondering when you told Terry about your equipment, because the way I know him is definitely not like that"
Well, I was there and I heard him.

"This is also proven by the fact that Seabreeze is one of the only resorts on Bunaken that brings oxygen and first aid kit on the boat."
Been diving with Bunaken village resort and they did have oxygen and first aid kit on the boat.

But as you say, everyone is in title to have their opinion. This is mine.
Glad that you had a great time!

Happy diving

 

[ScubaSteve]

Scubasteve:
About first and second stage:
My fault, I mean second stage and octopus. English is not my native language.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[frogfish]

I stayed a few nights at Seebreeze in July, so will comment based on the above:

- Cleaning of the bungalows was done as long as you didn't forget to drop your key at reception

- Safety stops: as quite often in Indonesia, you are expected to be a fairly competent diver - You are diving with a dive guide, not a dive master in my opinion; dive profiles generally entail a long stay at the top of the wall in 5-7m of water which makes quite a nice safety stop

- Dive guides were competent, but not the best critter spotters I have had the pleasure to dive with in Manado - Or maybe I was just unlucky with the critters

- I had my own equipment but yes the rental equipment looked quite old, and some guests asked to change

- Personally I stayed there when there were very few guests and they did not entertain me wanting to do 3/4 dives a day - only two - although they had committed to when I booked, which led me to move to an other resort

- Overall, I would say it is a decent place - The beach front bungalows are quite nice; they seem to cater mostly to travelers who want to do a bit of diving rather than to avid divers

 

[andwi]

I'm not saying that they didn't clean.
I mean that the bungalow we stayed in didn't felt clean and
even if the cleaning was done there was still old soaps in
the bathroom.
I have stayed in much worse places without complaining.
But I don't think that you get value for money at Seabreeze resort.

Looked at other resorts on the island and they seemed much
nicer att approximately the same cost. In bunaken village resort
for example you got a pool, newly built bungalows for only a
couple of euros more.

Agree with that the dives ended shallow for a guite
long time, but I prefer if a safety stop is announced.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.....and even if the cleaning was done there was still old soaps in the bathroom......

If the cleaner left the soad which I already opened, I have no problem with that. I do not want them to waste money and resources to replace a perfectly useable and hygenically acceptable (as long as it was mine) soap. Put that money towards NOT increasing prices next year when I come back

.....Looked at other resorts on the island and they seemed much nicer att approximately the same cost. In bunaken village resort for example you got a pool, newly built bungalows for only a couple of euros more......

You looked at this resort and found your judgement was off slightly. How do you know you would have been better off at these other places? You do not. You are assuming you would be because something about the Seabreeze turned you off. It happens but do not believe that you would have been that much happier at the other places.

.......Agree with that the dives ended shallow for a guite
long time, but I prefer if a safety stop is announced.

Did you tell the guide that you like to be told to do a 3 minute safety stop even if you are already diving at that depth and off-gassing (whether it is called a stop or not)? Honestly, the fact that you want to be told to do a stop means nothing. If you are off gassing while you dive, then there is ZERO need to do a "Safety stop" which is, already a noyt required safety feature built in by the agencies.

Bottom line......you had a pretty good time away IMO. You got to enjoy and do things the rest of us did not (and many have never done). Some things went a little awry but you are back and can now book another with what you have learned. Enjoy the fact that you got to do what you did....focusing on the little negatives will just be the cause for life to slip by unnoticed.

 

[Shasta_man]

Welcome to Scubaboard, Andwi. Thanks for the info, and I understand it's based on your experiences. I believe your equipment story and you can see why it's better to bring your own gear rather than risking your life on rental gear. You've attracted the "resort" fanboys, those who know your trip much better than you do, and judge your trip based on their values, and even throw in a bit of unrequested philosophy. Don't pay any attention to them. Your English is better than many of my fellow Americans.