Seabreeze bungalows, bunaken divers. Don't go there

[ScubaSteve]

:w-t-f: were you smoking when you wrote this?

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.

 

[highdesert]

Not going to jump in with an opinion regarding the resort, since I have not been there. That will change next month, and I will post a trip report. However, having exchanged numerous e-mails with Terry, the manager, over the last six months, I can offer an opinion of him being a hard-working, good-humored guy with the best interests of the resort at heart. And having sent him a link to this thread after the initial post, I think I can safely say that he is both concerned and a bit disturbed. He is also puzzled why a supposed former guest would say these things to the public, anonymously, without bringing them up to him at the resort and giving him a chance to respond, if there were in fact issues to respond to. It's certainly not too late for the OP to do that.

 

[Travelnsj]

Highdesert are you going to be in Lembeh also? I'm headed to Bangka, Lembeh and Raja in November...when are you going?

 

[andwi]

Thank you Shasta_man for understanding.

ScubaSteve:
"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."
The soap are not my main concern, even though the soaps did belong to previous guests.
My main concern is the way they practised diving and the condition of their equipment.
Would you like do dive with a broken regulator?
Would you. if you don't have a dive computer, like to dive without a depth gauge?
I simply don't want anyone to get hurt.

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.
In fact I do know, because I changed to, and dived with another resort.

"..then there is ZERO need to do a "Safety stop" which is, already a noyt required safety feature built in by the agencies."
When most of the people in the group don't have a dive computer and some of the depth gauges dont work. I think its a guite easy thing for the dive guides to announce a safety stop
to make the guests feel that they have done a proper dive.

Highdesert:
"He is also puzzled why a supposed former guest would say these things to the public, anonymously, without bringing them up to him at the resort and giving him a chance to respond"
I did talk to him about this while I was there.
See my first post about his replies.

And now, when the resort is aware of you going there and are going to write a report as a result of this thread,
they are likely to treat you like a king.
Can you write an objective review on those grounds?

 

[Camel]

It is really frustrating when people go stay in budget operations then complain like hell afterwards. You want better quality then you need to pay a bit more money. Obviously the diving story sounds very strange but lets see what Terry has to say first. It is wrong to condemn and make a decision about Seabreeze until we have heard what they have to say. There is way too much of this stuff going on in the forums without the accused being given a chance to give his side of the story. In the middle of high season the last thing a manager does is spend his time surfing the web. I do not know the operation but I do know that Terry puts in a big effort in the local conservation and is a very down to earth straight talking Aussie. One of the good guys.
Having managed several dive operations, liveaboards and a resort over the last 20 years i do know it is impossible to please everyone.

 

[andwi]

I've come to the conclusion that it's no point
defending my experiense.
So i'm going to leave this thread to it's destiny.

Just wan't to end with encurage people to use their head while and before diving.
Check the diving equipment before commiting with a dive center. If you are
not satisfied, or feal unsertain, change dive operator. Trust your feelings both regarding
the equipment and the personel at the dive center you are thinking about diving with.
You may miss a day or two of diving. But don't take any chanses.
Trust your feelings!

Dive safe!

 

[Camel]

Andwi when u pay 20 Euro a night for accomadation including full board and 22 euro a dive I am not too sure what you expect. It is better to have your own gear but with the clamp down by airlines on luggage these days it is not always possible. The cheapest deal is not always the best deal, especially when it comes to scuba diving.
I hope that your experience has not put u off North Sulawesi as there are still a lot of great dive spots for you to see and there are some very good dive operations / resorts in the area.

 

[ScubaSteve]

All resort issues aside, I want to comment only on the apparent need to be told to do a safety stop.

If you are diving without a computer, then you (not the DM or anybody else), being a safe and well trained diver, will be diving tables. This means that you will know that you have not exceeded NDL's based on the dive plan and previous repetitive dives. Therefore you should know that a stop is not mandatory. When you start taking true ownership of your dives, you will gain true confidence and this will help you to grow as a diver.

If you are still uncomfortable and feel that any recreational "No Stop" dive without a 3 minute stop at ~15' is not a proper profile for a dive, then your training was insufficient or should likely be refreshed. You should understand that when you settle at a shallow depth to watch the critters before you surface, that actually IS a safety stop no matter whether you were told or not. Your body does not only start off gassing once somebody has told you that you are officially on a safety stop.

My suggestion to you Andwi is to go out and find yourself a reasonably experienced diver and dive with them. Dive as often as possible. Ask lots of questions. Watch what they do and ask why they do it that way. I truly believe experience with a good mentor is all you need.

 

[gndpdr]

it's kind of funny so you were so upset over the conditions of the dive gear and the skills of the crew you blindly followed them for 4 days? just by reading your first post you knew you were not happy with the performance of the life support the dive guide didn't signal a safety stop? you knew you were supposed to stop .they left people in the water but you got back on the boat again?

 

[frogfish]

It is really frustrating when people go stay in budget operations then complain like hell afterwards. You want better quality then you need to pay a bit more money. Obviously the diving story sounds very strange but lets see what Terry has to say first. It is wrong to condemn and make a decision about Seabreeze until we have heard what they have to say. There is way too much of this stuff going on in the forums without the accused being given a chance to give his side of the story. In the middle of high season the last thing a manager does is spend his time surfing the web. I do not know the operation but I do know that Terry puts in a big effort in the local conservation and is a very down to earth straight talking Aussie. One of the good guys.
Having managed several dive operations, liveaboards and a resort over the last 20 years i do know it is impossible to please everyone.

Well there are fantastic budget operations, and there are quite average 'luxury' operators. Also, there are less and less true budget operators in North Sulawesi, as everybody (almost) has switched to charging in Euros... And 22 Euros a dive is quite expensive in Asia, particularly in Indonesia, especially given that most of the dive sites are a few minutes away, not to mention local cost of labor.

I don't have an issue with people sharing their views on operators, good or bad, as long as they are genuine first hand accounts of experiences. It's quite healthy in my opinion: good businesses will get plenty of positive feedback/ free advertising, and occasionally an unhappy post. Others will have to improve, or at least give their side of the story.

Remember the time when your only option was to rely on your local diveshop/ travel agent/ dive magazine to decide where you were going to visit on your next dive trip.