Oct 23- Nov 1 2009... It's a little late.
We spent 6 excellent days with Dive with Martin. 5 of those days David was the dive master, we have nothing but praise for his skills and knowledge of the reefs. We dove 1 day with Miguel, although the diving was good, his lack of enthusiasm made a lack luster dive. Maybe just a bad day for him... And we will be diving with them on the next trip for sure!
We only had 1 day with 8 divers on the boat and that day 2 divers were finishing up their Advanced and we paired off with their instructor. Most days were 4-6 divers. Since all of us were advanced divers we dove the Puna Sur reefs most of the time, and the sites on the southern end, Chun Chakab & Macaibo were scheduled but due to the rough condition that week we didn't make it. Everyone dove to 500psi, if you hit it first you surface and the rest stayed down untill they reched 500psi. Most of the shallow dives we were getting about 60 minutes of dive time.
We managed to see 2 lion fish (4"-6"), David made an attempt to capture one but it darted back into the coral, the second my wife found and by the time David arrived it had darted back to the recesses of the coral, serveal attemps were made to try to get at it, but he couldn't. A few nurse sharks, Moray Eel, a bunch of turtles and the usual marine life.
We stayed at the Sabor side of the Wyndham, there were only about 15 rooms occupied during our stay. Rooms and service were superb! The resort was like a ghost town it seems, most of the ocean front rooms being remolded and allot of work being done. The sewer smell was almost gone my mid stay, they fixed the sewer pipe by the photo booth outside the main lobby. The only real downer on the trip was the taxi ride back to the airport. The bellman showed the driver our voucher for the return trip from Greyline, and he said that they accepted it, after arriving at the airport the story changed and wanted $30 for the ride. After going back and forth for a few minutes I broke down and paid. Orbitz was called the next day and our return trip portion was refunded along with the $30 we spent. Orbitz also issued a voucher for a free r/t transportation on the next trip.
It did seem that some of the guest there had a run of bad luck... 1 couple rented a scooter and laid it down, the next morning had a bad case of road rash and bought themselves a scooter thinking insurance was not needed. Another woman face plated on the pool deck and spent the night in the hospital with 2 broken ribs, another one found an open manhole after wandering home one night from the bar.
The "pier fee" from Sand Dollar is another pain in the butt. If you thought the time share people are bad, Sand Dollar's people will make them look like children. These people were constantly harassing everyone not diving with them. It went from saying the (insert dive shop) was dangerous, didn't have a good boat, diver masters we not trained right, etc. They were on your tail wanting their $3 every day, even if you paid for multiple days. It's been mentioned here that Sand Dollar built and owns both the wooden and concrete piers at the Wyndham, but a sign at the wooden pier states that they are only the concessioner for the pier and Wyndham. I know there were numerous complaints to the Manager of the Wyndham about the actions, ourselves included. I did receive a letter this week from Wyndham Corporate stating that they are aware of this issue and will be correcting it soon.
Will post pictures soon.
We spent 6 excellent days with Dive with Martin. 5 of those days David was the dive master, we have nothing but praise for his skills and knowledge of the reefs. We dove 1 day with Miguel, although the diving was good, his lack of enthusiasm made a lack luster dive. Maybe just a bad day for him... And we will be diving with them on the next trip for sure!
We only had 1 day with 8 divers on the boat and that day 2 divers were finishing up their Advanced and we paired off with their instructor. Most days were 4-6 divers. Since all of us were advanced divers we dove the Puna Sur reefs most of the time, and the sites on the southern end, Chun Chakab & Macaibo were scheduled but due to the rough condition that week we didn't make it. Everyone dove to 500psi, if you hit it first you surface and the rest stayed down untill they reched 500psi. Most of the shallow dives we were getting about 60 minutes of dive time.
We managed to see 2 lion fish (4"-6"), David made an attempt to capture one but it darted back into the coral, the second my wife found and by the time David arrived it had darted back to the recesses of the coral, serveal attemps were made to try to get at it, but he couldn't. A few nurse sharks, Moray Eel, a bunch of turtles and the usual marine life.
We stayed at the Sabor side of the Wyndham, there were only about 15 rooms occupied during our stay. Rooms and service were superb! The resort was like a ghost town it seems, most of the ocean front rooms being remolded and allot of work being done. The sewer smell was almost gone my mid stay, they fixed the sewer pipe by the photo booth outside the main lobby. The only real downer on the trip was the taxi ride back to the airport. The bellman showed the driver our voucher for the return trip from Greyline, and he said that they accepted it, after arriving at the airport the story changed and wanted $30 for the ride. After going back and forth for a few minutes I broke down and paid. Orbitz was called the next day and our return trip portion was refunded along with the $30 we spent. Orbitz also issued a voucher for a free r/t transportation on the next trip.
It did seem that some of the guest there had a run of bad luck... 1 couple rented a scooter and laid it down, the next morning had a bad case of road rash and bought themselves a scooter thinking insurance was not needed. Another woman face plated on the pool deck and spent the night in the hospital with 2 broken ribs, another one found an open manhole after wandering home one night from the bar.
The "pier fee" from Sand Dollar is another pain in the butt. If you thought the time share people are bad, Sand Dollar's people will make them look like children. These people were constantly harassing everyone not diving with them. It went from saying the (insert dive shop) was dangerous, didn't have a good boat, diver masters we not trained right, etc. They were on your tail wanting their $3 every day, even if you paid for multiple days. It's been mentioned here that Sand Dollar built and owns both the wooden and concrete piers at the Wyndham, but a sign at the wooden pier states that they are only the concessioner for the pier and Wyndham. I know there were numerous complaints to the Manager of the Wyndham about the actions, ourselves included. I did receive a letter this week from Wyndham Corporate stating that they are aware of this issue and will be correcting it soon.
Will post pictures soon.
