"Your pool, your rules" an Ocean Encounters tale

[flots am]

> Christian informed me that I was rude, and that if I couldn’t listen to him, I would no doubt not listen to his instructors and that’s not why people come to work in the morning.

A great boss shields his employees from avoidable problems and you sound like a bunch of problems heading into town. I wouldn't take you either.

You need to relax. It's recreational SCUBA diving. Nobody is getting rich teaching or running dive boats and most professionals do it just because they enjoy it. If you make your presence "not enjoyable" you'll find that this won't be the last time you get un-invited.

flots.

 

[airaslt3]

Am I reading this correctly? Are you, in fact, angry with a dive operator who told you that, if you took a class from them, they would insist on having an instructor in the water with you?

Admittedly, the boat diving specialty as written does not involve much in the way of "diving" skills. But it would seem to me always advantageous to have an instructor get a chance to eyeball my skills and give me tips on how to improve, even if those tips are not specifically aimed at the specialty.

Too many places are looking for ways to charge you for classes and NOT provide much of any instruction. Here they actually wanted to do their job, and you went and found another operator who would do it cheaper and without instruction. What did you learn from the class? Did you expect to learn anything?

Firstly, I'm not angry with Ocean Encounters or even Christian Ambrosi. I WAS at the time I thought they were trying to bar me from other outfits in Curacao. Then when he clarified I was only refused service at Ocean Encounters I became confused as I thought of the analogy of if I quit my job and then my boss said, "you're fired".

And to your question about not wanting an instructor. I told them I would supplement an instructor to be on board if there wasn't one there already. They (ocean encounters) have a few dive masters and a boat captain who are also instructors. I ended up at Caribbean Sea Sports where I did get the specialty. I did a four day trip and on day two I did my boat specialty where I did boat crew duties. I learned about the boat dive specialty through the adventures in diving book. But during my last three days I did boat crew duties (the last two I asked to) and continued to learn throughout the three days. I secured/unsecured the boat from the dock, helped load other divers gear, used naval terms, secured mooring lines and identified other boats used for diving. In all, I felt I learned a lot in my three days and truly feel I am more knowledgable than when I left.

I absolutely agree that the more eyes you have on you, you can do nothing but learn.

 

[airaslt3]

I wrote the post on word, copy and pasted it. It lost all of the paragraph indentions. I apologize for that. The email conversation went bad after I asked if there was confusion on her part and then it went really bad when i told Christian I would not book would them. There was no revenge intended in the email after the fact. I made the statement I was being childish and truthfully I was laughing like a little kid and the sketch I sent him. Why was I laughing? Because I'm a child. I just wrote on here to tell the full story, which I think I did, fully telling that I was flippant and acted as a child. I self reported. I really couldn't be slamming the outfitter that badly if I'm saying I was being an idiot while telling the story.

 

[airaslt3]

You have great point and from a bosses standpoint I get that. I didn't give reason as to why I suspected he did it, and frankly didn't really care that he did because I had already told him I wouldn't book. The only thing I WAS mad about was that I thought he had me banned from another outfitters shop. Kind of like a high schooler telling another kid don't invite him out because I don't like him. Once I got on ground I finally understood and was no longer ticked. I just kinda went, "so that's what he meant." The next day I went to another dive outfit and had a great time with no confrontation, spent less money and did get my boat diver specialty.

 

[airaslt3]

Just writing the full story, or most of it. I thought I left out some unimportant parts. I doubt the other outfit had an issue with me. After my first day the dive master picked me up from the resort and took me into his work with him. There is a chance that I really can't be dealt with, but I felt I really connected with those guys and felt like I was diving with friends. When I return next june I am really looking forward to seeing them again.

 

[wedivebc]

If your emails were as confusing as this post I can see why there was confusion and your admitted rudeness makes me think they were wise to refuse you service. I agree, life is too short to deal with rude (flippant) people.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm sure that many businesses have hoped I wouldn't return. :blush: Maybe some have told me to go elsewhere...?

 

[Warhammer]

It's a shame you missed out on the shore diving from Breezes' beech. When I was there in 2003 it was very good, albeit the currents were strong on a couple dives, which ended in a long walk up the beech. I also did a few dives from Ocean Encounters' boat, including an excellent night dive. I was pleased with all of them. Things could have changed since then though.

 

[airaslt3]

It's a shame you missed out on the shore diving from Breezes' beech. When I was there in 2003 it was very good, albeit the currents were strong on a couple dives, which ended in a long walk up the beech. I also did a few dives from Ocean Encounters' boat, including an excellent night dive. I was pleased with all of them. Things could have changed since then though.

I have read a lot of good reviews from them (Ocean Encounters). I am sure the dives from breezes were good, I talked to a few of the guests there who said that was one of the best they did. I did see an Ocean Encounters boat at most of the sites I went to so the boat dives are available at other places. Caribbean Sea Sports did do the Mushroom forest for no extra charge as Ocean Encounters does as an upgrade. I didn't do a night dive with Caribbean Sea Sports because I spent all my evenings with my family. I did talk to a couple from NC that had a problem booking the night dive from OE. I guess they were over booked because of popularity.

 

[airaslt3]

I'm sure that many businesses have hoped I wouldn't return. :blush: Maybe some have told me to go elsewhere...?

I have dove a lot in the Caribbean (I lived in Panama for a year and Honduras for six months) and this is the first issue I've had. Again, sorry the original message was confusing. Do you have any spots that when you were there you thought, "I MUST come back here?"