Smaller isn't necessarily better with Mermaid Sports Divers
Written: Jul 09 '00 (Updated Nov 22 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reasonable price
Cons: Limitations of small operation
The Bottom Line: We chose not to dive with Mermaid Divers again. They are a very small operation and I prefer a larger, more reliable company that doesn't cancel dives.
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| diverpam's Full Review: Mermaid Sports Divers |
My husband and I dove with Mermaid Divers two years ago. They are a small operation - one dive boat and an office about 15 minutes away from where their boat is docked.
They were recommended by someone at our timeshare and we were able to work out a discount deal with them on three days of diving. However, since they are a small operation there were some drawbacks.
After meeting them at their office, we followed them to the dock. Upon arrival at the dock, the scuba cylinders had to be manually hauled down the dock and loaded onto the boat. I'm sorry, but when I'm paying someone for diving, I don't expect to be hauling heavy dive cylinders. Nobody said you have to haul, but it was tacitly implied. My husband helped bring them down to the boat and I help stow them on board.
The second day when we arrived at their office, we were advised that the dive had been cancelled because there weren't enough divers. I suppose we should have expected that as a possibility, but a phone call the evening before would have allowed us to sleep in that morning, instead of having to be at their office at 730am.
We went out the next day for a dive even though there were only a couple of other divers. Carlos, the owner, was planning on taking us down to 135 feet. That was 35 feet deeper than we had ever been - or had planned on going. When I told him I didn't feel comfortable going that deep - he asked if 90 feet was okay. I told him yes and my husband and I ended up stopping at about 95 feet while he went down to 135 with the other divers. Both of the other divers were quite experienced - in fact, one of them was a dive master. I got the impression Carlos was trying to show off a bit in front of them.
Our last day of diving was two shore dives. That involved about a 30 minute drive from the office and then quite a hike down to the water with our dive gear. It ended up being some very beautiful diving, but we had to swim quite a way on the surface to get to the reef. The dives were really nice - once we finally got to the reefs we went very slowly and got to closely examine the tiny marine life in the coral heads. I was totally exhausted by the time we finished diving and rode 30 minutes back to the dive shop.
We decided our next diving in Aruba would be with a larger, more professional operation, so we wouldn't have to worry about carrying cylinders or having dives cancelled.
Recommended:
No
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diverpam
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Member: Pam
Location: Collierville, TN
Reviews written: 263
Trusted by: 351 members
About Me:
~~~~So many oceans...so little time!~~~~
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