Complaint Review: Aquanauts Dive Center Scuba Internships Thailand - Pattaya Internet

a copy of a forwarded email recieved, 

.............................................................................................................................................................

Please be advised that Aquanauts Dive Center, Pattaya, Thailand, have been expelled from membership in PADI.

Sincerely,

Richard Evans, Manager

Quality and Risk Management

PADI Asia Pacific

First of all, I am a regular diver in Pattaya, and have logged nearly 100 dives there. I am simply a dive center customer, and not directly or commercially associated with any dive centers in Pattaya. I have taken a PADI specialty class and know the people at Aquanauts. I also dive regularly (and have trained) with Robert Camp of Adventure Divers who posted a rebuttal. In a nutshell, I agree with both Aquanauts and the rebuttal by Robert Camp.

First of all, according to PADI standards, a diver is responsible for his or her own safety. This is a basic PADI standard.

They key role of a Divemaster (PADI) is to assist divers become familiar with a dive site and assist with logistics. A Divemaster is not required to lead "fun divers" who are qualified divers.

I am just a lowly "Rescue Diver" with a log book of 100 dives, and I regularly lead qualified divers on dive sites I am familiar with. A "Divemaster" may not even know the site unless they dive here often.

I know many instructors who have studied at Aquanauts, and all carry SMBs for drift dives when necessary. If not necessary, a diver might keep it on the boat. The same is true for other dive accessories. Each dive requires good judgment and that judgment, in the final analysis, belongs to each individual qualified diver, not a Divemaster.

Regarding O2 on board and first aid kits, I can't speak to the Aquanauts boat, but I would be very surprised if they did not have O2 and a first aid kit. Robert Camp, who posted a rebuttal earlier, always has O2 and a first aid kit, and if Robert, who is a day-to-day business competitor to Aquanauts says that Aquanauts has a first aid kit, then I would believe Robert over a "backbacker diver" with little experience, any day of the week.

In short, there is nothing in this "rip off report" that indicates a "rip off" by Aquanauts.

It sounds like the diver who wrote the report was not comfortable with diving, perhaps they have not logging many dives at that time. They might not have trained in Pattaya, as many backpackers learn to dive in places like Koh Tao where ocean currents and tides are not much of a day-to-day issue.

My experience is that "Pattaya Trained Divers" are better divers that some other areas of Thailand because the conditions are more challenging. Pattaya can have strong currents and some days the visibility can be only 2 meters. On other days, there may be no current and better (very good) visibility.

However, my experience in Koh Tao, where many backpackers learn to dive, is that the water is very clear and the currents very small.

Often these divers do not feel safe when the move to more challenging conditions. Koh Tao can be like "diving in a fish tank without many fish". The water is blue and clear, but there is not a lot for fish to eat. Pattaya, on the other hand, can be murky with plankton, so the fish have a lot to eat. Sometimes visibility is low because of so much plankton in the water, but this brings a lot of fish as well. I prefer a lot of wildlife to see versus a big blue "fish tank, with no fish" dive.

My point, in closing, is that I am sorry the person who filed the "rip off" report felt unsafe. However, the blame for that should do with their prior (lack of) experience and (poor) prior training, not a dive company in Pattaya.

I did most of my training in Pattaya and have experienced challenging conditions. When I visit Koh Tao, for example, I feel "bored" because the water is very clear and the Divemasters do not need to review the tide tables each day because current is not a factor, generally.

Koh Tao diving is very easy (and boring) for me. Pattaya diving is challenging (and fun!)

Folks who train in these "easy, bath tub" environment (like Koh Tao) can feel unsafe when they get into more challenging (and interesting) diving conditions. If a "rip off" report was filed each time a diver was scared or felt unsafe, blaming a dive center for the certified divers lack of confidence, then the real "tragedy" would be how a poorly trained diver with little experience attempts to ruin the reputation of a dive center who have trained many highly qualified divers.

My suggestion to the original poster who filed the "rip off" report is go log more dives and develop more confidence; and don't blame others for your lack of confidence and ability.

I am in no way connected to either the original complainant nor the Dive shop in Question. I am in fact a competitor to the dive shop in question with my own shop in Pattaya.
As I moor my boat close to where Aquanauts boat is I know that there is First Aid kit on board. It is possible that the intern that the complainant dealt with did not know this  (Unlikely).  But to the main reason of my rebuttal.
In fact, unless the 2 divemaster qualified customers specifically request a qualified Divemaster to lead the dive then there is customer complaint deserving, as any qualified diver, yes, even an open water diver, can lead a dive group of qualified divers as long as the dive itself is not a training dive.
Hopefully the dive leader would have prior knowledge of the site and some good navigational skills, but there is no bending of the standards (or rules) by allowing a newly qualified rescue diver who is at the moment a divemaster trainee to lead a dive of Divemaster qualified divers and I am sure that Aquanauts would have the judgement to put a capable DMT in to lead it.

Robert Camp
Owner of a competitive Dive Shop

I am reading this complaint and yes its one of many that are on this website. The question of veracity is an issue, but the issue is mostly who to trust. The company or the customer.

The Owner who also does not give his name would have you believe the original complaint is a lie. Written by a former student who is a liar. Paradoxically would then not the glowing report on their website not also be a lie. And therefor his experience was less than glowing. Just food for thought.

I am a diver,, though not a professional and when I pay someone to take me diving I expect the DM or Instructor to be just that.. not some trainee.  And again I am just a regular diver, but I was always told only DMs could lead dives. But a rescue diver can also. Or is this as long as you loophole and say its not a training dive. So your right the standard may not have been broken.. but it sure was bent like hell.

This company has a lot of damage control to do. And I think the owner should not get on the keyboard as his style is quite abrasive at times seemingly dismissive and at times outright accusatory. Reading this report I can infer that Back Packers are thieves or at least more likely to be the ones responsible for most First Aid Kit thefts in diving. And that inexperienced divers are ignorant.

So in summation the owner rather than care about repairing his reputation has "dissed" (sorry borrowed word from a TV show), a former student, his Parents, an older relative, Canadians, inexperienced divers, backpackers and your common sense.

And no I am not a friend of your former student. I just came across this website looking for someone to dive with in Pattaya. And was frankly amazed at the "owners" general disregard for the fundamentals of customer service.

To anyone reading this, what we have here is yet another in a series of attacks started by one unhappy customer in Canada who after writing one "rip off report" was shown to be a liar. He wrote a bad report here but he'd already written a fabulously glowing review on our own website. We posted the link to that review, showing the flip-flop, and pointed out that he was pressured into doing it by an older relative who'd later had a bad experience.

That report carried the name of the complaint. What followed in the days after -- and above -- are anonymous, unfounded attacks that are, to put it politely -- wholly untrue.

Even if we take the "report" above to be true, it's obvious that the writer is an inexperienced diver unfamiliar with actual standards. Examples:

1) Boat briefings can be done by anyone familiar with the boat. There is no requirement they be a certified dive professional.

2) Giving boat briefings are part of the training requirements for PADI divemaster trainees.

3) There is a first aid kit -- a large DAN kit in a study green briefcase -- and first aid kit on the boat at all times. This young backpacker didn't see it as it's locked up in the captain's cabin to prefer theft and pilfering, often at the hands of backpackers. Had it been needed, it would have been there.

4) An estimate that a drift dive was in a 5-knot current is simply laughable. This supposed open water diver was within depth limits, accompanied by a divemaster, instructor or DMT at all time and, while likely swift, the current was certainly manageable.

5) Drift dives are generally only done in a couple places. If this was a drift dive, then the dive terminates in an area too shallow for our large boat to navigate and so, yes, the diver would need to swim out a short distance to return.

6) SMBs are issued to all Aquanauts interns as part of their standard equipment package and carried by all instructors and DMs. This can be verified on our website's equipment package section.

7) Perhaps this Open Water diver needs to review his own training, as he should know that Open Water divers are certified to dive with ANY certified diver. Thus, buddying up with another Aquanauts student who is a Rescue Diver is perfectly within standards. He, as an OW diver, was not required to dive with a DM or Instructor. Only Scuba Divers are under that requirement.

Finally, the supposed "complaint" to PADI, if it exists at all, was never brought to our attention. Likely because, as shown here, the allegations are borne out of ignorance of actual standards. If the supposed complaint was filed by an actual PADI divemaster, it makes one wonder what kind of standards training that person got.

Of course, there was no name attached to this and comes as the third such "report" in a week after the original complainant was so utterly de-bunked by his own published words elsewhere. I guess the tactic now is to file as many fake, anonymous complaints with the idea that the more times this one Canadian shouts or gets buddies to do so, it makes it more true.

It doesn't.