Tag Archive
Going Deep with April May Precious
April May Precious and her Turks and Caicos Dive Resort is clearly a diving icon. We first reviewed her magnificent resort with untouched reefs and fishes in 1992 when it was in the Caymans and provided a phone number to call for information. We received 600 phone calls. We reviewed her T&C operation online in 2007 and again earlier this month in an email we sent on April 1. If you missed the review, before reading further in this blog see the full story here It will add to your appreciation of the blog and our readers comments. Scores of our readers responded to our review of Precious Island, so we thought it would be fun to post several of those responses in our blog just in case you decide to make the trip. As you will see, some folks didn't realize it was too good to be true. -- Ben Davison I stayed in Little Caicos for a week in the 90's, at a dive dump that was the only place to stay there at the time. At that time the vis was the best I had seen ANYWHERE, (and I've done 500+ dives in the Carib, Indian & Pacific Oceans) there were absolutely huge stingrays the size of a VW and large schools of Eagle Rays. However the rest of the diving was pretty mundane, more like G. Cayman today, NOT the South Pacific. Are you sure you weren't enamored by the young lady who runs the place? Your description of the place is not credible from my experience. And I dove there 20 yrs. ago when it was really a virgin area. -- Bob K You had me going there, did sound too good to be true. My son and I spent a great week on Providenciales in 2009. You... More »
Shark Stroking
I get all sorts of input from readers and I welcome it. Sometimes it's to tell me about some great new dive site, to tout a particular dive operator, or simply to grind an ax or two after some youthful divemaster tried to perform an unappreciated rescue on them because they dared to place their mask on their head upon surfacing. But the call I got in late August in 2002 from Dr. Chip Scarlett of Austin, Texas got my attention. "You have to drop what you're doing and check out these white shark photos on this guy's website," he gushed enthusiastically into my speaker phone. "C'mon, Chip," I yawned. "I've seen more white shark images than a sea lion at Dangerous Reef. Don't you think that's a subject that's been covered enough. What's this about: more flying shark footage or are these whites actually flying planes now?" "Just check it out, you'll see what I mean." Chip and I have done some extended diving together in Palau and Yap and he's as accomplished a photographer as most pros. I figured if he was excited about some photo gem he had uncovered, I'd probably be well served to check it out. So I dutifully copied down the cryptic instructions and then summoned one of my youthful twenty-something staff to help me wade through the Internet because at that time I was the last executive on earth to learn how to use the Web properly. I've got staff members who can't spell or walk fully erect but they can zip through the Internet like a Jimmy Dean sausage patty through a wolverine with irritable bowel syndrome. In a matter of seconds I was connected and viewing the images. I was enthralled and had to banish my assistant who rapidly lost interest once he found out the site held... More »
Unfulfilled Expectations: Whose Fault?
We recently hosted a dive trip where most of the guests departed the boat extremely unhappy. This is very unusual, and very regrettable to us. It did make me think, however, about why this happened and if any of our customers' dissatisfaction could have been prevented. No doubt the boat's mechanical problems were the major factor. But, the guests were able to dive every day, just not every place they thought they might go. The mechanical problems also made one of the most expensive cabins uninhabitable. The guests assigned to that cabin were greatly inconvenienced, but they preferred to sleep in the salon rather than exchanging rooms with us. These folks certainly did not get good value for their money. We have been around this business for a long time and know that boats are boats, and if they can break down, they usually will. Stuff happens, even with the best of intentions and maintenance. Together with the company, we are going to come up with realistic compensation for everyone. What I don't really get was the progressively worsening attitude of some guests as the trip proceeded. They were on the boat for the duration. They were diving in a remote and exotic location. They were seeing animals that they had never seen before. They had also paid a lot of money for the trip. Why couldn't they make the best of it and enjoy what they were experiencing instead of constantly looking for more reasons to be angry? With a few weeks of hindsight, I think the power of unfulfilled expectations caused most of their discontent. These people had not really done their homework on the area. They expected to dive in consistently clear water in a place not known for great visibility, they wanted drift dives, but refused to dive... More »
Great Expectations
The reason I am writing this is that, right now – November 2012 – I am sitting on a great dive boat – MV Golden Dawn – after diving some of the World’s Best Dive Sites – eg. Carl’s Ultimate and Newton’s Bommie, at Eastern Fields, and I am disappointed. This is because the visibility sucks. I’ve dived here several times before and each time the visibility has been what you expect in the off-shore Coral Sea – almost unlimited. But this time it is really bad. Near the surface visibility is down to only 5 metres, deeper a little better. Early in the cruise we were able to dive to 25 m and get below the murk but now the visibility is still only 15 - 20 m down deep. The murk is not plankton or spawn, it is slimy run-off glop. I am disappointed for myself because I love to dive these usually super-clear environments that abound with marine life, but I am more disappointed for the guests aboard who came here expecting clear water. Their Great Expectations have been shattered. Having said that, these experienced divers are laughing at their misfortune, not crying over it. That is because they know that, hey! It’s Nature, Stuff Happens! So I have been hearing stories of other trips they have made that did not quite work out the way they expected. Stories where it rained every day, where the winds blew so strongly the destination had to be changed to one more sheltered (and less brilliant). Even trips where they caught a cold on the way out and were unable to dive when everything else was perfect. Tell me about it! Nature can wield a cruel cudgel but my fellow divers also told tales of trips where boats broke... More »
Blue Water, White Goddess: A Tale of Fiji
As I've oft noted in my various dispatches from the ends of the earth, timing can be crucial to a good dive experience and especially so when it comes to the company you keep. But when a friend said they had someone they wanted me to meet I figured it was another well-meaning soul who wanted me to wax philosophically on the technical aspects of diving or to lament how determinism had faded recently from theoretical physics. They had just returned from Truk where they had met this delightful lady they wanted to introduce me to: Lauren Hutton. Without a moments hesitation I volunteered to wax anything that she might need attended to. It's fast thinking like that in tough situations that has kept me alive this long in a world filled with treachery and nuance. A veteran of more than thirty movies and a stellar career as the first millionaire super model, Lauren Hutton is an icon of femininity and beauty with perhaps one of the most recognizable faces in the world. (Well, Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky can be best regarded as mere blips on the current affairs radar.) But it seems that my friend had convinced her that we had a lot in common and should adjust our calendars to allow an arranged introduction. So what kind of idiot is going to pass on that offer? Okay, maybe Elton John or Liberace might not have viewed the liaison with such unbridled enthusiasm as I mustered, but I don't think Ellen Degeneres would have passed it up. So after months of phone tag and messages exchanged between our assistants, in January 1998 I found myself on the way to collect her at the airport in Portland, Maine right in the middle of the most horrendous ice storm to hit the northeast... More »
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