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Dive Review of Fun-Azul MV Valentina in
Mexico (Western)/Sea Of Cortez, La Paz

Fun-Azul MV Valentina: "Liveaboard in La Paz Mexico", Aug, 2017,

by Adam, NY, US ( 1 report with 3 Helpful votes). Report 9937 has 3 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 1 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I recently had both the privilege and misfortune to take a trip aboard the MV Valentina in The Sea Of Cortez, La Paz, Mexico from August 12 – August 17 2017. While this live aboard has many positive reviews, it is unfortunate that my personal experience was not shared with the others.

In all fairness I would like to start by commending the crew for all their hard work. They were simply fantastic. The crew was helpful, courteous, and attentive to the needs of the passengers, always had a smile and was simply great. They did everything they could to make this as good of a trip as possible despite the limited resources available to them. The crew apologized regularly for the conditions by which they seemed quite embarrassed.

Unfortunately, however, I cannot share the same praise with the ship due to woeful condition of the boat and the overall impact it had on our trip.

Upon our arrival we were greeted by much sawing of plywood, painting the boat, hammering etc. Our departure and access to the boat and our cabins was delayed for several hours as the operator tried to put it all together.

There was wet paint EVERYWHERE. After taking a brief walk around the boat the soles of our feet were covered in fresh grey paint that took almost 2 days to wash off. Every diver had white paint on the seat of any of their dive gear or bathing suits. The seat of all of our wetsuits and bathing suits are stained with white paint.

No rinse tank for gear or wetsuits was provided, only a camera rinse tank. This was in 90+ degree weather. For over 5 days. The smell of the wetsuits and gear was quite strong.

There was exposed wiring EVERYWHERE, open junction boxes, open electric panels and most sockets didn’t have power. This clearly is a safety hazard.

Much of the boat was left unfinished or simply broken, the general appearance of the boat was a state of disrepair. TV’s in every room but were not connected to anything at all – Why have a TV?

The laundry dryer broke a couple days into the trip leaving a woeful lack of dry towels.

When discussing this with the operators we were offered a myriad of excuses and blame, but no genuine interest in remedying the situation.

Its unfortunate that some easily rectified issues essentially ruined an amazing trip. The diving was great! The crew was great! The boat was not...
Websites Fun-Azul MV Valentina   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Thailand, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Cayman Islands, ALL Florida, Costa Rica, Pennsylvania
Closest Airport La Paz Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 82-78°F / 28-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility - Ft/ - M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile ?
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks > 2
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 2 stars Boat Facilities 2 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments All camera tables and storage were outdoors and not covered. 1 sockets available for all camera charging for the whole boat.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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