Adventures in dive organizing: Vietnam edition
So I'm learning that the resort I'm staying at outside of Nha Trang is pretty damn remote. Or it might not be. But I do know that getting out of the resort and into town at odd hours will set you back $150 - each way
( Read more... )
$150 (US).
Each way.
Also, that boat doesn't go to the main harbor, but to another harbour (pearl farm) about 30 minute's ride north.
Now I did ask the resort about transfers into town in a previous message, however they neglected to respond. There are free slower boats that make the journey however those happen during normal workday hours. Not at 5am type hours when you're attempting to meet up with dive boats at 6-7 am!
So yeah. Right now, just the boat ride to the dock to go diving is costing more than or just as much as the diving!
And now I'm thinking that perhaps the $200 2-tank dive the resort offers isn't *that* crazy a price!
The resort works with Sailing Club Divers, another company I wrote. When I initially contacted them, I got their basic "in-town" price list. Another e-mail was sent off in which I mentioned that I was staying at the Six Senses and got another price list. It almost seemed like a scam but it's not. Basically their "annex shop" is run from the resort with a dedicated resort staff and instead of taking you into town, a speedboat takes you directly to meet up with their dive boat (with divers from town) at Mun Island. It's a later departure though, and perhaps that's why they don't offer 3-tank dives. (I've written them back and asked about this addition again though. I figure if my buddy and I are taking a private boat to meet them, perhaps we might be able to head out earlier and do one more dive).
So for me, unfortunately, I've gotten great communication from Rainbow Divers however with all the hassle of getting into town from the resort and the crazy "hidden" costs, I'm going to cancel the Mun Island dive day with my buddy and most most likely go with the resort/Sailing Club instead.
However, just because of the great communication and dealings I've had with Rainbow Divers, I'm going to splurge on that private $300 speedboat to Electric Nose (and get picked up at my resort directly).
Honestly, a lot of these places have great reviews on tripadvisor from variety of guests. But it seems to me that most of these reviews are from people that are getting their initial open water certs. Others are taking refresher courses. And I'm not saying that they're reviews don't count, but I'm trying to recall if any of the reviews I read came from divers that have experienced booking with other operators in other areas on a regular basis.
Now aside from the slow communication, the thing that annoys me most so far is the type of response I get after the initial dive inquiry. Sometimes even after a couple of e-mails too! As I mentioned above, the PADI courses are heavily pushed (open water, AOW, EANx, rescue, etc. ) in addition to the refresher and discovery dives.
I could understand that if I wrote asking about trying out diving for the first time but I did not.
I usually include my certs in my e-mail and I often add the fact that I'm excited to dive in nice, warm water as opposed to my regular more chilly home base of Monterey, CA.
I've gotten the feeling that this whole process seems kind of like a PADI machine where there's an urgent need to get as many people into the system rather than treat them as divers with a variety of experiences. Perhaps it'll change but I much prefer operators that treat divers like individuals rather than new meat for the PADI grinder.
Sure, PADI is what it is (and my certs are via PADI too) but when I work with a dive company that I like, it's usually the company and their ideas, individual employees, and business practices that stand out. I'm sure after I get over to Vietnam this opinion will change. I hope it does!
Anyway, that's been my experience so far. I made a personal blog post but I took out most of the ranty, colourful language and tried to make this a little more straight forward. I'll post more as I learn things and hopefully this will help future visitors to the area!
Reply
Leave a comment