Dive Exuma — Local services in Exuma

My family scheduled a dive trip with Dive Exuma on March 8th. This review is for any divers with relatively few dives who, or divers who have not be down recently, or anyone using rental gear, and hopefully for Dive Exuma to use it as constructive criticism as improvements are needed and safety of divers mentioned above is at risk.

Tanks were not filled before we arrived. We sat in the sun on the boat while they filled tanks one at a time. The only person who really seemed interested in making sure the divers enjoyed the what we paid them for was Tamara. The dive master and 2nd person were pleasant enough if we spoke to them, and if they needed to ask a question, but otherwise were deadpan and disinterested. I don't want someone who is just punching a clock in charge of my safety and entertainment. The dive master was wearing a dive skin that was ratty and faded. I mean peeling and with holes in it. It looked like it had spent a week in a radiation chamber. Should have been a red flag. YOUR DIVE MASTER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYONE'S SAFETY. THEY SHOULD LOOK PROFESSIONAL. GET THEM FRESH GEAR! Rental gear IS NOT QUALITY CONTROLED AND IS UNSAFE!!! Two divers (that I heard) had leaks in their regulators or BC's that were apparent immediately upon entering the water. My backup regulator octopus was non-functional. I tried it twice and got more water than air. I told them. Got nothing. Dove with no backup. My son was low on air on his second dive and breathed off someone else's 2nd octopus during his safety stop. Thank god it wasn't mine. The dive master we had should have his cert pulled. He absolutely DID NOT pay attention to his charges. He simply swam off once everyone was in the water. I had issues with weights and needed more. They were just gone. I was diving alone on my 10th dive. I resigned myself to just dive under the boat to be safe. Luckily spotted the group swimming by about 15 minutes later and was able to join for the last part. My father who has over 150 dives, but is also a fit 78 years old did not enjoy the dive as it took significant effort just to keep up. We all burned air like crazy. Nothing relaxing at all. I didn't do the second dive.

In short, Exuma and Georgetown are beautiful and Tamara is very nice and helpful, but DIVE EXUMA you need to make drastic changes! SOMEONE IS GOING TO GET HURT. The only reason it hasn't happened is probably due to dives mostly being 25-40 feet.

I hope things improve. This should have been a much...

The communication before our dive was reliable, and we received compensation afterwards. Unfortunately, the negative experiences outweighed the positives: When we arrived at the dive center, we were told that either the guide or the captain would help us with our equipment, but this never happened. The first dive was not a check dive but went straight into the Blue Hole with very strong currents. The briefing was insufficient (e.g., only one line was mentioned, although there were actually two). We were given far too little weight, which made it extremely difficult – physically exhausting and potentially dangerous – to even enter the hole. In order to avoid being pushed uncontrollably to the surface from about 75 feet (23 meters) due to the lack of weight and the strong current, we were forced to hold onto sharp rocks and coral blocks. This was harmful both to the marine environment and to ourselves. We injured our hands and had to clean and treat them the same day and the following day to remove stinging cells, care for small cuts, and prevent infection. Throughout the entire dive, the guide showed no interest in our situation. During the ascent, our computer indicated an additional stop, which suggests the dive plan was not very conservative and the ascent was too fast. When we gave feedback about the insufficient weight, the guide dismissed it. Later we learned that spare weights were available, but why we were not given any remains unclear. We have logged over 200 dives in different countries and current conditions, and in our view, a check dive should look very different. Regardless of whether it is a check dive or not, briefings and dive preparations should be conducted in a way that ensures the safety of both divers and the underwater environment at all times. For these reasons, we decided not to do any further dives with...

My partner, Jackie, and I are still pretty much rookies to the dive world (this was our 9th dive, and our last one was about 2 years ago), and never would have imagined being able to dive with sharks, but the Dive Exuma team made it an amazing experience from start to finish.

Tamara was very friendly and helpful booking us, overcoming difficulties with downed internet to make sure we were able to set up our dive. She was also very reassuring when addressing our questions and our apprehension about diving with sharks.

Jim, the owner, happened to be around that day and came along for the trip. Super fun guy with some very funny stories. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to hang out on the boat with him.

The dive guides, Johnathan, Weston, and Steven, were great! Johnathan did a fantastic job helping Jackie stay calm during a somewhat stressful descent (coming face to face with a blacktip reef shark as soon as you hit the water can be a little unnerving!). Weston and Steven are very capable guides and made us feel very safe. All three were great about pointing out fish and features of this beautiful reef. Weston showed us a trumpetfish that I would have completely missed otherwise.

All in all, an unforgettable experience that I would highly recommend. Thank...