Blue Fin Divers Naxos Scuba Diving Center - PADI 5 Star IDC Resort — Local services in Municipality of Naxos and the Lesser Cyclades

Where to begin... I wanted to finish my Advanced Open Water course as I had started with the lessons in Thailand. I contacted this diving school as it was the only diving school in Naxos that came up when I was researching. I was lured in by the positive reviews, but I wish i would have dropped out after my first dive with them like my friend did. Here is the deal: When I contacted them, the owner, Panos didn't necessarily specify what time and which dives we will be doing (He will say its due to the weather conditions, which I understand that the Cyclades are extremely windy in July and August) but it still does NOT justify me having to chase him 2 days prior to my arrival and scheduled dive date (not time) in Naxos to know what exactly would be going on. He then instructed me and my friend to come in on a Monday night as we will be doing a night dive, upon arrival - there was no one there at the front to help or greet us, we were standing there for a good 15 minutes before being acknowledged until we decided just to take it upon ourselves to go to the reception and introduce ourselves to ask what was going on. Fast forward to 15 minutes later we FINALLY meet who we believe will be our instructor who then has a group of about 7 divers and 1 other student included in the group. He has us sit in a circle while he gives me and the other student a "knowledge" review in which the knowledge review is being read out loud by us, with the instructor giving ZERO care about the theory. A lot of the times laughing and making jokes, saying things like "This doesn't apply to us as we don't have these issues here, and perfect water conditions" We then learned it would be 7 divers for 1 instructor - and wanted to not dive due to this reason but then they called an additional instructor last minute to take another group (only when we complained and expressed concern for safety) The dive was also a shore dive - which was never stated in the email when they decided to tell us to come to the school to dive (other night dives have been from a boat in other schools). We decided to go on the night dive and the second instructor seemed annoyed at the end of the dive that he was called in, having a FULL on conversation with the other instructor about this. Mind you that prior to the dive there was complete chaos, weight belts were not distributed and I had to ask the 1st instructor 2x to double-check my tank. Sadly this isn't the worst part. I returned on Wednesday to finish my certification in which I was going to do a 30m (100ft) dive to the Beaufighter plane, upon arrival after getting dressed, I learned that I would be diving without a dive computer. Ok, I have been to 3 different schools in Greece in Mykonos, and 1 in Thailand and NEVER have I been sent out to open water let alone 30 meters WITHOUT a dive computer! It's extremely unprofessional and not only that but dangerous to do so. Expressing my concern I was reassured that safety measures were taking and that we would be making many safety stops during the dive, I decided to go on the dive to get the certification out of the way but would NEVER recommend ANYONE to do this as its not the way to go on such a dive without a dive computer. It's unprofessional and isn't the point for the student to also learn how to read his/her dive computer? Everyone reacts differently and has different Nitrogen at the end of the dive - so a dive computer is a MUST on deep dives, especially this kind of deep blue dive. The school seems to like to cut corners, and if you are learning how to dive on a serious level I don't recommend this school, in fact, there is a new school that has opened just about a 5-minute drive south in Agia Anna called Nima Diving Center which is brand new, equipment is new and the owner is extremely professional. WELL...I didn't expect anything less from this school than this rude response below bottled water is given in other dive schools for FREE - least they can give for 140 euros. Also, i was never offered to rent a dive computer - joke...

Terrible experience. Was in Naxos in August and decided to give this dive center a try as its the only one that appears at the moment online. Wish I had waited as there is literally a new dive school 5 minutes down from them called Nima Dive Center which seems a lot cleaner, with new equipment (and much more professional owner) Anyway.. Before arriving in Naxos I had to chase the owner 2 days prior to arrival to find out what was happening (which days I would be diving and what time) This owner likes to say that the lack of communication is due to the weather conditions - which I understand, in the Cyclades its very windy in July and August - but it still doesn't excuse the lack of care. When you put a deposit for a couple of dives, you expect the school to contact you don't you? Once it was agreed that I would be doing a night-dive (I have advanced open water certification) I was told upon arrival that we would be doing a night dive from the shore as their "boat broke" - verbatim from the receptionist. This already made me weary as from my experience, I've never done a night dive from the shore they have all been done from boats, and if it is done by the shore - YOU SHOULD LET PEOPLE KNOW BEFORE THEY PAY! Already annoyed at the situation, I continued and during the "briefing" i learned that there would be 7 people on this dive for 1 instructor, this instructor also was making a lot of jokes about dive theories to the group saying that in Greece, those problems don't happen. I complained to the receptionist saying that I didn't feel comfortable to do this night dive as first of all its too big of a group for 1 instructor, then the owner Panos came to speak to me as IF I was a child, trying to justify why the school cuts corners and that they squeezed two people in last minute and those people are all advanced. IT IS STILL UNPROFESSIONAL. They then decided to call one additional instructor in which after the dive he was complaining to Hugo (the original instructor) about how he didn't even eat his dinner and was annoyed that he had to come in (all done in front of us) Tanks where never checked prior to the dive, no one really introduced themselves to me, the dive school was dirty with zero explaining about COVID-19 measures even though they put it on their website, they got annoyed when i asked how they clean their equipment "of course its clean." and that's that. T hey asked students and divers to spit in their masks although its COVID time in order to defog them instead of providing the cleaning solution themselves, imagine putting a rented mask on that other people have spat on???? Panos justifying too many people in 1 dive - "it was a busy day" And also the lack of care, instruction, and professionalism to make divers feel at ease- is what drove my decision to cancel my 2nd dive with this school, I was going to dive with them on Wednesday to go down to the Beaufighter plane and I'm glad I cancelled as my friend who went and was finishing her certification was sent 30M (100ft) deep WITHOUT A DIVE COMPUTER!!

Please look elsewhere, there is a new diving school down the road in which i mentioned which might be a better experience than this. I've been on dives with other schools (3 in Mykonos, 2 in Thailand) and this was by far the worse, not even offering people a bottle of water between dives, wanting you to spend your money on their cafe/lounge area. By the way, my dive book was never stamped, nor signed. Once I mentioned i didn't want to do the additional dive, there was no apology , only attitude received.

I would like to add that based on their response below my friend did go back and she wrote her review on the terrible experience as well. Extremely unprofessional place. BTW other dive schools have the decency to give their divers a bottle of water at least.They are angry that the review is "directed" it isn't, I don't work for the dive school down the street, also HOW DARE they treat their customers like this by saying its a joke when we are stating facts? tells you a...

We had two fabulous dives with the Blue Fin team. I have to admit, the first time was especially moving for me. The crystal-blue Aegean water was enticing, and so was the chance to see a local wreck – a World War II Beaufighter gunner and bomber that was shot down by anti-aircraft guns during a mission dropping torpedoes off Naxos. The plane was in relatively deep water, 34 meters below the surface. At about 15 meters depth we could already see the outline of the plane, which had settled on the ocean floor as if it had been deliberately parked there, except that the propellers were bent which suggests they were running when the it hit the seabed.

As we reached the wreck we could see every detail of the machine, which is now home to a school of lion fish, sponges, and other friends of Poseidon. It began to dawn on me how lugubrious this experience was. We were, after all, visiting a silent, watery, empty tomb. In the excitement of the dive, I had been thinking about visibility, bottom time, air pressure, water temperature, and decompression stops. As we reached the plane, I began to think about the last minutes of the two men as they went down with the plane, one in the cockpit and another in the gun turret. They might have been my son’s age, with lives ahead of them and family to mourn them. I felt a tremendous sense of gratitude and sadness. I wished I could have told them their sacrifice was not in vain.

The dive itself was flawlessly executed. Panos made sure that we did several decompression stops after spending 15 minutes at the wreck. The dive planning was extremely clear. The anchor dropped literally feet from the plane and provided a line to keep us oriented, but the water is so clear and still it was hardly necessary. This was a memorable dive and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.

Our second dive was to the Marianna. The story we were told was that the captain attempted to ram a reef in order to collect insurance money. The first attempt failed, the second was more successful, but the ill-fated enterprise was witnessed and the captain's reward was jail time. This was a good dive too, although the original plan as I understood it involved circling the wreck three times and my preference is always for a more leisurely and...