The DIVER Travel Planner

DIVE CENTRES
The success and enjoyment of a diving holiday depends not only on the destination, but also on the people who organise your dives.
You could be in one of the best dive spots in the world, with superb visibility and amazing marine life, but if the dive centre is poorly run or simply not up to scratch it will seriously diminish the experience.
A little homework before you go will pay handsome dividends.
When booking your holiday, look for evidence that the centre meets recognised standards. If it is a BSAC premier school or a PADI 5-star centre you know it is going to be checked and will almost certainly offer a high standard of diving, tuition and equipment.
Of course, that does not mean that those without such ratings are not going to be as good or that those that do have them are all perfect.
A good way to ensure peace of mind is to speak to divers who have been to the centre before and get their views. Divers often choose a destination on the recommendation of others.
Call the dive centre and ask for the names and telephone numbers of UK divers who have been there so that you can call them. If you are spending upwards of Ł1000 on a diving trip to the other side of the world, a telephone call costing a few pounds to ensure peace of mind must be worth it.
Another good way to find out about your chosen dive location and dive centre is to use the Internet. Diver's own website, Divernet has a forum page where you can post questions on any diving-related topic and await answers. Surfing the site will show whether previous users have already posted questions or answers about the centre, and you can contact them as well.
If you have not booked up your diving before you get to your destination, take time to check out all the local centres. Go down to the dive-boat docks as soon as you can and talk to divers coming off the boats. They are usually only too happy to talk about their dives - and the quality of both the sites and the dive operations. Is the boat captain responsible, using only buoyed sites and not anchoring directly on coral reefs? Are divers logged in and out of the water?
Speak to other divers staying at your hotel, then visit a couple of centres and ask about dive packages. Ask to look at the equipment they use and check to see if it is well-maintained.
If they are prepared to accept you on dives just by looking at your qualifications, be wary. Any dive centre worth its salt will insist on checking you out first, even if only for a few minutes at the start of a dive.
When you are happy with what you find, book up - and enjoy.
Then, when you return home, make sure to tell other people. That way, you will
be helping reliable centres gain a wider reputation, and perhaps prevent someone from wasting their money by picking the wrong one.

Appeared in DIVER - June 1999