In the first place our trip was booked with Buddy ...
In the first place our trip was booked with Buddy Dive, but because Buddy has lost it´s Galápagos permit for 2014 in January, we had to reschedule to Humboldt Explorer. Our overall experience with Humboldt Explorer was not good and we wouldn´t recommend this dive boat.
At the day of arrival at the boat we were not greeted by a warm welcome or welcome drink, but we were looking into the worried face of one of the engineers covered in black oil. At that time we couldn´t know what kind of bad news this should bring to us within the next days.
We have ordered complete rental equipment as we are used to with other diving boats like Undersea Hunter on Cocos Island, but we were disappointed, because we didn´t expect such a bad quality of the rental gear this time. To make matters worse, the very professional Manager from Explorer Ventures, Jennifer Cummings, who we can truly recommend, had bought boots in different sizes especially for us, but in the end they were not on board and so we were forced to use old outworn boots in wrong sizes and got a lot of bruisers from that.
After the second day an emergency meeting was called by the lead dive guide William and he told us, that one of the engines were broken and we can not go as planned to Wolf and Darwin. We had to return to Santa Cruz for repairing the engine. At that point it was clear to us, that the worried face of the engineer from the first day was no coincidence and the crew knew from day one that there was something wrong with the boat, but they still decided to go as planned.
All the divers were very angry about the lost day at Wolf and Darwin and the communication from the lead guide was not good at all. At some point he cancelled the discussion with the guests and simply left - in our opinion this was very unprofessional. Furthermore nobody from the crew seemed to be responsible or in any kind in charge of the whole trip experience of the guests and even William as the best English speaking crew member saw himself not in a responsible role but rather in a role of a communicator between the tourists and he crew or the owner. In our opinion this lack of management on board was one of the main sources of trouble and the overall bad trip quality.
Within the following days the quality of the dive guides was below average, it seemed that the didn´t care a lot about the customers, they were just following their daily procedure. Unfortunately, this daily procedure was not well organized and often very chaotic. When the daily schedules was changed, this wasn´t told the customers so nobody knew at what time the next dive will be. If something was going on the lead guide William just rang his bell and called a spontaneous meeting. During the breaks no English speaking guide was available for questions.
The Humboldt Explorer itself is not in good shape at all. The interior is old and the electrical systems like air condition and the compressor don´t work well. So in the middle of the night air condition went out and in the morning the nitrox was not the right mix. Often not all tank were filled fully or has been not filled at all, this was one reason the daily schedule got shifted.
The condition of the ship is as more as astonishing because it just came out of a bigger inspection and repair - the whirl pool from the nice marketing pictures was not working and they told us, that it has not been working for 3 months.
The security of the divers has not the highest priority at Humboldt Explorer, at least not in comparison with other such expensive dive trips. At Palau Aggressor or Cocos Undersea Hunter every diver got an emergency balloon and even a radio controlled positioning system for mandatory use. At one day an accident happened as one of the divers was hit by a tank during his back roll into the water. He got a 1 cm long and quite deep cut on his head and was bleeding a lot in the water. None of the guides seemed to care, so he was forced to swim back to the dinghy alone. Back on board nobody from the crew felt in charge of handling the matter, although everybody was discussing whether the wound has to be stitched or not. The captain was talking only in Spanish to this none Spanish speaking guest and even lead guide William just expressed his personal opinion, that he has seen much bigger wounds, but did not coordinate any help.
But it was not all that bad: the meals were good and the service of the dingy crew was outstanding, but in the end we would never go again with Humboldt Explorer.
At the end the manager of Explorer Ventures offered all the guest 150$ and a free dinner without drinks in town for compensation and we had not to pay for the old rental gear.
17.03.2014
André und Jan (two divers from Germany)
At the day of arrival at the boat we were not greeted by a warm welcome or welcome drink, but we were looking into the worried face of one of the engineers covered in black oil. At that time we couldn´t know what kind of bad news this should bring to us within the next days.
We have ordered complete rental equipment as we are used to with other diving boats like Undersea Hunter on Cocos Island, but we were disappointed, because we didn´t expect such a bad quality of the rental gear this time. To make matters worse, the very professional Manager from Explorer Ventures, Jennifer Cummings, who we can truly recommend, had bought boots in different sizes especially for us, but in the end they were not on board and so we were forced to use old outworn boots in wrong sizes and got a lot of bruisers from that.
After the second day an emergency meeting was called by the lead dive guide William and he told us, that one of the engines were broken and we can not go as planned to Wolf and Darwin. We had to return to Santa Cruz for repairing the engine. At that point it was clear to us, that the worried face of the engineer from the first day was no coincidence and the crew knew from day one that there was something wrong with the boat, but they still decided to go as planned.
All the divers were very angry about the lost day at Wolf and Darwin and the communication from the lead guide was not good at all. At some point he cancelled the discussion with the guests and simply left - in our opinion this was very unprofessional. Furthermore nobody from the crew seemed to be responsible or in any kind in charge of the whole trip experience of the guests and even William as the best English speaking crew member saw himself not in a responsible role but rather in a role of a communicator between the tourists and he crew or the owner. In our opinion this lack of management on board was one of the main sources of trouble and the overall bad trip quality.
Within the following days the quality of the dive guides was below average, it seemed that the didn´t care a lot about the customers, they were just following their daily procedure. Unfortunately, this daily procedure was not well organized and often very chaotic. When the daily schedules was changed, this wasn´t told the customers so nobody knew at what time the next dive will be. If something was going on the lead guide William just rang his bell and called a spontaneous meeting. During the breaks no English speaking guide was available for questions.
The Humboldt Explorer itself is not in good shape at all. The interior is old and the electrical systems like air condition and the compressor don´t work well. So in the middle of the night air condition went out and in the morning the nitrox was not the right mix. Often not all tank were filled fully or has been not filled at all, this was one reason the daily schedule got shifted.
The condition of the ship is as more as astonishing because it just came out of a bigger inspection and repair - the whirl pool from the nice marketing pictures was not working and they told us, that it has not been working for 3 months.
The security of the divers has not the highest priority at Humboldt Explorer, at least not in comparison with other such expensive dive trips. At Palau Aggressor or Cocos Undersea Hunter every diver got an emergency balloon and even a radio controlled positioning system for mandatory use. At one day an accident happened as one of the divers was hit by a tank during his back roll into the water. He got a 1 cm long and quite deep cut on his head and was bleeding a lot in the water. None of the guides seemed to care, so he was forced to swim back to the dinghy alone. Back on board nobody from the crew felt in charge of handling the matter, although everybody was discussing whether the wound has to be stitched or not. The captain was talking only in Spanish to this none Spanish speaking guest and even lead guide William just expressed his personal opinion, that he has seen much bigger wounds, but did not coordinate any help.
But it was not all that bad: the meals were good and the service of the dingy crew was outstanding, but in the end we would never go again with Humboldt Explorer.
At the end the manager of Explorer Ventures offered all the guest 150$ and a free dinner without drinks in town for compensation and we had not to pay for the old rental gear.
17.03.2014
André und Jan (two divers from Germany)
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