After diving at Porto Petro area for years I want ...
After diving at Porto Petro area for years I wanted to try a different part of Mallorca to see how different it can be. At home I searched some divespots and saw the Big Cheese on the website of Albatros which looked great. After some emailcontact (in Dutch which is great) we were advised to call on the island to see what the possibilities were to go to Big Cheese according to the wind and waves.
During the vacation it seemed the weathergods weren´t in a good mood so Big Cheese wasn´t possible. Because that day was our only possibility we made an appointment to make 2 dives anyway. We had to be there at 9 o´ clock.
To be on time we arrived at 8:30 at the divebase which was still closed. Ok can happen and we waited for the entrance untill an employee arrived. We couldn´t enter the shop because the big boss who would fill in the form would arrive at 9:00. I decided to get our stuff from the car parked a few hunderd meters away and asked for a cart or something (which they used also to drive their own stuff to the boat) but this wasn´t allowed by the big boss. After getting one back I asked again and with a lot of throuble I could lend it but the employee needed to come with me. No problem but he got scared when he saw the big boss looking at him while he arrived at 9:15. The big boss entered and started immediatly with the administration of some other divers while we were waiting outside. After a while we here him scream NEXT so we could enter. Not really customer-friendly I would say. After checking the necessary cards and stuff we had to pay the dives upfront (that´s a first to me but well...). After getting all the equipment ready we walked to the boat which was OK. The guides and all were nice. May be because the big boss wasn´t there.
We got a small briefing on the boat about the dive site and we were assigned to Tony with the other experienced divers. After the jump in the water I swam to the ankerline where Tony was waiting. First thing I noticed was his mask sitting on his forehead (stress or panic?) but he was still quietly waiting on the other divers. Under water he started immediatly digging in the seagrass and under every stone until he found a Sea Cumcumber. He picked it up and shaked it a bit to spit up. As instructor I teach my students not to touch anything under water so I was shocked. This was repeated another time during the dive and all divers wheren´t impressed and looking for interesting stuff which was difficult in this shallow divespot. When we saw him pick up a seastar to I deciced to ignore him and write this piece on Taucher.net.
After a slow dive (digging to the seagrass by Tony) someone gave the 100bar sign. it took him about 5 minutes (10 bar) to ask everybody how much air they had left. After this he headed back to the boat with the turbo on. He swam so fast he was sometimes out of sight and then waiting for the rest of his group. At the boat he climbed out of the water and wasn´t paying any attention anymore to his divers in the water.
Second dive was a bit better (no touching) but still a rapid return.
After we returned on the divecenter there was a could possibility to rinse the equipment and shower. Ok, let´s fill in the logbooks and during this and a little chat with the employees we were directed to the exit because it was lunchtime and the shop was closed. A bye of the big boss wasn´t really needed but would have been appreciated but it never came.
Well in short it was a experience to do never again. I would have given this diveschool no fins but I think that´s not fair to the employees who where nice and were just doing what the big boss wanted.
During the vacation it seemed the weathergods weren´t in a good mood so Big Cheese wasn´t possible. Because that day was our only possibility we made an appointment to make 2 dives anyway. We had to be there at 9 o´ clock.
To be on time we arrived at 8:30 at the divebase which was still closed. Ok can happen and we waited for the entrance untill an employee arrived. We couldn´t enter the shop because the big boss who would fill in the form would arrive at 9:00. I decided to get our stuff from the car parked a few hunderd meters away and asked for a cart or something (which they used also to drive their own stuff to the boat) but this wasn´t allowed by the big boss. After getting one back I asked again and with a lot of throuble I could lend it but the employee needed to come with me. No problem but he got scared when he saw the big boss looking at him while he arrived at 9:15. The big boss entered and started immediatly with the administration of some other divers while we were waiting outside. After a while we here him scream NEXT so we could enter. Not really customer-friendly I would say. After checking the necessary cards and stuff we had to pay the dives upfront (that´s a first to me but well...). After getting all the equipment ready we walked to the boat which was OK. The guides and all were nice. May be because the big boss wasn´t there.
We got a small briefing on the boat about the dive site and we were assigned to Tony with the other experienced divers. After the jump in the water I swam to the ankerline where Tony was waiting. First thing I noticed was his mask sitting on his forehead (stress or panic?) but he was still quietly waiting on the other divers. Under water he started immediatly digging in the seagrass and under every stone until he found a Sea Cumcumber. He picked it up and shaked it a bit to spit up. As instructor I teach my students not to touch anything under water so I was shocked. This was repeated another time during the dive and all divers wheren´t impressed and looking for interesting stuff which was difficult in this shallow divespot. When we saw him pick up a seastar to I deciced to ignore him and write this piece on Taucher.net.
After a slow dive (digging to the seagrass by Tony) someone gave the 100bar sign. it took him about 5 minutes (10 bar) to ask everybody how much air they had left. After this he headed back to the boat with the turbo on. He swam so fast he was sometimes out of sight and then waiting for the rest of his group. At the boat he climbed out of the water and wasn´t paying any attention anymore to his divers in the water.
Second dive was a bit better (no touching) but still a rapid return.
After we returned on the divecenter there was a could possibility to rinse the equipment and shower. Ok, let´s fill in the logbooks and during this and a little chat with the employees we were directed to the exit because it was lunchtime and the shop was closed. A bye of the big boss wasn´t really needed but would have been appreciated but it never came.
Well in short it was a experience to do never again. I would have given this diveschool no fins but I think that´s not fair to the employees who where nice and were just doing what the big boss wanted.