Serious concerns about competency - Let me preface this review by saying my name is not Karen and I have never written a bad review for a dive shop. I know their job can be... read more very difficult, but I do feel like safety was an absolute issue with this shop. This is a long critique, but there is some important information here if you are planning a dive trip to Coiba. There are limited options for diving in this remote region. I was intentional to pick a well-rated dive shop that provided nitrox. More on that later; safety is the key issue here.
The first day we dove at the distant Contreras islands. Our boat was small and the crew set up our equipment in the small front section. We were given weight belts there, which we had not tried on at the shop. I speak some Spanish, but not enough to know what our divemaster Cory was saying to the crew. It felt like a lengthy conversation about the weights. Being a larger woman, the dive belt I got was rather short, but I did not think much of that at the time. After the belt distribution, they started to prep the tanks for our back rolls two at a time. We only got to see our equipment as the tanks were put onto our backs. This becomes an important issue with this shop. I am used to setting up my own tank, but the tank was already turned on and it felt like everyone was waiting on us to hurry up and get in the water. When you only dive once a year, there are certain things that may slip the mind until an event happens and you are reminded how important these things are.
Our first dive, naturally the deepest, took us to 90 feet. Conditions were cold and rough, but we all did well. My daughter (my dive buddy) was running low on air so she buddied up with another and went up. A few minutes later I got to 600 psi and wanted to go up. The divemaster motioned for me to go up. I asked about a buddy and she looked around the rest of the group and everybody wanted to stay so she told me to go up on my own. I had never done this on my own and thought it wasn’t protocol unless an emergency was at hand, but I went up solo upon Cory’s direction. Given what happened the next day, this could have been tragic. We’ll get to that later.
On our third dive descent we encountered an upwelling and we had to crawl along the anchor line in a fierce current. At 45 feet, my weight belt suddenly fell off. I kicked as hard as I could to reach my daughter in front of me who helped me ascend safely, though quickly, since we lacked the needed weight to ascend slowly, especially in the upwelling. We were both in a bit of shock and our heads both hurt a little, forgetting that DCI really wouldn’t kick in from that depth, but we were stressing. It was both of ours first equipment failure/ emergency experience.The crew spoke very little English, and did not ask us anything about what happened or how we were. The divemaster surfaced about 10 minutes later. She asked the crew in Spanish if there were two of us and they said yes. She didn’t ask us anything and went back down before we could say a word. I was shocked. Now I know she was dealing with four other divers in tough conditions, but she had no idea why we had surfaced, or how quickly we had surfaced, or from how deep, and if we had anything going on. If I had not been able to grab onto my daughter, I would’ve popped up and could have been suffering from lung expansion.
After the group completed their dive, they got back on the boat and I told Cory what happened. She still asked me absolutely nothing. We told her our heads hurt, and she did not have anything to say. I sat on that boat for 40 minutes during their dive, plus an hour and a half boat ride back concerned for my and my daughter‘s health and well-being. She could have alleviated that if she had had a conversation with us. After the long boat ride back, she finally said something about how DCI would not be an issue, but lung expansion could have been.
Back at the shop, I explained to the owner Herbie what happened and was shocked that he seemed unconcerned as well. Cory said that she chose not to ask us anything on the boat because some divers get embarrassed talking about issues in front of other divers, but that should’ve been my choice, not hers. It also feels like a mistruth because she did explain things in front of the other divers, but only once we were back to the shop, as well as telling me I had to pay for the weight belt in front of everybody. She also had the nerve to tell me that it was my responsibility to learn Spanish so that I could have communicated with the boat crew about what happened. Cory tried to push all responsibility for her not assessing the event onto me because she chose to only communicate with the boat crew and not with her divers.
When I explained to Herbie that the belt was too short and the current was so strong it must’ve pushed it off. He said there was no way that could’ve happened. He said my BCD must have knocked it open. I was floored that he thought he could make that sort of assessment having never seen my equipment fit. And, this is equipment that the dive shop gave to me. How could I then be responsible for that happening if they’re the ones that gave me that exact set up? It was appaling. And yes, an old, worn weight belt like the one I was given could absolutely get pushed open in strong current.
We had already paid for our three days of diving upfront and most of the other shops were booked so we decided to go back the next day. If they were going to make me pay for a weight belt, I was pretty sure they were not going to give me any sort of refund for our other dives. I was given a brand new weight belt, which I tried on at the shop before we left. Funny how they had this at the shop, but it wasn’t an option that first day. One of the new divers with us that day was surprised when she ran out of air during the dive when her tank said she still had 50 bar (750 psi or 1/4 tank). What?!?! Cory calmly said sometimes a tank will show an inaccurate reading and she would look at it with the air off before the next dive. What the f!*%??? Isn’t that something a shop should check before sending it out for use?? Now imagine if I had had that regulator on my first dive when I was told to go up alone after having been at 90 feet. I would have needed to emergency ascend and not make a safety stop.
It is outrageous to me that these sorts of things happened. it would be bad enough for any dive shop to have these safety issues, but especially one in this remote region where it would take hours to get to a hyperbaric chamber or get any sort of medical care this is unacceptable. Potential divers here need to be extra cautious and please take your own gear!!! I chose Scuba Coiba because I read reviews about how their dedicated divemasters have worked many years in the area. But I think in Cory’s case, it led to a complacency and lack of thorough equipment safety review that could have had major catastrophic consequences.
A few more equipment notes The zipper broke on the wetsuit I was given on the first day. Fortunately, a crew member was able to fix it, but that’s just one more example of their equipment being too old and worn. They also did not have but one size small fins. I wore a size 8 bootie and I was given an extra small (size 5/6) set of fins. I wasn’t sure if this was ok so I asked Cory. I told her that they were tight, but she told me that’s how they were supposed to fit with 3 to 4 fingers of heel length sticking out past the bottom of the fin. This information of course came along with a scolding from her about how a diver is supposed to decide if the equipment fits right for them. I asked Herbie for a size small since I couldn’t find any on the rack. I told him he didn’t have any, and he said, of course we do, other people must be using them. That was funny since they were only six divers and only two other women. My daughter had a pair that were S/M so since she has a smaller foot, I asked her to trade fins with me and I gave her the XS. The S/M pair they came to the back of my heel. Cory walked by and said “see those don’t fit right.” Astonishing, since that was the pair they gave my daughter who actually had a smaller foot and they were even bigger on her! I was being gaslit by Cory and Herbie to use ill-fitting equipment because that’s all they had.
To give a positive shout out, on our third day we thankfully had Luis as our divemaster who was terrific. We also had a bigger boat that was set up for our equipment to be right in front of us so I was able to easily ensure that our regulators were calibrated correctly (which I also did on the second day after that other diver found hers dangerously off).
On one more sour note though, my daughter planned to get her Nitrox certification and we were anticipating to dive on nitrox to make the most of our three short days there. I was disappointed to learn that we would not be able to take advantage of a nitrox dive profile because the other divers were not using it, and they were only providing one boat and one dive master. In the end, this wasn’t important because the conditions were not great and we did not want to dive longer in the cold water with ill fitting wetsuits with literal holes at the seams, but if they had been, this definitely would’ve been a big disappointment. There was absolutely no communication from Scuba Coiba about this change in plans. They were even still going to give us the expensive nitrox tanks; I had to ask for a refund.
If anything worse had happened, choosing to continue to dive with Scuba Coiba would have been the biggest regret of my life. But in the midst of the exhaustion of the long, expensive journey to get there, my daughter and I did make the decision to continue diving with them. Even now, it still feels like one of the stupidest decisions I’ve ever made and awakens me often during the night with regret and anxiety. By the way, in case you’re wondering, Herbie ended up deciding to “compromise“ and only charge me for half the weight belt. What a swell guy.
Great time in Coiba National Park - As a dive shop owner and instructor, I always enjoy visiting new destinations and experiencing different dive operations firsthand. Our week diving with Scuba Coiba was outstanding from start to... read more 
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