blog/review Adventures in dive organizing: Vietnam edition pt 2

(part 1 here. copy/pasted from scubaboard thread).



So here's another update!
Ended up diving for 3 days in the end. There were some great and good experiences and some hiccups too but in the end it all came through. (However it's not rocket science, it's a holiday and really it shouldn't be that much trouble!)

But before I recount my experiences, I should clarify again, that I am staying at the Six Senses resort. It's not actually near the city and accessing the resort requires a boat. The guests arriving and departing the resort are transported to/from the mainland via speedboat. Other than private hires and booked excursions, guests are pretty much "trapped." (Can one say "trapped" when you're talking about some super fancy luxury resort? I've got a freaking butler assigned to me here!). Anyway, four times a day staff is shuttled back and forth as well but on a wooden boat that takes just over 35 minutes. The dock it stops at is called Pearl Farm and almost 30 minutes' drive north of the city. In my post above, I thought that the Rainbow Divers' boat would be able to pick me up directly from the resort however I learned that no boats are allowed here without prior permission from the resort manager - so it's definitely something that needs to be sorted out in advance.

So to start, my first day of diving was with Rainbow Divers. It was Kerry P. that I communicated with for the majority of the time. It was Kerry that was most pro-active about responding to my e-mails and getting my questions answered. And it was Kerry that finally got an answer out of the resort about my transfer over to the mainland: instead of hiring a private speedboat at $120 (the price quote I received was $150), I would take the am staff boat at 0645 which would get me to the mainland (approx 0715). From there a car would take me to the dive shop and then to the main harbor. Luckily, since I was hiring a speedboat for my dives, I wasn't under the same time constraints as those that were diving via the main boat! Things seemed to be getting later and later as departures got slightly delayed. FYI, this whole time I had Kerry's mobile number in case things didn't go smoothly. (She did call the driver to find out where he was after I waited at the Pearl Farm dock for almost 15 minutes).

I didn't bring any gear besides my mask, computer, warm water gloves, and an SMB. So I used the shop's gear. I also paid for a Rainbow photographer come along (Iain Wood).
My dive companion for this day was Mr. Anh and he was a great buddy and quite skilled at spotting all the little things.
When I asked other companies about this dive site - Electric Nose - most of them didn't go out there and/or said the diving there wasn't that great. They also mentioned that it was not in the Marine Park and that a lot of dynamite fishing occurs there. I found one review online that raved about the dive site with details and explanations and a few one-liners that said that it wasn't worth the trip. My opinion: it was well worth the trip! Also, best to get 3 tanks and make the most out of the journey!

We primarily swam around rock walls that went down to about 45 meters /147 feet (that's what people say). There's no need to go that far down however. Actually, there's not really any need to do much swimming because there's simply a lot of life hanging out in various outcroppings of a single wall. From coral to stars, clams to sponges!  Lots of little and not so little hermit crabs hanging out, and of course the nudies! So many different kinds in more easier to see sizes (about 2-4 inches) to the ones that could comfortably fit on the top of a pencil. And in such a variety of colours! Saw a few flatworms too. If you're looking for big fish, there are some here but they're not *that* abundant (We did spot a barracuda swimming along). Come here to check out the super small things!

I wore a 3mm full. The water temp in this location changes constantly as you swim between rock faces and it does so at various depths.  The dives here are deeper than at the Hon Mun Marine Park and even there I wore a 3mm full - granted they were rental suits had quite a bit of stretch in them so I had a decent amount of water flow. But then I'm used to the cooler Monterey water so maybe that helped me out a little bit.
On this day there was a small amount of current but nothing to write home about. As most of the online sources say, it is not a site for new divers.

The nitty gritty: Rainbow Divers charges $95 (US) for a 3-tank dive. The private speedboat out to Electric Nose ran me $150 (US). There was a fee for the photographer and yes, I did tip out as well. All in all, slightly a bit on the pricey side for 3 tanks but then running a boat out for a single person isn't the most cost efficient practice (there was the capt, and 2 DMs (one in the water with, and one out). In addition, I knew I wasn't going to be on a boat with a ton of other divers/snorkelers. I know that's a prime selling point for a lot of divers. I read on some other site that another company charged a couple around $65 for 3-tanks - but then that just seems a bit crazy low for me. In any case, if I had time to go out again, I'd go out to this dive site and I'd book with Rainbow Divers to take me there.

(thanks for reading! more on days 2/3 later)

Also Iain posted with some photos from our dive at Electric Nose.
I'm the white q-tip head so just disregard the human in those shots.
Also, I hate weight belts. And those fins. The tops of my toes aren't happy.

http://soulflyer.com/gallery/electric-nose.html

blog/review Adventures in dive organizing: Vietnam edition pt 3

OK!

So for day 2 and 3 I went out with the resort team and boat. (Sailing Club Divers)
Day 2 was with my travel buddy Richard. Day 3 I went solo.
Each day we were accompanied by DiveMaster Vu.
Day 2: octopus rock & tri minh treat's
Day 3: south bay & coral garden

(Some of this is kind of a re-hashing of my first post).

Now initially when I inquired about diving, I sent an e-mail directly to the resort. It was not mentioned that they worked with Sailing Club Divers. I found that out later. I'm not sure how I did though.
I sent an e-mail to the resort's general inquiry address and it was then forwarded to the "experience manager" - (both on April 24). I then sent off more questions on April 25th and since I did not get a response, I sent off another e-mail on May 7th. I did get a response to that one (which didn't even answer half of the questions I had on the April 25 e-mail). I wrote back immediately with a couple of more questions however I got no reply whatsoever after that.

Since it was getting close to my departure date, I decided to write another e-mail once again (on May 12). This time I had already done a bit more research (however evidently not enough) and decided to go with another company because I was getting the feeling that my business really wasn't wanted. So when I wrote to the activities manager, I asked about getting a transfer to the mainland because I had decided to go with another company. I got a response on May 12 telling me that in order to get a transfer to the mainland it would require a private boat at a cost of $150 (one way). I don't know why this information wasn't given to me in a previous e-mail when I mentioned going out with another operator. On May 13 I sent an e-mail to the resort thanking them for the information and mentioning trying to work something out with Sailing Club. I got no further response.
(I'm under the impression that the person I was talking to wasn't a Sailing Club employee but worked for the resort so this first part isn't about the dive operator!)

I should also add that it's at this point in time that Kerry from Rainbow Divers stepped in to figure out transport to the mainland for my dive with them. I was determined to dive Electric Nose, however my following dive day with Richard was going to be with Sailing Club.

I also sent an e-mail off to Sailing Club Divers directly on May 9 and included in my message that I was staying at the Six Senses. I much prefer to book my dives well in advance but Dom, the person I was in touch with told me that the resort maintained a dedicated staff just for resort guests so it wasn't necessary. I also asked about 3-tank dives and diving Electric Nose but their boats just don't go out that far and the timing of their dives really doesn't allow for 3-tank days. However he did say that it'd be worked out (the dives, not the site). Since I didn't pack a camera, I asked about that and I was given a price of 550,000 VND. (Oh and 2-tank dives were 4,000,000 VND and the 3-tank pricing I got was 5,000,000 VND).
As far as the communication regarding these dives, Dom seemed open, enthusiastic and actually interested in responding to my questions in regards to dive sites, numbers of dives, gear, and my not-so-experienced dive buddy.

We arrived at the resort on a Sunday. I did my first dive on Monday (with Rainbow). Upon my return back from the mainland I walked over to the activities area and met up with Vu. We spoke about diving and I verbalized what I had previously written in regards to getting into the water. He also explained to me how 3-tanks weren't really feasible but I was kind of insistent on trying so he said they would bring an extra tank. In the end, it didn't happen. (Richard, my travel buddy didn't care really).

I probably should add here that the prices that Vu gave me were not the ones that matched the prices I got from Dom. It's not Vu's fault and I do realize that the resort's prices for diving are going to cost more. The resort isn't exactly your bargain basement set up! It requires a speedboat to bring divers to their main dive boat and there's a slightly greater distance to travel however I did show him the e-mail from Dom. I think someone needs to get their numbers in order. ;-)
The thing that sucks is that higher price would've cut heavily into my tipping money too!

So Richard and I got fitted for our gear and then the next morning we set out to the dock and met up with Vu and the captain with our gear already on board. We met up with the main dive boat over at the Hon Mun Marine park and transferred ourselves over and then got suited up. When we got to the dive site, we tied up to two other dive boats (different operators) and although they also had divers, we didn't really run into them that often.
We both put on 3mm full suits. The water was pretty warm but there were some chilly spots. We didn't go much past 40 feet though. That might've been the max depth actually. It's a great site for new divers with no current or surge to speak of. If I remember correctly the first dive was pretty flat with coral spread out everywhere. On the second dive there was a slightly sloping bottom with outcroppings of coral and sand as you got deeper.  Pretty clear vis and some nice fish to look at. Also a frog fish and sea cucumbers and cute little gobies. I spotted a couple of nudies but otherwise, not much else. Not to say there wasn't anything there, I was just on the hunt for nudies since I saw so many the day before.
Vu told me that the sites we hit on this day were called Octopus Rock and Tri Minh's Treat (both right near each other and north of the island at the west end).
I rented a camera for this day. I suck at taking photos. I need a better camera to make up for my suck status.
Anyway, lots n lots of coral and clams and black longspined urchin everywhere. I love seeing the feather stars too. Personally, I enjoyed being in the water but I was pretty bored at these two sites.
Richard enjoyed the second dive more.
Gorgeous area though.

Since we were from the resort, they had a packed lunch for us which was a very, hearty club sandwich as well as fruit - more than we could eat!

When we got back, we chilled out at the activities center and I ended up booking another dive for the next day. Since Richard was going to do his manly spa treatments, the dives would be costing me a lot more since I had to pay a single supplement fee of 2,000,000 VND (according to the e-mail I got). Not sure how much it really was. I guess I'll find out! I would've loved to have gone out with Rainbow to the Electric Nose site but I didn't think that there was enough time to deal with arranging that. So I decided to go out with Vu again. Oh, and we HAD to go to a different dive site as well. :-D

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And so we did! On the next day we hit South Bay and Coral Garden. I enjoyed these dives a lot more. And it's this day that I wished I had an awesome camera (and that if I did, that I was a decent shooter). But I didn't so most of this is from memory. It was a more leisurely dive since we didn't have to worry about my travel buddy floating away. And I got to maximize my air (The day before I'd barely go thru a 1/3 of my tank before having to come up).
Again the speedboat took us over and we tied up to a couple of other boats with new divers going for their open certs. The dives I did however were not hampered in any way by the classes or other divers on the boat which was really nice. Vu and I got to take our time.
So as we cruised along I kept looking for the tiny things as we swam along over the coral. I finally decided to stop and look around and that's when I realized we were surrounded by a mounds of hard and soft coral in a rainbow of colours. It was really gorgeous.

Saw a few nudies - not as much as day 1 - but also saw some giant clams - really nicely sized ones with scutes n all. Gorgeous variety of mantel colors as well.
The sea cucumber we spotted was pretty big as well and trucking along with its tentacles out in front. Never saw one moving/feeding like that before.
There were a few shrimp as well including a rainbow mantis that tucked itself away under some coral. Gorgeous, scary thing! Frog fish, lion fish. And again, more of that long spined black urchin everywhere.

All in all a much better day of diving for me. I'd love to check out that site once more if I ever got to come back. I hope Vu didn't think I was a pain in the butt!