alvinjamur

Come on aLV -- you gotta tell us what she told the men not to do --- cuss, burp, pass gas, scratch your package, leave the toilet seat up, etc.????

OK! At the risk of being labelled "impropritious", I will tell u.

Imagine meeting a lady and treating her so, and then within the first 15
minutes of meting being told that, "Men are no good. Don't pee all over
the toilet seat."

OR

being an English gent and then being told, "Britain is so small but there
are too many of you everywhere."

OR

telling the chef, "Is that what you call lunch?" and completely ignoring
what was transpiring on the dive platform....

....just PLAIN NEGATIVITY, HIGH MAINTENANCE, ALL THE WHILE IGNORING
THINGS THAT WERE SAID ON THE SAFETY BRIEFING!!

Its just an utter and plain lack of tact and propriety towards people that you
don't know. Never a good thing on any boat with a few people. As you can
imagine people that perpetrate this feel an alienation. Regardless, it never
hurts to be civil but I think its beyond some people.

I can tell u that Jim and his staff were absolutely fantastic and had to work
overtime on that last trip because there were certain divers that most
definitely posed a safety hazard. Its one thing to go dive on a luxury
liveaboard, looking at corals and taking pictures of damselfish and another
to be diving with Tiger Sharks, Bull Sharks, Lemon Sharks and with bait.
The latter needs presence of mind; a lack of it will most likely cause accidents.

- aLV

I was one of the passengers on the trip when Diana went. I and the other passenger
saw first hand on what transpired. Here's my reply to each and every point Diana
raises.

>Beware all you LIVEABOARD TRAVELERS: This boat is 65 ft. long and there were 14 people
>on it. The cabins were so small that my friend and I had to take turns going in the room.
>There was one camera area with one table which would seat one person only if they had
>their camera gear spread out....
  
   The size of the boat are fully spelt out on the site. The two dining tables are used as
   camera tables and its plain dimensional/spatial sense to realize that they can seat
   more than one person at a time. Anyone that thinks otherwise is either spatially
   challenged or is high on something.

>On Monday, our first day out, I had to go wake up Jim A. at 4:30 p.m. to ask him when we
>could dive. We anxiously waited all day. We then dove 1 time. Now I usually dive 5 times a day,
>but on this week trip, I only dove 8 dives. Sometimes, I would wait and wait to dive, then go
>lie down, ask Jim to awaken me when we were going to dive, and he would forget and I would
>miss the dive. We were not offered more than two dives a day. I was afraid to ask Jim about
>how we were supposed to know when to dive, as he would get angry at just about anything
>and I was afraid of him.

   This statement is a blatant manufactured LIE!!! The crossing was especially rough with 10-12
   foot seas. Given that Jim did not know the diving skills of people on the boat, it was a safety
   issue to be diving in seas that were rough and also filled with big Sharks. On this particular
   trip it was apparent to me that several of the safety briefing instructions that were given by
   Jim were blatantly and blissfully ignored. Several people on this particular (including Diana)
   needed more help than others as they consistently and persistently ignored the safety briefings.

   Jim, myself and others on the boat were indeed annoyed at Diana because of her rather
   vexatious attitude towards people on the boat. The pronounced negative attitude was strewn
   about on the other passengers as well as the staff of the Shearwater. All it takes is one person
   with negativity to bring down the camraderie of a whole boat and its all the more easier to do
   it on a small boat such as the Shearwater. I would rather not repeat here what Diana asked
   every male member not to do on the boat the first evening. Her query was rather insulting,
   demeaning and exhibited a total lack of tact towards strangers.
  
   Its NOT the number of dives you do for capturing images but the quality of the dives and water
   conditions that yield good pictures!! There were people on the boat that did 3-4 dives a day so
   saying that there were not enough dives is just mendacity at its best.

>We were promised that our equipment would be hosed down when we arrived in Palm Beach, but
>that never happened. We had run out of enough water.....I asked for two hangers to hang up some
>wet things, but there were none extra. We were constantly moving our camera equipment out of
>people's way on the floor..Way too crowded....

  On the last day of the trip the boat had 300G of water. There were enough hangers out front to
  hang our stuff. When you have a small boat and you have a lot of camera gear its very obvious
  that people leave their stuff around. That's the way the pigeonhole principle works!!

>Very Bad Experience. I could add much more, but this is sufficient for now.

  VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE! If people want to have hot towels after a dive, they should be looking
  elsewhere. Rest assured, the core experience will not be the same as diving on Jim's boat. This
  was my third trip on the Shearwater and I will go again.

  THE ABOVE IS MY UNEQUIVOCAL, CONSIDERED, TRUTHFUL OBSERVATION and I'm sure many
  on these forums that have been on the Shearwater will agree with.

  - aLV