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Disappointing in a word... Having dived with Carpe Diem once in 2019 on a ten day trip - we decided to spend a week on Carpe Diem again, this time on a deep south tour in Feb 2024.
Frustratingly the currents were outgoing - which isn't the fault of the company.
I'm not overly a complainer and usually just go with the flow and have a fairly nonchalant attitude, but I believe the following needs addressing, as without honest feedback the company cannot make improvements.
I've been on many liveaboards, and dived the deep south on at least ten separate trips.
My disappointments are with the following:-
1. Lazy briefings... for example, "you all know how to use a reef hook right?" and "you all know your signals for night diving with a torch right?" rather, than going through giving a proper briefing.
As a PADI instructor - this is not how it should be done. I explained to some of the divers - check where you hook in is actually rock not coral, and also there's nothing there that will bite! Remember to inflate your BCD when hooked in, and most importantly don't forget to deflate your BCD before you unhook! Something the team didn't feel necessary to explain.
2. No deviation to the plan - the currents were outgoing, however there are other (granted, not many) sites to dive. The crew were pretty rigid, and were just going to go wherever was easiest.
I've dived the deep south many times, so whilst the channels are what you are there for, if the conditions aren't right, then why not dive different sites or the channel walls.
3. Fresh fish caught on the back of the boat was put straight in the bottom of the freezer for use much later - I really have never seen this before on any boat... Usually part the fish is served fresh as sashimi (with the remainder frozen and used another day/night) - there was even wasabi on the boat for using with sashimi - it just seems lazy.
4. The dive leader had a "bad shoulder" that was so bad he couldn't participate in diving. The next evening he was on the back of the boat reeling in a huge fish.
Seems to me he wanted a day off.
5. I wanted to see if we could arrange a 'tiger zoo' trip, but this was not possible as it's against the company policy, and "dangerous to dive there" as you don't know if the sharks are still hungry. So the crew took us to the harbour mouth and had us dive the wall right in-front of where the tiger zoo feeding takes place.
If it's against company policy, then I'm okay with that - it just came across as double standards, and gave the impression they just couldn't be bothered to organise the tiger zoo experience - I've done this dive quite a few times before, so wasn't that bothered, but some other divers were quite annoyed.
6. And probably worst of all - water bottles....
...We were all given a refillable water bottle for the duration of the trip, to save on plastic water bottle waste - most liveaboards do this, and is good to look after the ocean with less plastic. There was also a plumbed in water cooler, so perfect. At the end of the trip to my horror - the dinghy went and got supplies (assume for follow weeks trip), along with a hundred or more 1.5litre water bottles, and filled up the water bowsers with water from the water bottles - what's the point in that. Picture attached.
Generally the crew were good, and made a lot of effort for a beach BBQ which was nice. It seems somewhere over the years the enthusiasm of the team has been lost.
Some of the dives were enjoyable and the fellow divers onboard were a good bunch which made the trip.
Sadly I won't be diving with Carpe Diem again - I've been on many Emperor liveaboards, which I find more customer centric, and there is alot of choice out there. - via 