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Let me preface this by saying I have around 1400-1500 dives across nearly 22 years of having my certs, and have worked in a few shops leading 100s of dives and trips myself.
Overall, this was the worst dive experience I have ever had. I've previously dived on bad air that made me sick, in cold lakes in the UK where vis can be so bad you can't see your hand in front of your face, and on dives where I've had serious Bali Belly attacks mid dive.
By far the worst thing was Neil (I'm guessing the owner). Neil was very good at making you feel like you were imposing on his boat day out - from constant passive aggressive comments, having to have the last word on everything, blaming everything on anyone else, being rude to his workers, and generally trying to belittle everyone - he was not someone I ever want to have to encounter again. I'd liken him to a friend's unreasonably irritable/grumpy/emotionally abusive dad that you are incredibly sorry your friend has to deal with.
The communication was terrible, it was a miracle if I could get a response to basic questions and even then they wouldn't answer them - just answer the question they wanted you to ask. A friend who was meant to come on the trip with us booked on but never received any comms on the dive. Turns out they were actually fully booked but didn't feel like telling him he'd paid for a space that didn't exist. Even in person it felt like a real struggle to squeeze any answers out to questions like - where are we getting the boat from?
Ah the boat... their 7m RIB. It's pretty embarrassing really. Probably ok with 6 maybe 7 people on with gear. Cramming ten people on for a "45 minute" journey was seriously uncomfortable and a terrible way to start the day. There's no shade so make sure to use plenty of sunscreen and bring some toupee tape to keep your hat attached to your head. Also, bring a physio so they can work out the aches in your spasming back and bum from getting smashed up and down on the pontoon for 70 minutes (definitely not 45). The email from NZDiving also says to bring towels, sunscreen, food, water, etc. but... you can't bring it on board or you'll have Neil telling you off for bringing the items you were told to take with you. We managed a bag between three of us which Neil threw around the boat when it needed to be moved.
The boat is jampacked with people and gear so it's really difficult to set everything up and comfortably put your BCD and equipment on. It would have been easier to throw everything into the ocean and put it on there but after Neil's angry comments it didn't seem worth it.
The dive site itself was great but unfortunately the divemaster was saddled with 7 divers from a range of different certs to take down. It took c.30mins after getting in the water before we started the dive due to buoyancy issues, tanks, weighting, not knowing how to do a dive briefing, etc. My partner's gear she brought herself also got damaged when paired with NZDiving's equipment so that wasn't great either (naturally Neil blamed her).
I could keep listing things but this is already my longest review so I'll put some key points:
Pros
• The gear was kind of maintained - only one part of my regulator was leaky, which I had to fix myself.
Cons
• Everything else
• Neil gets a special mention here because he should not be in a job where he has to talk to people - via 