Scuba Diving from the HAL Volendam

We had 5 opportunities to dive at ports of call on a 10-day cruise:

1. Nassau (Stuart Cove's; listed as Stuart's Cove). $109 for two tanks.
2. St. Thomas. ?? tank for $99.
3, Tortola 2 tanks for $111. Wreck of the Rhone is grossly overrated.
4. Dominica. 1 tank for $79.
5. Half Moon Caye. 1 tank for $69, with up to 35 divers on one boat,
at 15--20 ft.

Here are some reasons for diving the

(a) You brought too much money AND you're bored.
(b) You've never dived there, and just want to see what diving there is like.
(c) You've never dived anywhere except in lakes and quarries.

I signed up for (1) for reason (a).

I've done at least two hundred dives in Nassau, but haven't been back
there since 1994 when I dived with Dr. Dan Manion when he was training
for his scuba depth world-record. So, while I was in Ft. Lauderdale,
I phoned several shops in Nassau, and learned that there wasn't enough
time to do any two-tank dives before the cruise ship's departure at
noon because it takes about an hour (one-way) to get from the pier to
the South Side of the island where the dives are usually done.

So, I relunctantly signed up for the $109 two-tank knowing that ANYONE
can book the same two-tank for $88 with Stuart Cove's shop directly,
except the shop has a contract with the cruise ship NOT to take any
passenger unless they purchased the dives from Volendam for $109.
Damn the Volendam for its monopolistic price gouching!

When the pick up van (which was supposed to pick up at 7:30) didn't
show by 8:00 am, I decided that the delay had already cut into the
2-hour for two-tank dives scheduled, and withdrew for a refund.


The only other ship-sponsored scuba event I booked was (4) for reason (b).
That dive was cancelled the day before, because only TWO divers had
signed up for it!

So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
the other three.

-- Bob.

(Reef Fish) pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:

:So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
:ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
:the other three.

So what did you do instead, that was fun?

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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(Reef Fish) pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:

:So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
:ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
:the other three.

So what did you do instead, that was fun?

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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Dan Bracuk wrote in message . ..
(Reef Fish) pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:

:So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
:ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
:the other three.

So what did you do instead, that was fun?

FUN? Everything I do is fun. With the right attitude, even these
could be fun:

5. Watch the old ladies chewing their gums.
4. Watch the old men rearrange the five hairs on the bald heads.
3. Watch some young women sun bath with the thin string of their
bikini top untied, as if it would make a difference in their tan.
2. Go to the Topless Deck of the cruise ship and observe how ugly
some human bodies CAN look.
1. Take an afternoon nap after the 5th meal/snack of the day.

It's so much fun cruising that I'll have THREE more before the end
of January 2005, and there will definitely be DIVING on them. :-)

-- Bob.

Dan Bracuk wrote in message . ..
(Reef Fish) pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:

:So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
:ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
:the other three.

So what did you do instead, that was fun?

FUN? Everything I do is fun. With the right attitude, even these
could be fun:

5. Watch the old ladies chewing their gums.
4. Watch the old men rearrange the five hairs on the bald heads.
3. Watch some young women sun bath with the thin string of their
bikini top untied, as if it would make a difference in their tan.
2. Go to the Topless Deck of the cruise ship and observe how ugly
some human bodies CAN look.
1. Take an afternoon nap after the 5th meal/snack of the day.

It's so much fun cruising that I'll have THREE more before the end
of January 2005, and there will definitely be DIVING on them. :-)

-- Bob.

(Reef Fish) wrote in message . com...
We had 5 opportunities to dive at ports of call on a 10-day cruise:

1. Nassau (Stuart Cove's; listed as Stuart's Cove). $109 for two tanks.
2. St. Thomas. ?? tank for $99.
3, Tortola 2 tanks for $111. Wreck of the Rhone is grossly overrated.
4. Dominica. 1 tank for $79.
5. Half Moon Caye. 1 tank for $69, with up to 35 divers on one boat,
at 15--20 ft.

So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
the other three.

Couldn't you have booked dives independently in St. Thomas, Tortola and Dominica?

Lee

-- Bob.

(Reef Fish) wrote in message . com...
We had 5 opportunities to dive at ports of call on a 10-day cruise:

1. Nassau (Stuart Cove's; listed as Stuart's Cove). $109 for two tanks.
2. St. Thomas. ?? tank for $99.
3, Tortola 2 tanks for $111. Wreck of the Rhone is grossly overrated.
4. Dominica. 1 tank for $79.
5. Half Moon Caye. 1 tank for $69, with up to 35 divers on one boat,
at 15--20 ft.

So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
the other three.

Couldn't you have booked dives independently in St. Thomas, Tortola and Dominica?

Lee

-- Bob.

(Lee) wrote in message . com...
(Reef Fish) wrote in message . com...
We had 5 opportunities to dive at ports of call on a 10-day cruise:

1. Nassau (Stuart Cove's; listed as Stuart's Cove). $109 for two tanks.
2. St. Thomas. ?? tank for $99.
3, Tortola 2 tanks for $111. Wreck of the Rhone is grossly overrated.
4. Dominica. 1 tank for $79.
5. Half Moon Caye. 1 tank for $69, with up to 35 divers on one boat,
at 15--20 ft.

So, my scuba dives booked on the HAL Volendam was a grand total of
ZERO! Reason (a) wasn't good enough for me to want to book any of
the other three.

Couldn't you have booked dives independently in St. Thomas, Tortola and Dominica?

Yes, though a bit pressed at Dominica, between noon and 5 pm.

I did book a two-tank at St. John, with a shop I hadn't dived with
before because they had the pickup at the ship. Otherwise, I would
have to take a cab to the shop and back.

As it turned out, I did a two-tank with the Admieral Dive Center, at
Buck Island and Armandos. Instead of being picked up by a shuttle,
I was picked up by their dive boat at the pier directly behind the
cruise ship! (And delivered back there). Three divers, with a crew
of three. Pretty good dives, considering it was St. Thomas.

At Armandos, there were huge adult drumfishes, Green and free-swimming
spotted moray eels, clusters of red banded lobsters, and quite a few
interesting critters.

But that was the only day I dived on this cruise.

-- Bob.