Aggressor Fleet Drops Rebreather Support

denzel

Jens,

You do have a point, but I also feel that you're completely wrong.
The boats we're talking about, aggressor, explorer ventures, etc are rec dive boats. For these rec liveaboard dive boats there's normally a no-deco policy, for liability reasons aswell as not being fitted out.
The max dive time varies, but the liveaboard I worked on for 2 years had a 70 mins max. And yes, if divers are nice and friendly, and very good on air, and the boat doesn't really have anywhere to go straight away, the ofcourse the 70 can be handled somewhat flexible.
But rules are rules, and usually there for a reason.

As for the 2 divers, with all their experience and knowledge they should've informed straight away about dive time limits and deco limits. And not had the travel agency book that particular trip.

IE if your diving of cairns, queensland it's all rec diving, way within limits, and some liveaboards (pushing the term) have 40/ 45/ 50 mins max divetime.

In short, it's your responsebility to make sure that the diving you want to do is allowed where you wanna do it. Wether it's off a boat or from shore.

Denz.

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Jens Kallmeyer

HI Denzel
I think this was the main reason they sued the travel agent, for not letting them know that there are these limits and how strictly they are imposed. Of course, one could say that this is the fault of the divers, but if you are willing to spend that much money and go to a specialized agent, I would assume that you tell the agent what you want, how much it is allowed to cost and that the rest is up to the agent.
I did so when I went to GBR, called the agent and told them what I want and what I am allergic to, and they booked the right stuff for me. I was OC at that time and there were depth limits by law, you had to tell the divemaster how long you intend to be down, but that was it.
There are other boats and we should stick to those and not bother with anyone who does not want to have this kind of clients

Cheers

Jens

babar

Nautilus explorer goes to cocos. They have o2 and kitty litter, and the owner and captain dives a meg.

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Babar
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Pedro MR

Actually, their are going to Revillagigedos Islands (Socorro) next year and we are going in a trip at the end of march with RBs, a new group of people using RBs from Mexico. It will be great see those sharks at el Cañon!

babar

I went with them to Revillagigedos in April, a great trip. You'll have a good time

I'm pretty sure they also go to Cocos

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Babar
Evolution Plus
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gkndivebum

I'm not entirely surprised, based on conversations with friends who have
dove aboard the Kona Agressor. They very nearly didn't let my friend
and his Dolphin aboard last summer. They used to partial-pressure blend,
and so had pure O2 available, but have recently switched to a membrane
system and have all of the advantages and limitations that brings with it.

The Kona Agressor has also lost at least one CCR diver that I know of,
back in Feb 2003. They were a little gun-shy after that.

Oh well - one more reason to not put together a "locals" charter (aside from
the expense). It's really the only practical means of reaching a lot of the
southernmost dive sites here on the Kona Coast of the Big Island; day
charters just don't have the range. Sigh.

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Best regards -

gkn
--
Gerard K. Newman - Kona, HI

RonMicjan

I have had 16 trips on the Nautilus Explorer and all but one was fabulous, I cannot recommend anyone higher than Mike Lever and crew. The one bad trip was when the autopilot malfunctioned and ran the boat aground the first day out. whoops

Gordon Smith and I gave Mike his very first experience on a KISS CCR on Boxing day one very cold rainy howling morning...and he stuck with it, getting certified on the Inspio and Meg too. Mike has 2 compressors, banks of whatever gas you need and usually plenty of sofnolime (email to be sure before your trip) Service second to none.

If agressor fleet doesnt want us, oh well... I dont moo that well anyway...

friends dont let friends dive cattleboats...

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Ron
"Life is pain princess, anyone who tells you different, is selling something", The Dread Pirate Wesley.


www.tmishop.com Diving bits etc.

Sue

diving is each time more, an industry, where money talks (and bull*** walks).
Like technical diving, why take Rebreather's divers on board that pay the same as a oc, take more time to get ready and stay longer in the water, messing with all dive schedule?
I've seen that movie before.
Most operators think: I grab 10 cylinders, in 10 minutes I put 10 divers in the water, catch 200 euros and they're out in 40 minutes, so I can start all over again ...

Sad

silent running

I gave up diving on franchise boats a long time ago, after the crew of an Aggressor told me I couldn't change the 1.1 ata alarm on the Drager I rented from them. I don't think it's much of a loss, considering the cattle boat mentality, no deco policy and other factors. Franchise boats, while having lots of amenities, really are not sea kindly. They are all ex oil tenders, semi-displacement hulls which were meant to travel qickly to and from oil platforms, with little concern for stability. They remove 2 of the 4 engines for dive ops and they then become more top heavy and prone to rolling. I have been on franchise boats that were forced to turn back because of 4ft seas...
I will only dive with owner-ops, who usually dive CCRs themselves and give better customer service-nowhere to hide on a small boat, no front office to blame if there's a problem. And the food is usually better on the owner-op boats than that steam table, buffet cruise ship crap found on most franchise boats...
I can't think of any franchise destinations that can't be accessed by another more CCR friendly boat. I think there's even 1 or 2 that operate out of a tech friendly resort in Sulawesy, although if you're going that far, I can think of better places to dive CCR. -Andy

wedivebc

My friend who owns divers choice in Nanaimo http://www.rebreatherworld.com/destinations/39.html has decided that rebreather divers are more competent, and less hassle than many rec divers who are more likely to be noobs and therefore require more attention.
To that end he has offered free O2 and diluent (probably not helium though) fills to all Rebreather divers on his boat.

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Cheers,

Dave....

Man is the only animal burdened with the knowledge he will eventually die