i do not think that the original poster was given any compensation or any kind of treatment that they felt was acceptable.

take your diving lessons in aruba and enjoy!!!

i am not making excuses for UNIQUE

i am however one to give this well established company with a terrific owner and some terrific employees the true "benefit of the doubt". (yes all of their employees should be terrific)

emmitt is one helluva good guy and is incredibly capable and competent. my experiences with him is that he runs a tight ship and safety is the only issue at all times.

i do question the original poster's remarks:
"Poor entry control in 4 ft seas - hang line wrapped under the boat putting divers in danger".

if this person is a PADI instructor why would she take part in such a "train wreck"? as a PADI instructor it would also to have been her obligation to try to make things right , even though she was a paying participant.

bottom line folks is to do your home work.
keep reading and researching dive places on aruba
i can assure you that UNIQUE 's reputation is head over heels better than Red Sail or Mermaid or Windie and the others.

i gave up my PADI instructor trainer certification a few yrs ago due to arthritis in my neck. (i taught PADI instructors how to be instructors)

If it is indeed a safety issue, shame on Unique.
If it is a group of crappy employees showing disdain as the original poster claims...........shame on unique.

I give Emitt the benefit of the doubt and hope that the original poster has a real good communication sessions with him.

i look forward to hearing of the outcome of their correspondence.

andrea

Lady Diver,
I have registered with Aruba.com as of Monday and can now reply
in regards to your dive. Our dive operations Manager explained that he did first offer you another dive and or refund of the second dive. Sorry that their was missunderstanding in communications. Offer still stands! Give me a e-mail me at uniquesports@setarnet.aw and we will figure it out.
Several things have changed since your postings and us reviewing dive record sheet from your dive as a company.
1) We now have a spare drift buoy on board each dive vessel. Since the dive buoy that was used on your first dive went flat.
2) It is now mandatory that the Dive masters/Instructor/Operations Manager inform owners immediately of customer service issues.
3) Dive briefings that begin prior to departing from the pier will stop until all divers who may have left to retrieve personal articles are back on board.

As an owner of Unique Sports we are always concerned with safety issues. We have posted in our shop that we require a minimum of 25 logged dives or at least the first dive with us
to be on the West Coast or hotel side before a diver can go South
where the conditions on surface and currents are not predictable.
Since you are an Instructor even though your last dive was over
7 months ago you obviously had sufficient amount of dives to go South. We understand that you were very seasick and sorry that you had to deal with it. You have a nice dive buddy that would miss a dive to stay behind with you as you fed the fish. My wife/ buddy would have went on the second dive with the others.
Sincerely,
Emmit

I have been in touch with Emmitt at Unique and we are working things out - at least he has been very responsive and for that I commend him. He has also put into place some company policies that might avoid this kind of problem

as to my original post
the hang line/drift line wrapped around the boat as the divers entered the water and as I as the first one in the water I could not have changed things. I do not advertise that I am instructor when I am on vacation and it is not my place to step into someone elses job - they are supposed to know how to handle this stuff - I do for my own classes. A true hang line would have been the better choice. I did what any good diver did and moved off the line onto the anchor line and waited for the instructor on the bottom... a much safer place to be.

I DO falult the staff for their lousy attitude and Emmitt and I have emailed regarding that. He will look into it.

AND I feel I did do my homework in checking with your forum which higly reccomended Unique as well as my diving club which had a positive experience with Unique. I think it was just one of those days whcih was not a good one. It happens - happens.

Come dive with me in Maine in Dry suits withe 5 foot visibilty and 50 degree water......

For all the divers that have read this thread.

Emmitt and I have come to a fair solution and he has assured me that he has put new procedures in place to help avoid some of the issues that I encountered.

In return, I have offered to get together with him when we come to Aruba next and I have offered to dive with his shop to see if the new procedures have improved the diving experience.

I believe the aim of my original post has been met - to improve diving for all.

It's good to hear that it seems like you and Emmitt have resolved your issues.

3 weeks in Aruba Dec. 16, '08 - Jan. 9, '09
Aruba since 1985

Now thats the way to run a business.

Excellent compromise!

Have Fun, Pete

Thank You Emmit, for answering Ladydiver. My wife and I will be diving with you july3 - july8 and the start of this thread had me sort of nervous. I will however say that your shop is recommended on the scubaboard which is why you will get my money and time. I personally feel you displayed true professionalism in your post so again thank you.

John Seales
Kim Evers-Seales

i am glad that unique water sports replied and reacted.

let's take a different view on this (humor me).

let's say "lady diver" had the same difficulties in Grand Cayman or Gloucester or in the Fla. Keyes. probably no one i suspect would give her the time /suggestions/sympathy........the owner of the dive shop/tour would probably not reply or make ammends.
(that is my opinion)

my point is..........we are a community of helpful, kind, proactive individuals that are continually promoting all the GOOD aruba and her people have to offer and we try to make certain that all of the "good", significantly outweighs any "bad".

another point is, the aruban citizens are kind caring and laid back folks. their lives and livelihoods depend on tourism.......even those that do not work in the tourism industy directly.

aruban folks love tourists. they love the fact that it keeps food on their plates and a roof over their heads. they love the fact that they are well educated. they love the fact that tourists usually treat them with respect. they have a much better way of life than folks in any of the other caribbean countries.

education is the "key" with arubans. their education/public school system is tops.

aruba = utopia...............certainly not, but their way of life and their attitudes are certainly envied by many.

again, emmitt and his crew have reacted and all of us are grateful and our faith got an extra kick in the bum.

lady diver thank you for the post and everyone else "way to go"
thread is now closed.
have a good weekend friends
andrea