I do not post about my dive adventures very often but when I do they
are typically to give a positive plug about an operator that I have
used. Unfortunately, this report is not postive. I am posting it
because I feel too many errors were made by the operator, Rich Coast
Diving that others should steer clear until they clean up their act
and act like a proper operation.

We decided to dive out of Playa del al Coca because of reports that
great criters could be found even though the visability was not be
like other dive areas. This was the case we saw everything from frog
fish to giant mantas. Great diving.

However the divemasters need a bit of improvement. Overall they were
fine but on the day we went out to the Bat Islands at a cost of $60
per dive they did not bother to check the tanks. 10 of 12 tank were
shorted by 250-350 psi. This may not sound like much. But the seas
were a bit rough and with the currents it was not a day to push the
tank down. As such most of our three dives were 30-40 minutes for
40-80 foot dives. Normally we would have stayed downed 50-60 minutes.
The operator gave us a paltry 15% discount because of being shorted. I
had suggested that we just be charged for 2 instead of 3 dives which
would have been a 25% discount.

Other than that the on water operations were good although I am pretty
sure my knife got knicked as it did not come back after a night at the
dive operation with the rest of my gear.  Each night gear was taken
off the boat, rinsed and then placed back on the boat in the morning.

Where the real problem was with the front office. The office always
seemed a bit chaotic, with no real consistancy. Case in point, the
operator offered dive packages. However, the packages were hardly
that. The first time I asked for a package price it was for their
standard package of 7 nigthts and 5 days of diving. We wanted six
nights with five days of diving so I asked for that and I was given a
price that was $15 less than the al-a-carte price. Not much for the
amount of diving and a hotel. Pretty paltry actually. So not  much of
a discount but since they seemed pretty flexible and the diving was
not too expensive so we continued our plans. When we finished diving
we asked for our bill. They charged us full price. After raising a bit
of stink we got a $25 discount. $25 is what the B&B operator, Villa
Flores would have given us for paying cash. Absolutely no discount for
the diving. This seemed rather shady.

The final blow was when we gave them our credit card to pay for the
bill. They informed us that it would be an additional 5% to use our
credit card. A big no-no as the credit cards prohib this practice. We
have since reported this and are actively working to get the 5% back.

My reccomendations would be to search out other dive operators in the
area. I highly reccomend the Villa Flores as a place to stay. The
owners were very friendly and have a great staff.

Cheers,

Allen