Vela Luke, Croatia.

[Paul Oliver]

My trip report for this is now on the BSAC Travel Club site at the link below:-

http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports/croatia3

Complete with the pictures i could not manage to post on here :o

[Alan Ewart]

Thanks for sharing this Paul. Seems like a good one to avoid. Out of interest did you pay your bills?:confused:

[Paul Oliver]

Yes we had paid in advance. To be fair to them the guy with the chest infection got a refund on his missed dives, he only did 3 of the 10 paid for.

I know full well we are not the only unhappy punters from this year.

[Alan Ewart]

Yes we had paid in advance. To be fair to them the guy with the chest infection got a refund on his missed dives, he only did 3 of the 10 paid for.

I know full well we are not the only unhappy punters from this year.


Shame. It gets right on my wick when you get service like this. I hope you told them that you would advise anyone who would listen to give thm a very wide berth!! Interesting that there is a trip report from Steve lovell on the travel club website recommending this operation!! Go figure, amazing how standards of service can vary.

[Paul Oliver]

Oh yes :) i doubt i'm the only one doing that, in case you missed it this is really a follow up to one of the Guys letter to Dive Magazine on Sloppy Service. Page 108 Nov Issue.

[Alan Ewart]

Oh yes :) i doubt i'm the only one doing that, in case you missed it this is really a follow up to one of the Guys letter to Dive Magazine on Sloppy Service. Page 108 Nov Issue.


Yep saw that. Did you see Steve Lovells trip report? He seemed to think they were ok. Strange how things vary from group to group.

[Paul Oliver]

Yes, i've chatted to him and he was not happy with some areas, like the depths he got too.

There is lots about it thats good and it would be worth a visit with the old owner, trouble was his regular client base was so big you would struggle to get in there.

[Paul Watts]

Finally ;)

Interesting to hear your experience. I don't think I've ever been on a trip where there's not some sort of issue. We seem to attract them!

However, this has taught me not to rely completely on the service of a dive centre or liveaboard. Mind you it never prevent the poor service sometimes offered!

What I have found is that I now sort out any emergency contingency plans myself.

(This came from one of our lesser experienced divers having a quick ascent, only to find the the twin J O2 cylinders empty!!)

Soo as much as a pain as it is, wheres the O2 is it all together, who can use it etc etc usual stuff.

Evac plans, chamber and doc numbers.

Of course, shouldn't be neccessary, however, if it all goes t*ts up who gets hurt.

Mind you, it took us a long time to learn these lessons, and it still goes wrong, I think they call it Murphey's Law!!

Thanks for keeping us informed, better forewarned.

[Falco]

Thought I`d come in on this one as I posted a report on the BSAC Trip Reports forum.

A friend and I went in early June. He could`nt dive following a heart problem, but we had booked some months before, so we decided to go ahead with the trip anyway.

Vela Luka was very quiet, even the main hotel a adjoining the dive centre was`nt open. We spent a week there, and as Paul said, it is very picturesque but any more time there would drive you a bit crazy.

As there were not that many people diving, on a few occasions, it was just myself and one or two others, together with the dive guide with whom I got on with very well. I had researched the kind of diving, and it fell well within what I usually do, which is bimbling about between 15-30 mtres. (Although, there were a couple of dives that were too shallow, even for my liking.) I`ve no great desire to go too much deeper, and certainly not without a pot within easy reach.

So, for me it was Ok. However, I can well imagine Paul`s frustrations, especially if he had swapped numerous e-mails stating what the group diving requirements were.

Personally, I`d still go back. The owner, Bobby is a fusspot,(to put it very politely), and not everyones cup of tea. However, he only ever came out with us on a couple of dives, so did`nt really affect what we ended up doing.

Croatia is one of the great untapped diving resources in the Mediterrainian (or so I told the Croatian Prime Minister when I met him) I`m sure Paul will agree with me when I say, don`t be put off, Vela Luka is only a very small part of it, there are more diving oppertunities in Croatia than anywhere else in the Med.

Steve Lovell
Bristol

[Paul Oliver]

Personally, I`d still go back. The owner, Bobby is a fusspot,(to put it very politely), and not everyones cup of tea. However, he only ever came out with us on a couple of dives, so did`nt really affect what we ended up doing. We tend to refer to him as Bobby the Bull***ter, he was out quite a bit with us as he had to run the mornings dives first groups bottles back in for re-fills for the afternoon dive. I would say that his diving knowledge and experience is OW 20m diving based and anything in a bit more depth/detail was beyond him, certainly anything about deco was way over his experience and comfort zone. He tried to bluster stuff with us a few times, and this did not work as we called his bluff.
Croatia is one of the great untapped diving resources in the Mediterranean (or so I told the Croatian Prime Minister when I met him) Was he the taxi boat skipper ;) I`m sure Paul will agree with me when I say, don`t be put off, Vela Luka is only a very small part of it, there are more diving opportunities in Croatia than anywhere else in the Med.

We will be going back, probably to the other end of the Island to the town of Korcula, which several of our lot visited on the last day and were very impressed with :)

[Ben Panter]

I'd agree with the statement about Croatia being a unfound gem in the med... I went to Vis for a week this summer, and the diving was spectacular. I'll try and put a report together and send it to the travelclub.

[Falco]

.
Was he the taxi boat skipper ;)


No, the taxi boat skipper was the mayor

[Alison Boler]

It would be great to get a report from you, Ben. I must say I do find Croatia quite an intriguing destination. If you look at a chart, there are so many islands, islets, isolated rocks etc and coupled with its history and the fact that it is pretty undisturbed in comparison with other parts of the Med in terms of diving, it's got to be a place well worth exploring. Providing of course you can find the right operator to go exploring with ! We like sailing too and it's a great place to do that I hear, so quite a nice combination really. Got to be one to try soon.

Allie

[Paul Oliver]

Vela Luka is very popular for Sailing, we had only been there a few hours and were at one of the Restaurants when a group of Yachties walked in, one of whom was a very good friend of one of our club members.

They were all from a Kent yacht club as it turned out.

Small world ai :)