Aqua Age

Reviews (2)

Florin August 21st, 2013 - 19:27:

We spent 4 days with Aqua Age. We are a family of 3: - me (father) received my PADI AOWD certification - our 10 year old son got his PADI Jr OWD certification - my wife just hung out with us (the plan was for her to get OWD as well, but she had an ear infection) The courses were 3 days and we spent a 4th day fun diving. We had great fun, even though the Mediterranean fauna and flora are nowhere near Indian Ocean where we spent our last 2 vacations. The staff took good care of us and were good fun. The food was acceptable and the amenities good. But a special thanks goes to the amazing Seçil the PADI instructor who trained both my son and me, an angel of patience who took care of our son like of her own child. People on board were of different levels, from certified divers to people experiencing their first "Discover scuba" event, and everyone seemed happy at the end of the day.

David Freel September 30th, 2012 - 2:43:

To start the day off we were picked up from our hotel in a timely fashion. On arriving at the diving centre not a single word was spoken to us or anyone around, we were simply marched onto the boat following a silent guy with his hand in the air. Once on the boat health forms were handed out. One member of my party has an existing health condition requiring specialist attention before being allowed to dive. I can only assume the forms were never looked at as no-one picked up on this fact or attempted to communicate with us. Following this we were given an indtroductory briefing, which did cover the basics of scuba diving, hand signals, what to expect, etc. When we arrived at the diving spot we were then informed we were "Group 4" and should move to the back of the boat when our group number was called. We then sat for 2 hours waiting. When our number was finally called, we proceeded to the back of the boat where we were given a pair of fins, and told to swim to shore. We did as instructed, and were then given the necessary equipment by different members of staff in complete silence. On first doning the equipment an instructor came around and asked me to put my head under the water. I believed this to be his way of checking i was comfortable with breathing underwater, however, when I raised my head after a few seconds wondering where he had gone I was shouted at and pushed back underwater. My dive had begun. At this point i began to wonder what stage the rest of my family was at. We have a mixed amount of experience between us, my step-dad is PADI approved but joined us for the family experience, I myself have been on 5 dives, mum has been on 1, and my sister (with the aforementioned health concerns) was a first timer. My sister was no-where to be seen. I learnt afterwards that she had panicked when she went under the water, and, like me, had been roughly pushed to the bottom of the sea when she attempted to rise. This happened to her several times and each time she literally had the mouthpiece pushed into her mouth and then pushed under the water. This is undoubtedly due to the time not being taken to read her health form and there being no professionalism or compassion, or attempt at understanding her situation. For a trip that was supposedly catering to first-time-divers they showed a shocking attitude towards anyone who was not entirely competant the instant they touched the water. At this point we were lead by an instructor holding a camera along the bottom of the sea floor. However, since we had done a beach start and there was zero co-ordination between any staff members, other divers were still being ushered into the water to perform the swim to the beach. As one such person made there way to the beach, my mum got kicked fully in the face. As she has had a little experience before she managed to rectify herself, however no assistance was offered and it fell to myself and my step-dad to ensure she was OK. Whilst doing this the instructor in front of us began to bang rocks together to get our attention, and when we turned back to him he simply continued to point a camera. The dive was around 4meters deep and lasted around 10 minutes, a far cry from the 25 minutes advertised. The second dive was far worse. This time we begun the dive from the boat. My sister was so shaken by the earlier experience she unsurprsingly didn't want to join in anymore, so we got added to another small group to bulk up the numbers and make it more cost and time efficient for the company. No pictures were taken this time, and with good reason, since there was literally nothing to see. The five of us were once again pushed to the sea floor and then begun to follow the instructor. We were not allowed to look in any direction other than straight ahead, doing so resulted in him banging rocks together once more, not an approved scuba diving signal so far as im aware. Since no time had been taken to correct anyones bouyancy, i found myself pulling myself along the sea floor, whilst my step-dad could barely keep himself from floating upwards. With five people following one instructor he was continually attempting to 'herd' us together, presumably so he could see us all at once. However, in doing so on at least 2 occasions a young girl we had been grouped with got hit in the face by other scuba divers attempting to group up as instructed, and had her mask dislodged both times. On both occasions the instructor did nothing to help the young girl, but instead attempted to reprimand the person who had caused the accident through what can only be described as aggresive hand gesturing. Due to the number of people on each dive and never being allowed off the sea-floor the sand was continually being kicked up and never got a chance to settle. The visibility was less than 1m and the dive was approximately 3 meters deep in an empty area circling the bottom of the boat. It lasted approximately 5 minutes. The facilities onboard the boat were non-existant. The changing room was a toilet in a cupboard. At one point we were stood at the back of the boat, attempting to discover what had happened to my sister after the first dive as we hadn't seen her since. We were then told to "MOVE I AM WORKING HERE YOU CANNOT STAND HERE". The entire experience was a glorified photo shoot. We had to pay for the privelage of being there and was then expected to pay for the photos. The staff were unprofessional and rude, the dives themselves were farsical. The second dive was described by my PADI approved step-dad with many years of diving experience under his belt as "the most pointless and worst experience of his diving career". For a first-experience I wouldn't be surprised if my sister never wanted to scuba-dive again, and based on how she was treated i wouldnt blame her. At the end of the day we were all given a certificate, congrulatulating us for completeing two 7 meter deep 25minute long dives. My sister recieved the same certificate. Despite the length of this review there are still many more things I could mention. This was simply the worst diving experience imagineable, and I feel sorry for anyone else who is tricked into paying for this by a travel represntative like we were.