#20755 - 09/06/05 06:24 AM
Re: Top Dive for new Divers?
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Ninjachyck
Junior Member
Registered: 08/25/04
Posts: 32
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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I too am interested, as my husband and I wanted to dive through Top Dive on Bora Bora as beginners instead of using the Tahitian Princess's intro scuba excursion....anyone?
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#20756 - 09/12/05 07:05 PM
Re: Top Dive for new Divers?
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Gritz
Member
Registered: 07/12/04
Posts: 61
Loc: California
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My husband and I used Top Dive in Dec.2004/Jan.2005 and had a good experience. We did our 4 check-out dives in California 1.5 weeks before going to FP. Our first dive was in Tahiti and our 2nd and 3rd dives were in Bora Bora. On both BB dives, there were about 6-8 paid customers, us included, (and about 3-4 Top Dive staff). There were so many Top Dive staff because one was video taping and for every 2-4 divers there was a Master Diver. They asked us before diving how many dives we had done and based on that information, they put the experienced divers with one Master Diver and the less experienced with another. We actually wanted to go on more dives during our stay, but they were all booked. We did eat at the restaurant one night and thought the food was good. As an inexperienced diver, I was pleased with my experience with Top Dive in BB.
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#20757 - 09/13/05 01:25 PM
Re: Top Dive for new Divers?
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Ninjachyck
Junior Member
Registered: 08/25/04
Posts: 32
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Good to know, thanks Gritz! I booked Top Dive today in Bora Bora...
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#20758 - 11/11/05 05:32 PM
Re: Top Dive for new Divers?
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ice diver
Junior Member
Registered: 01/19/05
Posts: 13
Loc: Minnesota
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I stayed at and dived with Top Dive BB in February of this year. Benjamin and his crew were very professional. I had the privilege of diving with Rene, one of the owners of Top Dive. He was an excellent tour guide and when I asked him in a pre-dive briefing if we could try to find a lionfish, he promised nothing except to look. After the big lemon sharks were fed outside of the pass he peeked under some rocks and there, upside down, was a lionfish. I dived 3 times with top dive plus one intro dive for my wife. The shark dive outside of the pass was a nice show, and I dived it once with Rene and once without him. Diving with the group the pace was much slower, as we were limited by the rapid air consumption of the least fit diver. It was still a great show, and I purchased the DVD of it...what a hoot to see those lemon sharks! It was not a challenging dive and despite a depth of 75 or 80 feet it was well within the ability range of a relative novice. You could tell who was less skilled by the need for some of the group to rest on the bottom for most of the dive. I also dived once outside of the airport and that was amazing with huge schools of fish, lone sharks, and an amazing aquarium of life all around. Rene insisted that my non-scuba diving wife try an intro dive. She had sworn to never scuba dive so first we took a dive boat inside the reef along with a boat full of Japanese cruise ship tourists on their intro dives. It helped my wife to watch their demo and see them dive as we spent our time snorkeling. You pretty much need a boat ride in order to snorkel from Top Dive's very comfortable resort. The next day my wife did her intro dive admirably, thinking to herself "If those non-snorkeling tourists could do it so can I!" We had a very nice time. The staff is impressive, although I could tell it took emotional effort to babysit everybody in the boat asking each one if they had enough weight and tracking their equipment. It was needed for me, too, once, so I can't criticize my fellow divers. Top Dive did a great job of providing fun diving, an impressive shark show, and still keeping everyone safely together. The food from their expensive restaurant was also notably good. I will book them again this coming February, and since I can't count on being Rene's diving partner on a party of 2 once I'm there I'm going to try and organize a group of the more experienced divers to stick with them instead of the novices. One Top Dive divemaster needs to keep track of each group, so getting in the more skilled group should mean we'd travel a bit further than the folks who are thrilled to just be able to maintain their bouyancy.
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