Blue Escape, San Diego, by Al

Blue Escape, Sandiego, 1999
Author: Al

Just got back from San Diego, and was screwed by a dive firm down there. I want to warn you all, and feel free to send this on.

Three of us were booked to dive, confirmed by our credit cards, with Blue Escape, one of the larger firms in the SD area. We went in a day early for a conference, and were paying our own for the extra night at the hotel. Two of us lugged our gear from Ottawa, while I came down from here in Seattle. Brought everything but my weights and wet suit, on top of a week's worth of stuff for the conference. We also rented a car specifically because of the dive, since our hotel was next to the SD convention center.

We showed up at the docks at 7:45 on the morning of the dive, to find the boat booked solid. Apparently a dive class filled up and they felt that the 22 people were a better deal than 6 of us. In addition, they hadn't arranged to get us on another boat in the harbor, but offered to take us out later in the week. My guess is that they were holding back to see if someone from the dive class canceled, and would use us to backfill.

We had originally been told we were going to dive the kelp beds twice, and then a wreck. Blue Escape had called my bud earlier in the week, saying that the dive had changed and that we were going to the Coronados, and my friend had said fine, but if another kelp bed dive opened to please call back. (Currently the kelp bed visibility is very low in SD, and so they were planning on taking us out to the Coronados, where we were told that the visibility was almost 100'.) They claimed that they had called us to tell us that the dive had been changed to the Coronados, and that we had told them that we didn't want to go. That was lame because the three of us have voicemail, and none of us got any calls from Blue Escape. Why would the three of us haul our gear down to SD if we weren't going to dive? When I talked to someone later that day who supposedly was in charge (Bill?), he started the conversation by saying that he was sorry, but he had "been in the chamber yesterday and was a little out of it". LAME.

I couldn't afford the time to dive with them later, but my two buds did go out with a competing outfit later in the week.

So, we were out three hotel rooms and a car rental for our trouble. If you are going to SD I would recommend checking out other dive shops. In a wild effort to get on another boat that am (hopeless since they all go out about the same time), we ran into two guys who apparently run One Eyed Jacks. They were very friendly, were sympathetic, and had had openings on their boat that morning, and would have been able to get us on if the Blue Escape folks had only called. They offered to setup a dive to the kelp beds, but agreed that it wouldn't be really worth it since the visibly was so low. My buds ended up diving with them later in the week.

So, while I can't get back the day, at least I can alert you all that if you are heading down to SD, don't bother signing up with these guys. I'll be back down someday, since business takes me there a couple of times a year now, and I certainly will not call them again.