Side: Scuba Diving Under Water Museum

Nice day on the water. OK for trying scuba diving for first time. Note that children below 16 are not allowed to scuba, although it says from 3 years in the advert on TripAdvisor. Instructors could be more patient, felt treated a bit like cattle some of the time.

Pick up prompt at the advised time - 0750 Walk into the old town ~ 15 mins Boarded a large boat - 3 decks - one for diving gear, on with tables and chairs and one for sun bathing. Good Wifi available on-board for €1 Filled out forms before departure while more and more people got on board. A lot of hanging around - boarded boat at 0850, only left 1 hour 25mins later at 1015 Experienced divers went first. Dive was well structured. Very poor visibility after ~15m - 2m max. Did a wreck dive then the museum which was interesting. Felt in good hands with instructor. Equipment provided in good condition. Water very warm for first 10-12m then get noticeably cooler. They provided a 5mm shortie wetsuit which was perfect. A lot of waiting around while the rest of the passengers did their dives - most of them their first dive. For beginners, very short dive, down ~ 6m for 5-10mins for a quick photo then up again. So around 3 hours between each dive. On boat, playing rather loud dance/trance music. Lunch served at 1300 - pasta with chicken stew and salad with bread. Portions on the small size. Soft drinks available to buy. After lunch seemed rather disorganised as some passengers got seasick and so the staff elected to take them back to the harbour. Think they saw this as an opportunity to make a quick buck as they announced to the whole shop that anyone who wanted to go back there and then could for the price of €5. Second dive after lunch - museum pieces lasting around 40mins - rather good fun! Shallower dive with max depth of 9m. Much better visibility. All the new divers did their second dive then there was around about 1 hour of “free time” where not much was happening. The boat left the dive site at 1610 and docked at the harbour at 1645. 15min walk back to the bus and then transfer back to the hotel. I got dropped back at 1750. So much for a 5h trip…more like 10hrs!

My 11 year old grandson wanted to experience SCUBA diving. As I have enjoyed it myself for a number of years and have spoken about it. It can be a very dangerous sport for anyone. But especially if it's your first time. I was very pleased with the whole experience from start to finish. We had a 1 to 1 ratio of student to instructor. The instructions were professional and competent. My grandson felt secure and well looked after. We both enjoyed our experience. I would definitely recommend this Diving Centre.

They picked us up from our hotel at the time they said they would. The transportation had a few pickups before we got to the drop-off point,We then had to walk from the security gate at the top of old Side ,we only had flip-flops on as we were not expecting a long walk to the harbour to get the boat, If you book this trip wear walking shoes or something that you are able to walk in, The welcome onto the boat was very good, once we chose a place to sit the whole experience was great and the instructors and staff were amazing, I personally couldn't do both dives due to not being able to equalise my ears, but my wife did and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the food at lunchtime was good,

no drinks included with a 7 hour trip out at sea. Rushed second dive resulting in ear pain for a day