| The on-site dive operators TGI Diving run a smooth and slick show. The Dive Masters are very good at what they do and the dive briefing is always detailed and professional prior to every dive. You will need to register with TGI (Tropical Gangsters Inc) on arrival, fill out the required paperwork and medical questionnaire, provide them with a log book and your diving qualifications. They then tended to split everyone up into regular diving groups depending on experience and nationality. TGI visit 3 different dive sites each day. The boat leaves at approx 8.30am for a two cylinder dive, and then again at approx 2.30pm for a single afternoon dive. You need to get kitted up as much as possible prior to walking the short distance to the boat as they do not use a dry dock, and have to wade into the sea, sometimes chest height carrying your fins, regs and everything else…..so be warned. You can store your kit with TGI for the week, and they will provide you with a secure personal little area, and hangers for your suits, that is also locked up at night. TGI also offer a night dive, wreck and deep dive which there is an additional cost, and also a minimum entry of Advanced Diver qualification. They also offer a morning diving at Cara-a-Cara with the huge reef sharks that frequent this area. This is really is a once in a life time chance to shark dive without a cage, and see these animals up close. We took the PADI Shark Speciality course for $250 each, which includes 2 x class room sessions and also 2 x shark dives at Cara-a-Cara. We really enjoyed this course and would recommend it if you had the time. There is a great dive shop on site that is a Mares dealership, and the prices are probably the best you will ever see, way cheaper then in England and Canada. TGI also has a class room on site for anyone wanting to take the majority of PADI courses which are normally available back home. We would really recommend TGI, and would dive with them again without a second thought.
The only negatives are that the dive boat can get incredibly packed. I have never seen so many divers on a single boat, sometimes 35 plus and space is very tight. I also thought that some groups where a little big for a single Dive Master, sometimes as many as a dozen divers to one DM, so you need to be pretty confident in your abilities and your dive buddy. There is a lot of Italian guests at the hotel and they tended to keep the English speaking and Italian speaking groups separated, which sometimes made for a ‘them and us’ type situation. It would have been nice to be able to mix more.
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