In July 2012: daily trips

When we decided to come to Flores, Indonesia, it was not to dive but to approach the famous Komodo dragons.
But as a scuba diving instructor, when everybody in Indonesia is telling you that the top is in Flores, then you have
no choice but to see what's going on underwater.
We meet with this dive shop but only one seat was still available for diving for 4 of us. With the size of the boat
they could accept all of us for diving. However their policy is clearly in favor of prevention and safety. I decided
to dive and my wife and kids will do snorkeling.
So here is the first good point: safety in action, not only a word.
We put only 4 stars for safety because we consider that there is always a risk with slow boat rather fast
boat even though they have O2 on board.
The second aspect of safety was a smb in each of the rented bcd. They told us that it is a mandatory rule
in this region due to the risk with current so that you can exit at a different point that it was planned with
the boat. Other dive shops dont follow this rule. Another good point for Divine Diving.

Before all dives we have been given a precise but not boring briefing.

During the dives: it was interesting to have a big picture of this dive shop because we have been guided
by highly experienced DM from the region or DM in training. 2 minor incidents happened but were solved
efficiently:
- the first one was with the DM in training who passed an horizontal limit (virtual) and I was caught with him in a
strong current despite he didn't see the signal to come back by Marij (owner of the dive shop). The rest of the group
stopped on time but both of us had to kick like hell to escape and come back safely next to the group. This is
where you see that only 5 meters difference (horizontally not vertically) can have strong consequences.
- during another dive, it was a drift dive, with some divers with a low level of experience and probably with
no experience at all in drift dive. For such dive you need to keep your buoyancy better than you do usually. But
one diver got an air leakage on the bcd inflator and didn't know or remember what he should do in such situation, to
disconnect it! I was about to do it for the diver but Marij was closer and did it efficiently for the guy who could
finish safely the dive
These 2 examples show the level of experience of the owner and long time staff of this dive shop.

Comfort: a special note about it because you wont find on many boat (we are not talking about onboard trips but
daily trips) drinks, food and.. towels! On the roof top there is matress for the lazy ones to have a sun bath.

Conclusion: absolutely no hesitation to go for this dive shop. Be careful to book before you come otherwise
you will face full boat with them. There are slightly more expensive than other same level dive shop (we dont compare
with bad dive shops at low price with low safety, low quality..) but comfort and safety are very good. Organization
is efficient and equipment is in good condition. Small sizes for kids are not always available.
Regarding the safety we always balance safety equipement and timing. We put 5 stars for safety equipment. However
the boats are slow (like most of the competitors, however you can choose fast boat at higher price) which can be
a problem to go back in case of emergency.
The core staff is open minded and listen to people.
For the daily trips they also propose a mix of dives plus visit of the Komodo Dragons at a reasonable price.

WorldDivingReview.