Oceans 5 Review

This dive centre is a hub, it’s the best way to describe it really. It’s busy, it’s organised, it’s got tons happening at once and it works. It works in the best way. Open water divers sitting around with their heads buried in OW manuals, dive shed crew clocking tanks and kit in and out, boats pitching up post and pre dive.

Nothing seemed to be going wrong. Any tiny problem was solved almost immediately. O rings being changed, mouth pieces replaced, kit set up for you, tanks carried to and from the boat. It is the best opportunity to be the most laid back holiday diver possible.

Cats, so many beautiful dive shop cats lazing around meowing, strolling about in the sunshine, reclined over tabled and being stroked and adored by clients and staff.

The dive briefings were thorough, efficient but really effective in the way they were delivered. You felt ready to go diving, excited about what you were going to see and eager to board the boat.

Nothing really beats that feeling of heading out to a dive site. It’s like an excited anxiety. Kitting up, talking about the dive, buddy checking, submerging and exploring. It’s just the ultimate adventure, way to feel like you are embarking on a different world and environment.

I love the not knowing what you will see, what the current will be doing, what the visibility is. It keeps you on the edge of the boat as it were constantly. It is also great to come together and vibe off one another under water. You want to point things out to your group, to have things pointed out to you and this was really encouraged at Oceans 5. There was a real sense of making every dive the best dive ever.

Travelling with my utterly fabulous colleague from Picaga Photography was also something that needed consideration. My one eyed, missing fingered buddy needed that little extra help to manage his dives. A completely capable diver but one that couldn’t always see what was going on outside his field of vision or manage to carry handfuls of kit meant that this was the place for him. He was fully supported and catered for and not singled out. He did exactly the same as every one else but within his limit. The message that PADI vigorously promotes.

It is hard after so many dives in so many locations to get excited over a nudi branch or sea snake but in truth watching other, newer divers spot them for the first time is as special. It is really quite wonderful to say hey, check out that octopus under this rock and see someone’s eyes widen and smile. It’s why we all dive right.

It was great to sit around post dive and watch the hype of people certifying and being congratulated by their divemasters and instructors. Sander really is quite the enthusiastic dude, shouting hupla and clapping when people certify. It’s what you from from a dive shop. They can be daunting places to go, new, not knowing what your doing when everyone else seems too. It was welcoming, it was warm and it felt happy.