One of the most common questions when planning a dive trip is which dive shop to choose. When it's often times in a foreign country, with completely different conditions it can be a daunting task. A lot of times it's through word of mouth by asking a buddy who's already been where we're going. But with the endless diving destinations out there, what if we can't ask anyone?

Does word of mouth even matter?

I've been using this method for years and it's never let me down.

1. Prioritize Top Ratings

Something that separates dive centers from your average business on google maps is that they suffer from rating inflation. That is to say, you'll find that the average rating of a dive shop to be much higher than for restaurants for instance. If a restaurant has a 4.1 rating, sure maybe the salad was a little soggy but it would still taste fine. And you'd probably have a decent experience.

But this is diving. Where the wrong choice could get you hurt or worse. You shouldn't aim for a decent experience. You should be aiming for a safe, excellent experience.

With that in mind, don't look for a shop with less than 4.8 stars. Turn on the star rating filter. In many competitive markets like diving hot spots, you'll find that there wont even be any results lower than 4.9.

2. Go for high review count

This probably goes without saying but a perfect 5.0 rated shop with only 4 reviews is not as good as a 4.9 with 300. The number of reviews is a nice indication that the shop has been in operation for a while and has been giving consistently excellent service. Although there are of course diminishing returns for review count.

3: Avoid Non-Standalone Shops

What I mean here is any shop that is attached to a larger resort or hotel. It's not that you can't find a good resort dive shop, but they come with some downsides.

First, we want to be comparing the merits of the diving experience, and not other factors. When the shops are integrated with a 5 star resort, reviews are muddied by the lavish ambiance of the resort, or the service of the vacation package, and not specifically the dive shop itself. Resort dive shops also tend to cater to a lot of first time divers getting their license. The reviews can be made by new divers who might not know what qualifies as a good shop vs a bad one, only that they received excellent attention.

The second reason is that most of these shops are more expensive than average. If you are staying at a 5 star resort, everything comes with that 5 star resort tax, from the soda in the room fridge to the diving excursions.

4. Read Negative Reviews

Now if you have some shops that are 4.9 vs 5.0, it makes more sense to get a sense of why that is. It very well could be the 4.9 shop just got unlucky and had a gaggle of karens leave a bunch of unwarranted reviews.

A legitimately bad review would be anything to do with safety or communication. Any shop that cannot communicate things about pricing, plans and other questions would make me think that they probably wont be that detail oriented. And that could very well spill into their actual dive operation. Plus, there's nothing more frustrating than being in a foreign country, unsure of how local transport works and being left confused as to how things work.

Especially look out for passive agressive replies. A mature and level headed business knows how to respond to criticism (even if it's made up or unwaranted) in a solution oriented way. Any sort of victim blaming often times comes off as immature and irresponsible. Again, 2 things you definitely don't want while diving.

A non-issue bad review would be complaints about things that are outside the control of the dive shop. Things like weather, or unforeseen issues like engine problems. These things happen. If the shop responds in a understandable and empathetic way then we can disregard it.

5. Contact & Visit

At this point you probably a few shops that seem perfect. You could probable pick any random one and be guaranteed a great trip. The way you make the final decision is up to you

Booking now

If you just want to have things booked and not have to worry, then of course, reach out to them on whatsapp or give them a call. If you are travelling as a group, this would be a great way to lock everything in.

Freewheeling it

If you're travelling solo or if you like leaving options open and wing-ing it more, you can just roll up to any on your list once you arrive and decide in person. This gives you the benefit of seeing the vibe of the shop, the type of equipment they have, and the personalities of the employees if you catch them coming back from a dive. As useful as google maps is, it is just not possible to get the feel for a place through pictures alone.

Does this meticulous info gathering really matter? I think it depends. If you're doing only a few dives, then it doesn't matter. But if you're going to be diving multiple days, I think it's worth it.

The drawback is that you will be doing things on short notice and they might not have a spot left. But this is also a benefit because you can pick the one that has the best itinerary, or the most divers (or least).