Dive Review of Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

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Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer, Aug, 2012, by Maria Chapman, TX, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 6677 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This boat should not be operating at all. On this trip there were six crew for 11 passengers (cook, steward, night watchman, engineer/dive guide, new photo pro, captain). We had hot water for one day (our group leader brought the spare part used for the one day before it broke). There was no Nitrox and upon inspection we found the compressor casing was cracked. The captain stated they were working on it but had no parts to fix it. The desalination plant was not working properly and we drank slightly salty water until the last day of the trip. All these are problems that should no appear on a 4-5 star hotel, which the Dancer is compared to on the Dancer Fleet website and brochures. The most important thing is this dive boat is UNSAFE and severely under staffed. Safety current line is taken out when the last crew member surfaces, not when the last diver is out, occurring during moderate to very strong currents. In most cases, the engine on the chase boat is inadequate to fetch more than one diver that may have been swept by the current, specially if they are separated. There is no board on the deck to account for divers, the only means is when they ask each diver for time and depth; this is done long after surfacing and sometimes not at all. The engineer/dive guide chews betelnut through the day and is mostly in his own world under water and while “watching for divers” on the dive deck. As divers, we were offered to try betel nut several times by our captain. Several times we woke up late into the night to find locals on the dive deck drinking and eating with the night watchman. While we were told that sometimes the Village Chief is invited to partake with crew and guests (and this happened a couple of times), it is very unsettling to know that thousands of dollars in equipment are easily accessible. The photo pro was new to the boat so we could not expect much, but nevertheless she acted as if on vacations. The Captain acted as dive guide on most dives having to do several jobs onboard just to attempt to provide what was expected and paid for. This leaves the question: on a boat so understaffed and with so many dives conducted with current on the bommies, what happens if the boat becomes un moored and both captain and engineer are underwater? At the beginning of the trip we were told that the current safety line was to be used for our safety while descending or ascending with current, but it was taken out by the last crew to surface because “this is what we always do” per the Captain. There was never a crew member u/w until the last diver surfaced and we were never told that taking the current safety line with divers still down was their practice. We stopped diving altogether after the afternoon of the fourth dive, when we found no current line at the mooring to ascend (with pretty strong current). We hung unto the mooring line at the surface with 3’ plus swells until one of the customers heard us and told us the chase boat was being used to get another diver that was swept by the current. Knowing we could not count on the engineer/dive master to help or even keen an eye on us, we decided the safest choice was to hang unto the line until the boat became available to pick us up. We have been passengers on this same boat on their Kimbe Bay itinerary and on the Komodo Dancer and we never encoutered any of these problems. Both the cook and the steward did a great job during this trip, and their attitude was exactly what we expected from the Dancer Fleet. We understand that the Captain did more than his share of jobs during this trip, but at the same time mistakes -sometimes grave mistakes- will happen when the person entrusted with our safety is overworked. This is unforgivable and unacceptable.
Websites	Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	PNG, Galapagos, Indonesia, Caribbean, Canada
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, currents
Water Temp	78-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	15-30 Ft/ 5-9 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Own computers, no deco.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or
Dolphins	1 or	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	This is an old boat that has a small two tier camera table on the dive deck with two small battery charging shelves at one of the corners. On this trip the facilities were adequate as there were only four divers with large housings, the rest of the divers either point and shoot set ups or no cameras at all. Otherwise the camera table and charging facilities would have been completely inadequate.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Alice Ribbens in MN, US at Sep 04, 2012 16:17 EST

Yikes--this is the boat that is supposed to become the new Thailand Aggressor. Hope they overhaul it before it moves to Thailand... (or maybe the crew is why they are moving it.)

By report author: Maria Chapman in TX, US at Sep 04, 2012 18:16 EST

I believe the new owner will do that. The Captain is just overworked and trying to do too many jobs in an understaffed boat with no spares, and the crew will probably change with the location. The Dancer used to be a very good boat and hopefully will be again. My wish is for the company to take customer's input seriously and change/repair/review so their reputation and product remains high in this competitive industry.

By Holly Bent in HI, US at Oct 04, 2012 12:34 EST

It appears dancer/aggressor have lost the ability to maintain their standards. Such a shame as they were a great. Quality and caring about the consumer is no longer a priority.

By thomas j dwyer in HI, US at Jul 04, 2013 19:53 EST

I was on The Star Dancer in April, 2012. I found the conditions to be extremely disappointing. I have been diving with Peter Hughes since 1986, I could not believe what I was experiencing.... broken shower with little or no hot water, No nitrox, slightly salty drinking water. Just a mess, never again!!

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Dive Review of Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer in Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay

Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer, Aug, 2012,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Peter Hughes -- Star Dancer in
Papua New Guinea/Milne Bay