Blackbeard's Cruises Bahamas SCUBA Disaster With Psycho Captain who has, obviously, been too long at sea. ripoff Miami Florida

We truly experienced a living hell vacation in the Bahamas with a nightmarish captain who has, obviously, been too long at sea.

The following is the text of a letter I sent to the owners of the company who have, to date, denied any responsibility for the actions of their employees, ignored phone calls from multiple aggreived passengers and even hung up on a customer they bothered to call back.

These people don't understand the slightest nuance of customer service and I don't wish anyone to be exposed to their lack of care and concern, much less waste their hard-earned money and be abused as much as we were.

To wit:

October 15, 2002

Bruce and Peggy Purdy
Blackbeard's Cruises
PO Box 661091
Miami, FL 33266


Via Certified Mail


Mr. and Mrs. Purdy:

This letter is to inform you of my great disappointment and to document certain actions by your staff on board your boat, Sea Explorer, during the week of October 5-11, 2002.

My wife and I purchased passage on your vessel through our local SCUBA shop, Big O Scuba, and eagerly anticipated a week's vacation diving and enjoying the beauty of the Bahamas with a group of friends. Your literature led us to believe that we would experience sailing (including the opportunity to help sail the vessel), plenty of diving, snorkeling, fishing and spearfishing for lobsters and fish throughout the trip. I, along with several others in our group, even went to the additional expense of buying our own pole spears in order to be certain our spearing expeditions would be fruitful.

The weather during our week was most cooperative and the diving was world-class. However, several events led to a most disappointing finish to the trip and a genuine distaste for your company.

We helped hoist the main sail on our departure from Miami but, after that, no canvass ever saw the light of day (or dark of night) again. Our sailing experience was completely diesel-based.

From the start, the captain of our boat, Yolanda Goode (and I hope I'm spelling her name correctly), seemed to make it her goal to leave every fish and lobster in the sea, in the sea. She refused to let us spearfish on any dive sites, which we were able to accept, for the most part.

Unfortunately, on the few occasions when she reluctantly let us off the boat with our spears, it was on sites that were virtually barren of game to pursue. With her length of experience in the waters of the Bahamas, I have no doubt that she was completely familiar with sites rich in fish and lobsters.

As an example, when we pulled into port in Bimini for the evening on Wednesday, the 9th, another of your vessels followed us in (and I honestly can't remember whether it was the Pirate's Lady or Morningstar) and, even though their passenger manifest was a fraction of ours, had speared 20 lobsters to our two.

Along that same issue, the fishing poles we used to troll for the three barracuda we used on a shark dive and the very few other fish we caught (two other barracuda, two small mackerel and a skipjack, essentially) were interesting short-lined. That is, there was 40-60 yards of monofilament on each reel, certainly not enough to maintain efficient trolling distances from the boat, not to mention any fighting line should a fish have been caught. My requests to fill the reels were met with an explanation that the previous passengers had entangled the lines and had to cut them. I hate having to pay for the mistakes of others, I suppose.

Throughout the trip, Capt. Goode was arrogant and unresponsive to our concerns and requests, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we were customers and had reasonable expectations to be treated as such. She was never hesitant to inform us as to the fact that she was the captain of the ship (and, in my opinion, treated her crew in much the same way) and had ultimate authority and control over our activities. To me, that seems a very strange way to generate goodwill and return business.

The food on board was edible but not much more. Upon departure, the ship's cook informed us that he wasn't really a very good cook and did all he could during our trip to prove that. Several of us on board helped with suggestions and we would have been better off cooking for ourselves.

Our divemaster, Mike, seemed a helpful and concerned fellow but I was surprised that, as divemaster, he was never in the water with us. When questioned, he told us that Capt. Goode had insisted he remain on the boat, not in the water with his divers. That, you'll have to admit, is an unusual situation as we count on persons in his position to be our guide, leader and first safety officer during dives. That's hard to do from 40-100 feet above the bottom. It was obvious that he was not particularly comfortable with the arrangement but, once again, he was working under captain's orders.

Our first mate, Bill, was always responsive to our questions and did what he could to maintain relations between the passengers and captain. He seems a very stable and capable mate and I credit his calm demeanor with keeping irritation levels and complaints to a nearly tolerable level.

Steve, the deckhand, also did what he could to placate our concerns and make our trip enjoyable. I can't recall a request that, so long as it didn't involve challenging the captain, he didn't do his best to fulfill.

Our engineer, Jackson, seemed to start out on a good footing but, as the week wore on, became unresponsive and extremely defensive of Capt. Goode. He had responsibility for cleaning the head nearest my berth, #2, I believe, and by the end of the week it was, in a word, filthy. He had the audacity to not even complete the checklist that he'd looked at the room by the last two days of the trip. I counted his checked cleanings on the posted list and, of some 18 required, he had checked seven. The captain seemed to hold a separate set of rules for his behavior and attention to duties from the rest of the crew.

On a more serious note, one of the ship's crew from the other boat in port and our cook, Brad, made a very lewd and inappropriate sexual advance toward my wife. She spent a good part of the last day of the trip in tears and was disgusted with their brazen and assumptive attitude. Had we been on land, I can assure you that they'd have been dealt with severely and thoroughly. I am considering possible legal action against them and you at this point and am awaiting a photograph of Brad urinating from the vessel (taken by another passenger) as well as comments and observations by others to determine how to proceed.

Our night in Bimini seems to have sent Capt. Goode over the edge.

After an evening of revelry at The Compleat Angler and a very strange set of events at the residence of Piccolo Pete (highly recommended and attended by Capt. Goode), several of us returned to the boat and participated in what the cook later labeled shenanigans. He was extremely inebriated and a part of the activities.

I observed the following:

It was suggested that an article of one of the crew's clothing be obtained and added to the flags flying from the boat but, after some consideration, determined that a pillowcase might be less challenging and problematic, given the captain's already difficult demeanor. Along with the cook, the crew's quarters were entered and his pillow was tossed up to the deck. At his protest (it was, after all, his pillow), he suggested we use Jackson's pillow instead, which was then tossed up to the deck.

In the end, neither pillowcase was used. They were simply tossed below again.

And that, apparently, is what caused Capt. Goode to go off the deep end.

When she returned to the boat (around midnight, I believe) I was on the deck, dozing on the compressor box. My wife, unbeknownst to me, had just been insulted by your employees. Capt. Goode, upon discovering the moved pillows, confronted all of us on deck demanding to know who had violated and rummaged through the crew's quarters. Her attitude was very confrontational and accusatory and, rather than do battle with her, I and everyone else on deck essentially shut up and denied any knowledge. You'd have done the same.

After some time, I stepped forward and apologizedalthough I personally had no involvement in the shenanigansin order to placate her enough that we could all get to bed. At that point, she accused Bill Beal, the owner of Big O SCUBA and the one who booked his customers on the trip, of being the ringleader and responsible for the violation. Bill, since I had been on the boat, was in bed and asleep. He had nothing whatsoever to do with the event.

The next day, Capt. Goode confronted Bill individually, although he suggested that she do so in front of the rest of the passengers, and made her accusations to him. He,
rightly, indignantly denied them. At that point, Capt. Goode addressed the entire group of passengers as if we were a group of children and challenged us, if we were man or woman enough, to confess to the crime. No one spoke up (among the passengers or crewand keep in mind the crew was not completely innocent) and Capt. Goode was, in a word, infuriated.

She informed us that, as captain, she could turn the boat and return to Miami right then if no one confessed. As a group, most of the passengers were then equally infuriated and she was told to do exactly that. Bill spoke up and told her not to threaten us but, instead, return to port. We'd be happy to do so and take this up there.

At that point, she backed down to some degree and continued the trip, not directly addressing any of us in the Big O group for the rest of the time we were on board.

Upon our return to port in Miami Thursday night, we voiced our desire to leave the boat as soon as possible to Capt. Goode. She told us she'd try to contact Customs and Immigration to see if they could meet us at the dock, clear our paperwork and let us disembark so we could separate ourselves from what had become a barely tolerable situation. Later, she informed us that she had contacted the authorities and they were not able to accommodate our request.

When we questioned the immigrations officer the next morning, he assured us that it was certainly possible for both agencies to be called and meet us at any time, they simply made additional charges to do so. That possibility was never presented to us by Capt. Goode as I can assure you that money wasn't much of a factor at that point.

Essentially, Capt. Goode only told us the part of the story she wanted us to hear. Essentially, she lied to us.

Suffice it to say that what we expected to be a pleasant, memorable and exciting vacation was, instead, turned into a miserable and humiliating experience for which we paid our hard-earned money. I can't recall being treated less as a customer and more as chattel in my life. I am disgusted and deeply angered by the entire turn of events. I have already begun to share those feelings with those who ask about our trip.

I await your immediate contact and plan to make this right in whatever way might be possible for all involved.

Mark
Omaha, Nebraska