Years ago price was the determining factor in selecting my dive destinations. Almost all of my diving was similar, as I would mainly travel somewhere in the Caribbean. I did not have a local dive club, so I was pretty much traveling on my own, and I did not meet too many people on those trips that I wanted to schedule future trips with. On the occasion that I did meet a potential dive buddy and travel partner, our schedules never seemed to work out or our interest in future dive trips did not fit. There was a gradual change once I found SingleDivers. I had a great time on the first couple of trips that I took, and really enjoyed the people. As I continued to do trips outside the group, I started to realize that the people in the SingleDivers group were adding a lot of enjoyment to a trip beyond the diving and that was very lacking on the other trips I was taking. I found myself looking a lot more at the SingleDivers trips, as well as checking to see if I knew anyone on upcoming trips. I reached the point where it was more important to be traveling with friends that trying to find a discounted trip somewhere. As I started to travel more with the group, I expanded out of the Caribbean destinations. With exposure to new and exciting destinations, that quickly became a major focus point. Although I was always fascinated by the prospect of a dive trip to Indonesia, Palau, the Philippines, etc... I never wanted to do something that extensive on my own. Now that I was finally a member of a dive club, all of those destinations seemed like easy viable options for me. When Kamala ran a trip to Palau and Truk in 2012 I believe it was, I signed up. I didnt have to figure out where to stay, who to dive with, who was reputable, anything. It was all handled. Suddenly I had amazing diving in places I never figured I would get to, diving with friends, and all of the tedious work was done by someone else. My answer to the above question is not one thing so much as an evolution. When I started diving, a dive trip was 100% about diving and cost. Now a trip is as much about the friends that I have made over the years through SingleDivers, and traveling with them as it is the diving and the cost. Group travel made me feel a lot more comfortable traveling around the world to exotic destinations. I also love the fact that if there is a destination that I am interested in going to, I can talk to Kamala about it and get a lot of good info. She can either assist me in putting the trip together, or she may even decide to turn it into a SingleDivers trip. Last year I wanted to go to Lembeh and I talked to her about it. It turned into an extension trip for the group after Raja Ampat and Bali, and about 15 people went. Most decided they want to go back and the fact that it became a group trip only made my experience even better. I recently talked to her about a trip to Papua New Guinea for me. She is working on putting something together for the group as a trip in 2028. Now, I go on trips to be with friends, to dive, to see new places or revisit destinations, all of the above. Oh and she still offers some of the best pricing I've found for the value and the experiences I've had that I could not of had any other way.
