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Dropzone Database: North America: United States: California : Skydive Monterey Bay : Reviews

has contributed 20 reviews

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Total Reviews: 20

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(Review ID:4900)

6 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

Great Place and Fast Jump Plane

Rated by: cdcollura on 2008-11-28 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: Fast Plane, Awesome View, Altitude!
Cons: Iffy Weather At Times

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The jump aircraft is a King Air, either a 100 (or even 200) series, with the big engines. I have seen 16K in 6 minutes, and often made it as high as 19K (they have supp O2). The view on a clear-day is awesome, from SF to the north, Sierra to the east, past Pebble beach to the south, and Pacific to the west ... You jump less than a mile from the beach - View is unreal ... And you have lots of time to enjoy it. Tandems and fun jumpers are welcome. I found the staff to always be friendly. The only con I could figure out is the crappy weather / fog (sometimes) - But not much can be done about that.

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(Review ID:4377)

32 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

Horrible time: long wait, unfriendly staff, canceled jump and NO refunds

Rated by: monterey on 2008-03-02 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: Nice plane
Cons: The hours+ of waiting, the unknowledgable office staff

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On my friend's birthday we went to Skydive Monterey Bay for a first jump. Early in the morning, my friend called to make reservations, and he was told that he did not need any, just to show up at noon, which we did. After signing in, he was told to just "wait" by some tables - four and a half hours later, we were told the jump would be canceled due to winds.

Somewhere around hour 3 of waiting, I asked the office is they could give us a general time line of waiting. They said that even after 17 years of experience, they had NO idea when he would jump as timing was impossible in this business. When I asked if they could tell me whether it would be one hour or five, they said it they could not say.

So we continued to wait in the FREEZING hanger...and I am guessing the uncomfortable temperature is a common thing as the staff had a tiny spaceheater. So once the jump was canceled due to winds, we were told that the Company does NOT give refunds. After haggling with the owner, and getting unprofessionally yelled at by her, my friend finally received a partial refund - the Company kept a $50 nonrefundable fee. Though there is no argument that the office's policy is no refunds, and my friend signed the contract, there was a question of customer service.

As absolutely NO services had been rendered, (my friend never even got to leave the hanger), it seemed not to much to ask for a refund. No such luck. Though the Company did not LEGALLY have to give a refund (as it is stipulated in their jump contract) it would seem that customer service, or human decency, would dictate that one should. Instead, my friend basically paid $50 to wait all day in a freezing hanger - on his birthday.

I would NEVER EVER recommend Skydive Monterey. The wait time is ridiculous (and the owner reassured me several time that on any given day, they can NEVER offer time predictions), the waiting area is freezing cold and uncomfortable (and this all happened in spring - I could not imagine winter!), and the staff was unfriendly and had no concept of customer service skills or what is right.

Save your money and go to the Hollister skydiving place.

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(Review ID:4206)

14 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent DZ!

Rated by: Kiki32 on 2007-10-22 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: Awesome View, Great Vibe, Fast Plane
Cons: None based on my visit

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I did a jump here and was treated like a regular. This dz has an awesome vibe, the people are very nice and despite their reputation of being a tandem factory, they catered to us fun jumpers without any problems. The king air 200 series they have is the fastest plane Ive ever been on, and the heater inside the plane isnt too bad either!

Landing area is a bit far from the packing area but there were plenty of vans to come pick us up. The view is gorgeous too. I cant think of anything bad about this dropzone, if I lived closer Id make it my home dz.

I highly recommend this place.

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(Review ID:4205)

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

Great DZ with a Fast Plane and friendly people.

Rated by: Viking on 2007-10-21 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: FAST Plane, very cool people, great views, great vibe.
Cons: None from my visit.

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Was Doing a roadtrip to from San Diego to San Jose and stopped in at Monterey for a quick jump. As I'm waivering I realize my reserve is a month out of date!! I smack myself and go see the rigger Macko. He Got my reserve repacked in a little under two hours BETWEEN LOADS!! and he didn't charge me a huge amount. One of the jumpers there loaned me one of there rigs to jump!! We just walked in and they treated us like family. It was great!! We were able to get a 6-way track jump going and the New King Air 200 they have got us to 18,000 AGL in 8 minutes!!! Unreal experience and I will be making the drive up the coast and make a point of visiting again!!

The only con I can think of is the Weather. It is the Bay Area after all.

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(Review ID:3984)

7 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

definately worth a shot once since the scenery is so beautiful

Rated by: jamiem on 2007-07-08 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: beautiful scenery, excellent tandem instructors
Cons: rude girl on the phone, long wait times for tandems

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I went to this DZ for my first two tandems. Both times the instructors were very helpful and fun, and the jumps were amazing...but both times the wait was excrusiatingly long. They take reservations for tandems starting at 9am..but if the fog doesn't burn off then the entire day is delayed. For my second tandem I went and waited 8 hours and still didn't get to jump and had to come back another day and wait another 6 hours to jump. The girl at the front desk is often rude and misleading on wait times just so she can get your money and then you're locked in. I have never jumped there as a solo jump and I am interested to try it, but for a tandem be prepared for a very long wait to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

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(Review ID:3919)

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Update: Best view you'll ever see and cool people

Rated by: SeanJuan on 2007-06-08 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: Fast ass plane, crazy ass view, cool ass people
Cons: Weather (fog and high winds at times)

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Just an update to my below post cause I got a new username...
I've been jumping here for a while now. Tourettes Tami, Gay Dan, and Happy the Genius have left to go work in Texas and they are very much missed.
The King Air is still the fastest plane ever. Takes like 6 minutes to altitude with good turnaround times. You don't have a big ass doorway to jump out of. One tandem takes up the entire door, but you can work it out; the art of the exit has been perfected quite well.
I am probably NEVER gonna get tired of the view; especially on sunset loads. There's no where else you'll get a view like here. The people that are still here are still cool people. Everybody is welcoming, warm and laid back. Just make sure that you land on the west side of the LZ cause there are little pricklys everywhere on the east side of it. I hate those damn things.
Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

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(Review ID:3685)

4 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Best view you'll ever see and cool people

Rated by: SeanSolo on 2007-03-05 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: 6 mins to altitude
Cons: the red boa that goes with the graduation gown is itchy

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did second tandem and complete AFF school in two weekends. the people there are cool and laid back. the rigger is very detailed and knows his shit. the scenery is absolutely amazing. they like to do sunset jumps during the week, which work out perfect for people who work on weekdays. needs more funjumpers and weather holds suck. they have a really good balance on funjumper-to-tandem ratios and i have never felt that they cater to one or the other. they wont let you go out alone cause they always want to do a 2,3,4-way. i have to beat them away and use profanity to do jumps by myself. all in all, a great place to jump.

the people: tami jo has tourettes so watch out for her. laura will make u buy video with her boobs. tony trys to get people in fights and will flip tandems until they dont know up from green. mako thinks he's the shit cause he has a million cameras, a million rigs, and a million jumps (he's a great instructor, great video, and lives to jump). dan is gay. dail shows her boobs at bars. happy is a self-declared genius (verdict is still out on that one). no one there sucks, but apparently raff doesn't like my shirts...

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(Review ID:3630)

7 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

A great place to jump.

Rated by: 3hawk on 2007-01-12 (user profile) (user reviews)

Review of: Skydive Monterey Bay
Pros: A bad ass KING AIR to 18k AGL in about 7 minutes with great views!
Cons: Needs more fun jumpers, van ride from landing area to packing area.

Professionalism
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Aircraft
Facilities
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Location

We called at 8am on a Friday to see if anything was happening. The girl on the phone said we could get on a load at 11am. We got to the DZ a little early to waiver and gear up. We were in the air by 12:30 in their King Air. The ride to 18k was amazing with great views of Monterey bay and the Pacific Ocean. It took all of 7 minutes to get to altitude.

The staff was helpful and friendly. It seems like they cater mostly to tandems but they try to accomidate fun jumpers as well.

I'll gladly recommend Skydive Monterey Bay to anyone. I look forward to going back!

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