Island Ventures in Key Largo Florida

[wardric]

i can appreciate both sides..... an excited group of divers and the legal & safety requirements of a commercial business

thank you very much for your response ScubaJunkie7

ScubaJunkie7 :huh:

 

[almitywife]

opps - its my blocked ears... they mess with my brain!

 

[deepstops]

Our safety policies are in place to protect both our divers and us. Because of the misunderstandings, this group was given two nitrox fills and two air fills to try and soften the hard feelings. We are truly sorry for the misunderstandings and will rectify the fact that these policies are not in our literature. However, most reputable shops in Key Largo have the same policies and we do not feel that these are too stringent in light of conditions we have witnessed on these wrecks which are advanced dives.

Ann & Darrell Stadler
Owners Island Ventures

Captain Ann,

Please take a look at this thread and tell us if you don't think experience can replace an AOW card. Other dive operators do and I certainly consider those operators reputable.

http://scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=200097&highlight=grove

 

[RonFrank]

In the US and in the keys, it is VERY common to require an AOW card, or at least logged dives in similar conditions to dive more advanced dives. My last dive on the Grove involved difficult conditions, and we lost two divers on the Grove. They were found, after the Coast Guard was involved along with 4 dive boats, a helicopter, two coast guard boats, two police boats, and a lot of looking. Our second dive was canceled (no worries).

The point made is that even with an AOW card, there are divers who are NOT ready for advanced dives. Boats taking these folks out are asking for trouble, so I can appreciate the issues involved. In fact it robbed me of my last dive of the trip. I was more concerned for the lost divers, but it still is a fact that these divers gave everyone board a very stressful trip.

Personally, I think it's up to the trip planner to ensure these issues are delt with up front. This is NOT the party line for SB even if I am on staff, but my personal perspective. If you don't have the certs or qualifications, don't do the dive.

 

[kidsdream]

This operator of dive trips in the keys is the most customer non-friendly dive boat we have encoutered in the keys. We carried a group of twelve divers to their location with reservations to dive the Spiegel Grove, Duane and reef dives over two days. After we had signed-in and paid our money they then tried to say they would not take us to the Grove because two of the twelve only had an open-water dive card. This was never discussed prior to our arrival, not mentioned on their website, or brought to the attention of the three instructors on the boat until we were ready to depart. We demanded they fulfill what we had purchased and they relented and took us to the Spiegel Grove. We were met with good conditions, light current, fifty feet of visibility and a light surface chop. One diver did have to return to the back of the boat for more weight, but the entire group made the dive with no incidents. At this junction we mentioned that we were satisfied to stay and dive the grove again. The captain pulled the mooring and sped away saying their were some divers that had trouble and he was taking us to a shallow reef. After a short trip we dove French reef where he limited the amount of time we could stay in the water and then proceeded back to the dock. Our group was met by one of the owners who proceeded to yell that he needed a pow wow. He informed the group that he would not take us to the Duane as promised, because of safety reasons, and he wasn't even on the boat!. They finally relented to take the same group, the ones that weren't able to make dive two on the grove, back to the grove on Sunday for an am dive. What a bunch of a holes. I WILL NEVER TAKE A GROUP TO THIS OPERATOR AGAIN. THE OWNER SMELLED OF ALCOHOL DURING HIS RANT ON SAFETY, THEY WERE JUST WANTING TO FINISH THEIR DAY EARLY AND GET RID OF US.

As a part-time Key Largo resident I just can't agree with your thought process or statement of facts. And my comments relate to safety and planning and not my particular fondness for Island Ventures. To be honest even though they are located just 1 mile from my condo, I have only been out with them twice in the last 5 years.

It is the captains roll to make the on-site assessments While many Ops do require AOW, a log book or computer with dives with similar conditions will most likely do the trick. Did you group actually fit this description, I think not!

Also I think you have underestimated how conditions can change. Most recently on the morning of Sept 1st we had near perfect conditions off of Key Largo. Great vis and no current. But by 6:30 PM the same day and with no increase in the seas (or change of wind direction), the current had picked up to the point the mooring balls the Duane were 2/3 submerged and the fishing boats (gotta love our transplanted friends from South of Key West) looked like they were making a wake - and they were not even moving.

So even though I had arranged a private night dive on the Duane and the least experienced diver onboard had 400+ dives including multiple night dives on the Duane, we aborted the dive and just went over to 'Mo. Better safe than sorry

Enough said.

 

[DebbyDiver]

I don't like that the subject of this thread says "beware". To me, "beware" indicates that the op is unsafe. I read both threads on this subject and at this point in time, I'm leaning more toward the side of the dive op, even though I have no personal knowledge of them. I'm glad that the Stadlers were given a chance to speak up.

 

[Cave Diver]

We are truly sorry that this group was dissatisfied with their dive trip to Key Largo. We try to routinely tell all our divers when they make reservations that the deep wrecks are advanced dives – in fact the website does say that the Duane and Bibb are for more experienced divers. This group had paid a deposit on another trip that did not go because of bad weather and this trip was scheduled many months later (we only had a partial deposit). On arrival, the group leader was among the last to sign in – after the dive shop personnel had discovered that four of the twelve divers were open water certified and one diver had not been diving since 2005. When we schedule divers individually, we screen them and require a guide if more than a year and require a refresher if more than 2 years since their last dive date. Since the group leader was not around until just before departure, this could not be discussed with him until then. An agreement was made on the dock for the instructors on the boat to be buddied with the open water divers, since it is our policy to allow open water divers on the Spiegel Grove with a guide. On the dive at the Spiegel Grove, one diver had trouble on the surface with weights or weight belt and the instructor was nowhere around. And when this same diver surfaced after the dive, his buddy/instructor/guide was also not around. Thank goodness there were no incidents with this dive! The captain made an assessment after this dive that a shallower spot was the better choice for the second dive. As a result of this dive trip, we felt that we did not want to break our shop policy to take open water divers on the Duane. We offered to try and salvage the trip by doing a three location trip to keep the advanced divers happy and get a 2-location trip for all the divers. The group leader did not want to do this so we all agreed to return to the Spiegel Grove with closer supervision by the instructors this time. Our safety policies are in place to protect both our divers and us. Because of the misunderstandings, this group was given two nitrox fills and two air fills to try and soften the hard feelings. We are truly sorry for the misunderstandings and will rectify the fact that these policies are not in our literature. However, most reputable shops in Key Largo have the same policies and we do not feel that these are too stringent in light of conditions we have witnessed on these wrecks which are advanced dives.

Ann & Darrell Stadler
Owners Island Ventures

Capt Ann,

How long have you owned Island Ventures? Wasn't it owned by Brian?? a few years ago? Did you work for him for a while?

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

I think this is B.S somebody didn't get it there way. And now Island Ventures is bad. And all they did was keep you safe. I think they are jam up. And I will always use them. When I'm in the Keys. I think that safety is frist. So keep up the good work .

See you all soon Red.

 

[Island Ventures]

We bought the company on July 1, 2005. No we worked at Kelly's and Aqua-Nuts before buying the business. Brian moved to North Carolina.

 

[LiteHedded]

people with one or two posts that come to complain raise a red flag for me
I take it with a very large grain of salt