Dive Ops recommendation for Boynton Beach, FL

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Savoir Laire

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Location
Louisville, KY
# of dives
0 - 24
We are heading down to Boynton Beach/Delray Beach area for 3 nights (Fri-Mon) in early/mid June, and have two days (Sat and Sun) carved out for diving. I am 55 yo, my 18 yo daughter and I are SSI certified (I am also NAUI Nitrox certified), we both have 18 dives, in Turks and Caicos, Costa Brava (L'Estartit) Spain, USVI and just last week in Grand Cayman (awesome!). My older 22 yo daughter is getting her SSI certification right now during senior year of college, she will be doing her checkout dives in a couple weeks in a dry suit on Cape Cod (sounds chilly to me!). So this Florida trip will be my older daughters first dives as a certified OW diver, while my younger daughter and I are totally fanatical about it! I am looking for a dive op in the Delray/Boynton area, I understand Boynton is the spot to go, we will have our own car, looking for a dive op that can show us a couple of nice two tank day dives and still provide some confidence and TLC to my older daughter, who will be doing her first real dives. Am mainly looking for a small, hands on op, don't want to be part of a large herd especially with it being her first dives, am actually considering chartering for the 3 of us if necessary but would rather find a boat that only takes 6 or less. The only ops I see popping up when I look is Starfish Scuba (seem to have good recommendations but looks like a really big boat/group), Underwater Explorers (like the look of them, smaller boat and good recommendations but nothing posted in about a year that I could find?), Boynton Beach Dive Center (again not many recent reviews), Loggerhead Dive Charters (also nothing recent) and Splashdown Divers (good recent reviews but some spotty ones from a year or so ago, also seem to be a bigger outfit). Can anyone recommend either a smaller op that would meet our needs or a charter option if nothing else? Thanks in advance for help/opinions!
 
Starfish, Loggerhead, Underwater Explorers ... all great crews! If your not comfortable drift diving by yourself without a DM, I would suggest hiring a divemaster for the day for about $100 plus tip. They all circulate among the dive boats in the area and all I've met are experienced and knowledgeable.
 
Starfish, Loggerhead, Underwater Explorers ... all great crews! If your not comfortable drift diving by yourself without a DM, I would suggest hiring a divemaster for the day for about $100 plus tip. They all circulate among the dive boats in the area and all I've met are experienced and knowledgeable.

OK so I am a bit confused and may be showing my inexperience/ignorance. On every other dive trip I have taken there is a divemaster on board (usually the owner/operator) who leads the dive. Is this not the case if I book a trip with one of these FL ops? How do they operate, if you don't hire a DM separately as you seem to suggest do they just go out to the dive site and let you go and explore the area unguided? Thanks for help here...
 
On these boats, they will drop your group in the water with a flag with a line and 'spool' that one member of your group holds while you all dive. Various groups are dropped off at different locations on the reef and the boat picks your group up when you surface. You are basically on your own for the whole time. There may be up six or more groups of divers on any one dive depending on how many people are booked that day.

There is definitely no hand holding here. You can request a DM when you book at least for the first day of this kind of diving.
 
There is usually a DM but they are keeping track of/leading/solving problems for the whole group, not just you, and you may not be able to keep up with them. Since for some agencies drift diving is an advanced specialty, it’s not at all out of line for you to have some extra attention given your experience level. If you can get the DM (or an Instuctor!) to teach you how to shoot a DSMB while they’re at it you just got yourself an intro to drift diving class.
 
Sometimes, a DM will go in the water with you if you are on a wreck dive and everyone is basically in the same spot. Otherwise, you are on your own.
 
I stand corrected, I guess there is NOT usually a DM... sometimes there is.
 
Ok so it sounds like the best thing to do is go ahead and contact one of the ops I listed above (eg, Underwater Explorers) and discuss with them and arrange a DM for the three of us, for at least the first day (and maybe both)?
 
Hi @Savoir Laire

I dive out of Boynton Harbor Marina very frequently. I use 3 of the 4 operators leaving from there, Underwater Explorers, Loggerhead, and Starfish. All 3 of these operators are very good. None of them put a DM/guide in the water. Nearly all of the diving is drift diving on the reef. It would be appropriate for newer divers and a brand new diver. The max depth on the west facing inside reef is about 65 feet, most of the dive is shallower. Being new to the area and to drift diving, I would also recommend you dive with a guide, at least for the first 2 dives. Navigation of the reef is generally extremely easy and it is not terribly difficult to dive with the float and flag. You may have the confidence to dive by yourselves the second day.

Underwater Explorers takes only six divers, if you had a guide, there would only be a couple of other divers. Kevin Metz delivers very personal service. Loggerhead takes up to 20 divers, it is the biggest and most open of the 3 and does not feel terribly crowed most of the time. Starfish takes up to 12 or 13 divers, it sometimes seems very crowded due to the boat configuration. I recommend all three of these operators very highly, you can't go wrong.
 
Hi @Savoir Laire

I dive out of Boynton Harbor Marina very frequently. I use 3 of the 4 operators leaving from there, Underwater Explorers, Loggerhead, and Starfish. All 3 of these operators are very good. None of them put a DM/guide in the water. Nearly all of the diving is drift diving on the reef. It would be appropriate for newer divers and a brand new diver. The max depth on the west facing inside reef is about 65 feet, most of the dive is shallower. Being new to the area and to drift diving, I would also recommend you dive with a guide, at least for the first 2 dives. Navigation of the reef is generally extremely easy and it is not terribly difficult to dive with the float and flag. You may have the confidence to dive by yourselves the second day.

Underwater Explorers takes only six divers, if you had a guide, there would only be a couple of other divers. Kevin Metz delivers very personal service. Loggerhead takes up to 20 divers, it is the biggest and most open of the 3 and does not feel terribly crowed most of the time. Starfish takes up to 12 or 13 divers, it sometimes seems very crowded due to the boat configuration. I recommend all three of these operators very highly, you can't go wrong.

Thanks, Scubadada, this is very helpful and I have already reached out to Underwater Explorers to inquire about booking and a divemaster!
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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