Diving West Palm Beach, FL

[docmartin]

two first time posters but it appears that some of you know Randy well because no one seems to doubt his account. in any event, IF the boat cancelled the third dive because the timing did not work out I certainly would expect to get my money back for the third dive and for any unused rental tanks.

 

[Johnoly]

....two first time posters .....

I invited Emerald Charters to respond with the otherside of the story. ScubaBoard has always alerted non-regular posting operators to negative comments on ScubaBoard to hear both sides and let the readers make up their own minds.

As I said in my above post, I'm a regular customer of Emerald Charters. I enjoy diving with them and actually all 3 of the major Jupiter Dive Operators. Jupiter is known for advanced dives like the Hole in the Wall, and Tunnels dives. Having 20-30 sharks on a single tank, as well as an abundance of Loggerhead turtles, more Queen & French Angel fish pairs, 50-150 Goliath groupers come Labor day weekend, 30 - 40 Lemon Sharks in January, and sweet gliding 2-3 knot effortless, no swimming currents, and it's easy to tell that I love Jupiter Diving!

I dive with Emerald, I dive with Jupiter Dive Center, and I dive with Blue Tang, as well as off a private boat almost every weekend. All of them are great and will not babysit you. If you want to, and are comfortable solo or want to stay with the Dive Master, no problem either way. (Also, I don't work for any of them, nor anyone in Jupiter)

The reason Jupiter is so popular is because you can enjoy the same, or better diving as someone who paid $3000 to fly around the world to see big pelagics when Floridians enjoy in their back yard with incredible visibility, every weekend.

The only downside of Jupiter is that "THERE ARE NO LOBSTERS IN JUPITER!!", they all went south to West Palm!! :blinking:

Come dive Jupiter and see how incredible it is!

 

[deepstops]

The only downside of Jupiter is that "THERE ARE NO LOBSTERS IN JUPITER!!", they all went south to West Palm!!

In fact, there are no lobsters north of Jupiter either. In fact, if you want lobsters, you should only dive in Marathon and points south from there

More importantly, what did his girlfriend look like? It sounds like she needs a new dive buddy.

Chip - She's all yours, I'm not very fond of having to teach them how to go down

 

[Orlando Eric]

Before discounting the new poster's comments.. some things strike me as familar in her post.

..."we were told by phone when we booked the charter that they would be doing reefs and shallower dives. That was not the case!! All dives were atleast 90 feet and the boat was full (except the 4 of us) with spearfishers.."

.."one guy cut his own hand pretty badly and there was no first aid kit on board the boat..."

..."The divemaster was more concerned about spearfishing than helping anyone that needed it..."

This sounds like some unexperienced divers who should have not been on the trip. However she stated she was told it would be a shallower reef.

I am not going to launch into a diatribe about it but for those of you who are not familiar do a search...

"Randy Jordan" -- "Republic iv" -- "Jupiter Dive Center" Look around 2005.

Randy is now running the Emerald booking out of Scuba Works.

Jupiter Dive Center is under new management and I have heard are good to dive with these days. Scuba works is no longer owned by Coby Cooper.

Just a history lesson for those of you who do not already know.

 

[rjnjupiter]

They were refunded as stated earlier.

 

[EndlessDiver4326]

My purpose in sharing my dive experience with Emerald Charters was to warn any future divers to make sure that they knew what they were getting into with this particular charter and dive shop. I don't think that I deserve the backlash that I have recieved. I thought that this was the purpose of the SB. I was obviously wrong. I feel that the response that I recieved from Emerald Charters goes to show that my complaints in their professionalism are accurate seeing as he took the time to bash each of the divers in my group. We were told that this charter would be shallow reef dives only. We specifically asked beforehand! We also never said that we were all instructors. We did have some problems but it had nothing to do with our ability to be good divers. Who has never gotten seasick? Who has never had a mask squeeze? Who has never had problems equalizing? Who has never had to call a dive for one reason or another? As far as "abandoning" a dive buddy...there was a divemaster in the water with a member of my group and he was spearfishing. All of the divers on the boat were safe and ok so I went back in to make sure that she was ok and not unsettled by the spearfishing going on around her. We were never told that there would be spearfishers on the boat. I am sorry that I didn't think to ask about spearfishers before I gave my credit card number. My complaints were not about anyone in particular it was the way that day of dives was handled. My points were that the boat was not equipped with the necessary supplies (first aid kit), the ladder broke which caused our third dive to be canceled (not our fault), we were not refunded for the third dive or the tank rentals that we couldn't use. Those were my main points. I did not recieve any money back on my credit card...I do look at my statements. I do understand that not every dive is going to be perfect but in the end the outcome should have been fair and in this case I do not think that it was. We did have one diver no show. We had no idea that he wasn't coming until the boat was leaving the dock. We didn't "casually" walk in knowing that he was not coming. However, it was not lost revenue to anyone because we ultimately paid for his spot by not recieving any money back. Also, one of our divers left a wetsuit on the boat and went back the next morning to retrieve it and had difficulty in getting it back. The shop tried to say that it was never turned in. He happened to see it through an open doorway in the scuba shop and pointed it out before he got it back. This is a perfect boat for spearfishers only, make sure you bring your own first aid kit and your own tanks.

 

[deepstops]

First of all, you state PB diving to be one of your favorite places but Jupiter diving is very different than PB. How couldn't you know that??

You need to understand, when someone joins the 800 lb. gorilla of the dive industry (that's what SB is) and their first post is to slam an established and respected charter op, other members are going to be suspect of your comments. That's reality. Add to that you got the name of who you booked with wrong. We all have to wonder what else is "wrong" in your post....

Here's an easy question: Did you claim your group were instructors when you booked?? Are you an instructor?

Lastly, I'll suggest you fill out your profile so we know a little more about you. And putting a name on your posts carries some weight (with me at least). I figure anyone that won't use their name is hiding something.

 

[rjnjupiter]

What's with the First Aid Kit? I have 2 DAN kits on board as always.Oxygen, Life Rafts? All this is in the dive briefing. You need to get out and dive more often in calmer more pongd like conditions. Good Luck with your shop. Your doors will be open for "all kinds" to walk through.

 

[EndlessDiver4326]

How could I not know that Jupiter diving was nothing like PB?? First, I am not from Florida. Second, I ASKED THE DIVE SHOP BEFORE I BOOKED. They said the diving would be "similar". It was nothing like PB.

As I stated in my previous post...we NEVER claimed, gave the impression, etc. that we were all instructors. There was one instructor in our group which is what we told them when we booked.

All, I did was give a recount of my experience...ONCE AGAIN...I ONLY did this to make other divers aware of what they could expect so that the non-spearfishers and less advanced divers could look for a more well suited area and dive charter.

 

[netmage]

You need to understand, when someone joins the 800 lb. gorilla of the dive industry (that's what SB is) and their first post is to slam an established and respected charter op, other members are going to be suspect of your comments. That's reality. Add to that you got the name of who you booked with wrong. We all have to wonder what else is "wrong" in your post....

Yet another drive-by....

Opinion goes straight into the trash.....​