Does Florida Always Suck This Bad?

[herbdb]

No jellies, 2-3' outside the reef. We got four dives in today. Hope it holds for tomorrow.

 

[JimBabcock]

Am a Texas (ie. fresh water) diver and had two trips late last year to the Keys. First trip to KW was to be my first ocean dive. Weather was dicey and the shop recommended I postpone. I didn't and spent the trip... feeding the fish, if you get my drift. The weather continued to suck (blow?) but I had an awesome time checking out KW's museums and bars.
Went back a month later, this time to KL. Same story first day, but this time I followed the shop's advice and postponed. Instead, took the Rescue Diver class; a day in the classroom, a day in the pool and the canal. And then... the weather and vis gods smiled and gave me some of the best conditions seen in months. Finished the RD OW dives, explored some wrecks and reefs, and had nothing but great dives.
Moral: ALWAYS respect the opinion of someone who's losing money giving it to you! Be flexible. And if you want predictable, dive aquariums.
PS Going back to KL Easter Week...

 

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

Let me first start by saying that I am voicing my opinions and in no way now, or previously am I representing Bluewater Explorers or Florida Underwater Sports. At least one person ([/EMAIL]) felt compelled to email Bluewater and FUSE3 to inform them that their divemaster “hated” tourist and threaten a boycott of their businesses. Being business owners they felt compelled to affect “damage control” in the public forum.
Let me set the record straight. I don’t hate tourist. I have dove with many and NEVER had a bad encounter with a vacation diver. Secondly, my primary employer is National Marine Fisheries Service where I’m employed as a marine biologist. I DM less than 5 days /month and work mostly for tips and free diving so your complaints haven’t even inconvenienced me.
I live in Florida, this is my home. If you come to my home and tell me it sucks, it is not going to be well received, and wasn’t. I don’t hate tourist, I do become very agitated with rude ill mannered people be they locals, winter residences or tourist. We just have more of the last two during the winter (about 3/1 in Sarasota Co.) Finally, if a quick search is preformed of previous threads that I have posted in, you will see that I have always in the past, offered recommendations of dive ops, directions to dive sites and advice on weather and dive conditions to out-of-staters coming to Florida to dive. Clearly I don’t “hate” tourist. I don't like rude, ill mannered people, and if you fall into that category I’d rather not dive with you.

 

[captboby2k]

Just wondering if your boss will miss the potential customer though.

Both Blue Water Explorers Dive Charters and Florida Underwater Sports are quality, professional operations with owners that care about customer relations. I assure you that we care. Both companies have requested that this person stop using their names in his postings. He is an independent dive master.

 

[beautybelow]

Both Blue Water Explorers Dive Charters and Florida Underwater Sports are quality, professional operations with owners that care about customer relations. I assure you that we care. Both companies have requested that this person stop using their names in his postings. He is an independent dive master.

Of course they do. My comment was mostly sarcastic.

I spent the first half of my life working in the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa south so I know how nasty the Gulf can get this time of the year. During my "off season" I ran a tour boat through the Everglades National Park, so I was lucky enough to have the best of both worlds. I also spent that part of my life watching my sleepy little town of 500 triple in population from Thanksgiving to Easter. I would marvel at the fact that tourist thought it was OK to stop on the side of the road (partially blocking the lane) of US 41 and look at alligators in the canal, bringing their children out of the cars too. The list of course goes on...

Now I am spending the second half of my life (hopefully I have more to go anyway) working in the dive and tourism industry so I know that my words spoken either in public forums or in chit chat at a dinner table can be linked back to whoever I am associated with at the time. I always keep that in mind. Basically you can't just say whatever you want anymore or whatever pops into your mind at the time.

Such is life.

 

[herbdb]

We are at the airport heading back North. We planned to dive three days and lost one to weather. So I made 8 dives this trip, four were OK, two were good and two were outstanding. I would have liked 12 dives, but weather happens. Florida generally treats us "foreigners" pretty well.

There are always going to be exceptions, I am glad the DM with the attitude does not represent those businesses. It can be tough keeping repeat customers in a competitive climate.

Rainbow Reef in Key Largo did a good job for us this week and I made sure they knew I appreciated it.

 

[fjpatrum]

Spending money here doesn't excuse poor manners.

Nor does living there. I dislike tourists as much as anyone else, and I hate being a tourist when I am one. I know I do it though. I am far more likely to continue being a tourist, though, when I encounter attitudes similar to the one you've expressed. As with most things in life, that door swings both ways. Be welcoming and people will lose some of their tourist attitude. It's difficult, but it definitely works.


Now that I've started (continued?) a fight, is diving in the gulf the same in mid/late April? I'm headed down shortly and am trying to decide whether to book some gulf dives or just go with Rainbow river or Ginnie springs since we're planning a Manatee swim too, which is also likely to be a "bust" from what I hear. Being "guided" on a river or one of the springs seems like a waste of a guide, to me, but so far I've been unsuccessful at finding a local to dive with me. I've been looking at a couple of the Tampa area charters but this thread is making me really reconsider bothering with that at all.

 

[TSandM]

On the East Coast if the shore does not work out, there is always the BHB.

Ironically, the one dive we DIDN'T get to do on our trip was the bridge -- it was closed for contaminated water!

I don't get seasick (or never have, anyway) so I don't think about such things, but I had to watch some boatmates suffering horribly even in the mild conditions we had during our trip (short boat rides and really pretty quiet water). I can understand a charter captain deciding not to go out, if the ride is long and the water is rough, on the theory that he's going to have a whole boat full of sick people at best, some of whom may not even get to dive.

I'd much rather a captain cancel the trip at the dock (which I don't pay for) than to run the boat out and have the divers decide conditions are too bad to get in the water (which I do). I have been in the latter situation, and I didn't enjoy it.

I would certainly second Dan's enthusiastic recommendation of the diving around West Palm -- it was fabulous, far better than I expected.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

BTW: My take on this thread was 1) Florida can suck this bad 2) Tampa was not a real good choice, 3) I need to be proactive and have good backup plans for diving inland or shore dives before I travel.

Lesson Learned. Thanks.

 

[SkubaGator]

I understand your frustration, but Florida has a LOT of good dive areas...but Tampa is not one of them. Murky Gulf water, epic storms (nearby Clearwater is the lightning-strike capital of the world) make for some unpredictable dive results. Next time your down here, plan a side trip to the Keys...Marathon is great. You can get a hopper flight from Tampa for $100 usually. Just like Texas...Florida is BIG (in terms of coastline), so we have the good and the bad! Better luck next time.

SkubaGator