Florida Charter Operators

[coldwaterdivergirl]

Six of us are looking to drive down from Canada to dive the Spiegal Grove and other wrecks in that area. I am looking for a good charter operator that does not limit bottom time and will let us dive our computers. As well as a fill station that supplies 100% 02.

I was also wonder about camping and accomodations in the area.

This is the first dive trip that we are planning in Florida so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MikeJacobs]

A lot of us here use Brian at Island Ventures:
http://www.islandventure.com/contact.htm
Phone: 305-451-4957
Toll Free: 1-866-293-5006

He'll be able to direct you to 100% if he doesn't do it himself, and camping.

We've seen solo divers go down with 4 tanks on the Grove a couple times, and I've never been limited on 6 trips (5 to the Grove) except by my computer. It would probably be a good idea to check with Brian in advance, of course, if you are looking for an "extreme" adventure requiring deco lol.

They have two boats and I've only been crowded once on a three-day weekend trip (go figure lol). I've often been with only four or six, so you may be able to get your own boat. Get 4 more (maybe from this board) and you'll get 10% off everything.

Like most operators, Brian works from his cell phone so if you want to have a technical talk with him it I'd suggest you arrange to call back when he's not driving.

I've been with Slade as well. From what I hear there aren't really any bad operators in the Key Largo area, so you're likely to be safe regardless of who you dive with.

Others here will know the alternatives there better than I do, but I enjoy the Duane and Bibb quite a bit. I'd rather dive the Duane than the Grove again, any time.

Your second dive might be either a shallow reef or another shallow wreck like the City of Washington. I'd prefer to dive one of the reefs given a choice - better camera weather there in my experience.

 

[Tom Winters]

Driving down from Canada to dive the Spiegel Grove? Wow! On your drive back north, you might want to make a slight detour while you're in the area. Make a left at Tallahassee on I20, go west and hang another left in Dallas on I35, and go south a little ways to Rio de Janeiro and dive the wreck of the Buenos Aires.
Easier than getting pure O2 in the Keys might be to take exit 38A (Copans Road E) off I95 to Fill Express in Broward county.
Farther down in south Miami is The Scuba Shop which is at exit 19 on the Florida Turnpike. Both places will pump any possible gas you might care to breathe underwater except for NeOx and have any gear you might need to rent.
http://www.fillexpress.com/
http://www.the-scuba-shop.com/TheScubaShop.htm
I can't help you on getting O2 in Rio.
A good tech dive op down in the Keys is Divers City, but Tavernier is little bit of a boat ride to the Spiegel Grove. Since there's six of you, you can call your own shots there on the dives.
http://www.diverscityusa.com/

 

[CBulla]

Others have mentioned the diving aspect of things.. though, I don't know if it was mentioned about the dive operators allowing you to dive like adults who know how to read a dive table and plan a dive. I don't have enough experience with Ops down there to help with that. Pompano or Deerfield Beach, I have a few recommendations, but the Keys..well, you know, its all about 2 boat loads of divers a day to make the most $! You may consider renting a boat if you feel comfortable operating one - or maybe we have one of our Conch crew down there who wouldnt mind being Captain for a day

Camping, though, is something I understand! Honest question - RV camping or tent camping??

 

[coldwaterdivergirl]

We will be camping the entire week that we are down there.

 

[Scuba_Dad]

Six of us are looking to drive down from Canada to dive the Spiegal Grove and other wrecks in that area. I am looking for a good charter operator that does not limit bottom time and will let us dive our computers. As well as a fill station that supplies 100% 02.

I was also wonder about camping and accomodations in the area.

This is the first dive trip that we are planning in Florida so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Whenever I go down to the Keys, I bring all the tanks that I want to use or rent, because a lot of dive operators in the Keys are not O2 clean. I believe most of them use the membrane system to fill Nitrox tanks.

If you're just going to use Nitrox, then you might want to think about renting tanks. If you're using rebreathers... well... I'm sure there's someone down there that fills tanks with pure O2.

Good luck!

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

You can get 100% o2 at Quiescence dive shop at mile marker 103.5 on the bay side of the road. They also have sixpack boats that run. You can check them out at http://www.keylargodiving.com. Hope this helps.

 

[reefman]

i highly recommend divers city and island ventures. both provide custom nitrox blends, 10 divers max and flexible dive profiles. i also hear positive feedback about bluewater divers and conch republic.

reefman
key largo

 

[mrobinson]

I've been reading these kinds of threads with great interest. Thanks to everyone for contributing to them. It helps the rest of us out!

 

[MSilvia]

I'll second Diver's City in Tavernier. They're fantastic.