Is Emerald Charters' three tank dive the best of the bunch?
Been awhile for me; I dove with
Jupiter Dive Center in 2014 (10 dives) and
Emerald Charters in 2017 (7 dives). I really enjoyed both trips and was happy with both operations, but the experiences were so different it was like comparing trips to 2 different dive destinations. With JDC, there was more drift diving with the current except at the end of the Zion Wreck Trek, when he hung around the
Esso Bonaire wreck, or finning around the MG-111 site. So we tended to cover more ground.
With Emerald Charters, we were 'there for a show,' a shark show. Seeing a wreck or some Goliath grouper was nice, but that's not what we headed out to do.
In 10 dives with JDS, I saw nurse and reef sharks, and 1 larger shark at a distance that was likely a black-tip reef shark (or possibly a sandbar shark). In 7 dives with EC, I saw 3 different tiger sharks, 2 silky sharks (an unseasonal surprise), scads of lemon sharks, several bull sharks, nurse sharks...and much closer.
I don't think there was a 'best,' as it was a very 'apples to oranges' comparison, and it depends on what you want.
I recommend people get some more benign shark diving experience (e.g.: sand tigers out of North Carolina, or Jupiter's lemons) before deliberately getting in the water on fed dives where tiger sharks are likely. Mainly because it's a good idea to know how someone handles fairly large shark encounters in close quarters with more 'benign' species first. Just my opinion.
