iflyprops
Contributor
Hey everyone,
Just got back from a great week in Key Largo. Great people, marginally decent weather, great diving and great fun. I did a photo class with Larry Gates ( www.larrygates.com ) and dove with him on one of Ocean Divers boats. I was impressed by them, especially for being a larger operation (a cattle boat...). The boat and crew were very camera friendly and treated my camera like it was their own. They are one of the few cattle boats that I would dive with again. I then did three trips with scuba-do ( www.scuba-do.com ) and the only words that I can come up with are WOW...eerr, I guess thats a word. Anyhow, Tony and Laurie have a great boat and great attitudes and personalites. They usually take a max of ten, but are USCG certified for 14 (?). They are camera friendly.
I dove a few reefs and did the Duane with them. There were four divers on the boat, total! We got out to the wreck in calm seas, little current and there was no one else on the wreck!!! I made a "gracefull" entry into the water which soon followed by me realizing that my spool had come off and was unwinding into the abyss. Luckily I had the end of it still clipped off. Tony was nice enough to reel it up for me during my dive. Oops. A school of Jacks met us on the way down to the wreck on the center mooring ball that goes to the stacks. My buddy and I swam to the bow of the ship and through the bridge, she was georgeous. I got to thinking in the middle of the dive about the history of the boat and all it had done. I believe that she is resting much more ladylike than if she would have been scrapped. Anyhow, I did not see a single place on the ship that had bare metal. She is totally encrusted. Wonderfull dive, beat the pants of the Spiegel Grove in my opinion. The 'other' dive boast, ie cattleboats were racing to the Duane as we boarded the Scuba-Do...a wonderfull dive!!! I will be back on the Duane, and I will be back there with Tony and Laurie!
Oh yeah, I dove with Captain Slate's as well...and met Capt. Slate, complete with fresh nurse shark bite on his face, lol! I was not impressed. The operation seemed dis-organized. It took them almost half an hour to fill my tanks and they looked puzzled when I wanted the same 'air' that they put in their nitrox tanks in my nitrox tanks...I didn't wan't any O2... "You don't want nitrox???"The boats were dirty and not very well kept. They were the definition of a cattle boat in my opinion. They were pushy, seemed they were on an extremely tight schedule...(this was the afternoon dive). The only pleasant experience I took from diving with them was Bruce, one of their instuctors who was helping my father out, KUDOS to you. In a nutshell, I will not be back, especially when I can dive with scuba-do for about the same price :14: .
Ahh yes, the water temp is 86 if anyone is interested.
I had a wonderfull time and only wished I could have dove more!!!
Later,
Just got back from a great week in Key Largo. Great people, marginally decent weather, great diving and great fun. I did a photo class with Larry Gates ( www.larrygates.com ) and dove with him on one of Ocean Divers boats. I was impressed by them, especially for being a larger operation (a cattle boat...). The boat and crew were very camera friendly and treated my camera like it was their own. They are one of the few cattle boats that I would dive with again. I then did three trips with scuba-do ( www.scuba-do.com ) and the only words that I can come up with are WOW...eerr, I guess thats a word. Anyhow, Tony and Laurie have a great boat and great attitudes and personalites. They usually take a max of ten, but are USCG certified for 14 (?). They are camera friendly.
I dove a few reefs and did the Duane with them. There were four divers on the boat, total! We got out to the wreck in calm seas, little current and there was no one else on the wreck!!! I made a "gracefull" entry into the water which soon followed by me realizing that my spool had come off and was unwinding into the abyss. Luckily I had the end of it still clipped off. Tony was nice enough to reel it up for me during my dive. Oops. A school of Jacks met us on the way down to the wreck on the center mooring ball that goes to the stacks. My buddy and I swam to the bow of the ship and through the bridge, she was georgeous. I got to thinking in the middle of the dive about the history of the boat and all it had done. I believe that she is resting much more ladylike than if she would have been scrapped. Anyhow, I did not see a single place on the ship that had bare metal. She is totally encrusted. Wonderfull dive, beat the pants of the Spiegel Grove in my opinion. The 'other' dive boast, ie cattleboats were racing to the Duane as we boarded the Scuba-Do...a wonderfull dive!!! I will be back on the Duane, and I will be back there with Tony and Laurie!
Oh yeah, I dove with Captain Slate's as well...and met Capt. Slate, complete with fresh nurse shark bite on his face, lol! I was not impressed. The operation seemed dis-organized. It took them almost half an hour to fill my tanks and they looked puzzled when I wanted the same 'air' that they put in their nitrox tanks in my nitrox tanks...I didn't wan't any O2... "You don't want nitrox???"The boats were dirty and not very well kept. They were the definition of a cattle boat in my opinion. They were pushy, seemed they were on an extremely tight schedule...(this was the afternoon dive). The only pleasant experience I took from diving with them was Bruce, one of their instuctors who was helping my father out, KUDOS to you. In a nutshell, I will not be back, especially when I can dive with scuba-do for about the same price :14: .
Ahh yes, the water temp is 86 if anyone is interested.
I had a wonderfull time and only wished I could have dove more!!!
Later,
