Review Key Largo Diving on Rainbow Reef

[scubadada]

Hi @MrChen

I knew that RR put guides in the water, but thought you could choose to use them or not. I guess I am wrong.

I could not tolerate the short dive times in your report. I would expect to be able to dive up to the maximum time allowed by the boat rules, as dictated by my gas and NDL. The total dive time with a nitrox AL80 on the Spiegel Grove or Duane should be about 45 min, for a shallow reef, an hour.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

There's a whole story here that I'm not going into. It starts with me yelling for him to hurry up and he replying that he didn't make it. His story to tell.

Nothing worse than having to take a dump on a boat. I get up crazy early on dive days to "get things moving" to avoid this exact issue. I find it literally one of the worst things ever! Thankfully it's only happened to me once or twice on charters with really long rides out (Channel Islands in CA and wrecks off Morehead City NC). Those were very large boats though and it was manageable.

On a related experience, on the Olympus boats in Morehead City NC, a boat rule covered in the briefing is NO USING THE TOILET WITH DIVERS IN THE WATER!! Their toilets discharge overboard, at least they used to. Well, my buddy and I were on the mooring like doing our safety stop and noticed chunks of brownish flotsam floating by. Yup, you guessed it. Some bonehead had ignored the briefing and that sacrosanct boat rule. Did a super thorough gear rinse and shower after that charter!!!!

 

[Litefoot]

Wow, that was a great trip report! Your detailed description of everything, including on-site parking of all things, helped paint a really good picture of your experience. If I ever do any reports, this will be a good template.

Good on you for not making a scene about the dive times. Sure, you could have made your point, but it would have soured the experience for everyone else. That’s thinking like an adult.

Just wondering. I’ve only been on two separate boat dives (Key West and Islamorada). When does a boat become a “cattle boat”? Is it shear numbers of divers or divers per square feet of deck space?

 

[CajunDiva]

Google Maps lead us directly to the boats without confusion. The parking lot was a little tight for my F150 truck, but I was able to squeeze into a spot. We had to carry our gear and tanks from the parking lot to the check-in and docked boat area. It's a little further than I like carrying heavy gear, but we sucked it up and made it happen.

I fully understand everyone has their own perspective and point of view. Mine is a bit different from yours, so I'll offer my input. I also drive a Ford F-150 truck. My husband drives an F-250 diesel, which we usually drive to Key Largo. I really don't get your comment about the parking lot being a little tight. The parking lots at both boat locations are huge with plenty of room for many automobiles. If some jerk parked badly and didn't leave you enough room, that's another story. We normally park either of our trucks at either parking area with no issues. I'm sorry you had to get such a workout lugging your heavy gear across the parking lot. Another option would have been to drop it off at the check-in spot and then go and park your truck. Especially since you were lugging your own tanks.

 

[MrChen]

Nothing worse than having to take a dump on a boat. I get up crazy early on dive days to "get things moving" to avoid this exact issue. I find it literally one of the worst things ever! Thankfully it's only happened to me once or twice on charters with really long rides out (Channel Islands in CA and wrecks off Morehead City NC). Those were very large boats though and it was manageable.

On a related experience, on the Olympus boats in Morehead City NC, a boat rule covered in the briefing is NO USING THE TOILET WITH DIVERS IN THE WATER!! Their toilets discharge overboard, at least they used to. Well, my buddy and I were on the mooring like doing our safety stop and noticed chunks of brownish flotsam floating by. Yup, you guessed it. Some bonehead had ignored the briefing and that sacrosanct boat rule. Did a super thorough gear rinse and shower after that charter!!!!

That's gross........... /gag

 

[MrChen]

Hi @MrChen

I knew that RR put guides in the water, but thought you could choose to use them or not. I guess I am wrong.

They didn't let a single diver deviate from the group.

 

[MrChen]

I fully understand everyone has their own perspective and point of view. Mine is a bit different from yours, so I'll offer my input. I also drive a Ford F-150 truck. My husband drives an F-250 diesel, which we usually drive to Key Largo. I really don't get your comment about the parking lot being a little tight. The parking lots at both boat locations are huge with plenty of room for many automobiles. If some jerk parked badly and didn't leave you enough room, that's another story. We normally park either of our trucks at either parking area with no issues. I'm sorry you had to get such a workout lugging your heavy gear across the parking lot. Another option would have been to drop it off at the check-in spot and then go and park your truck. Especially since you were lugging your own tanks.

Here's the parking layout. The only available spot when we arrived is where that red car is on the left side. I just had to go back and forth a couple of times because the people parked on the lower portion were not that far forward. Now imagine you wanted to park a truck to the left of that red car and not be a jerk who's not taking up too much space. I know there's more parking further to the left, but I was not interested in carrying tanks and gear that far.

 

[MrChen]

Wow, that was a great trip report! Your detailed description of everything, including on-site parking of all things, helped paint a really good picture of your experience. If I ever do any reports, this will be a good template.

Good on you for not making a scene about the dive times. Sure, you could have made your point, but it would have soured the experience for everyone else. That’s thinking like an adult.

Just wondering. I’ve only been on two separate boat dives (Key West and Islamorada). When does a boat become a “cattle boat”? Is it shear numbers of divers or divers per square feet of deck space?

Thanks. For me it becomes a cattle boat when you start having to divide the divers into groups, every spot on the boat has a diver in it, and your forced to stay with the herd. They have a nice boat and Pura Vida in Palm Beach has the same boat (or very similar). The difference is, PV does not fill the boat to capacity and leaves open spots between divers.

 

[scubadada]

They didn't let a single diver deviate from the group.

I'm surprised, this is from their website

 

[MrChen]

I'm surprised, this is from their website
View attachment 822053

Again, I questioned the dive guide about us still having air and NDL and why were expected to be with air divers. One of the excuses was staying on schedule for the trip. It also could be a situation where we've never dove with them before and they didn't know who we were. But then it was the same spiel in the afternoon on the reef dives.

I'm not here to bash them. I was satisfied with the crew and the operation. They were efficient and bent over backwards to make sure I was taken care of. Too many people on the afternoon boat, yes, but I can deal with that. It was the underwater experience that irritated me and I'm sharing my experience. Would I dive with them again? If it were the only option, yes. I would also be VERY clear up front that we wouldn't be surfacing with the guide.