Key Largo, is having a dive guide important/necessary?

[Torontonian]

I see in Key Largo the dive op Rainbow provides a dive guide at no extra charge, while every other op charges for a guide. (In the Caribbean dives I've been to, all of them provide a dive guide.) So wouldn't it be a no brainer for someone new to Key Largo to go diving with Rainbow, as their price is no higher than others?

Or are Key Largo dive sites all so good and easy, that as long as you pair up with a buddy it's all fine (No, couldn't be)? Am I missing something here?

 

[azchipka]

Hey Torontonian,

First off the staff at Rainbow Reef is great, that said the reason they are able to provide free guides on every dive is the guides are Dive Masters and Instructors in training. They are not professionals divers. Some are doing guide work to get up to the required number of dives for the Dive Master and Instructor courses. The guide provided is a group guide not a individual one.

The reefs in the keys can be a bit confusing if you have decent nav skills it shouldn't be an issue to have one or not to have one. If you are looking at guides talk to the shops about the experience of the guides. How many dives do they have, how many times has your guide been on the site your going to. Do you want a guide who has been there 10 times or 100 times, only two of their guides to my knowledge have been in the keys for more then six months.

All that said again Rainbow Reef does have some amazing people on staff but most of the guides are interns not staff. That is most likely the part you are missing.

As for it being a nobrainer it really depends on what you are looking for in a guide. Do you just want a buddy to be with or are you seeking a guide so you have an experienced professional in the water with. I have heard people on both sides of the coin on this one. Some people have a great experience with their guides others will tell you horror stories about there guide.

 

[Torontonian]

Thanks. I understand it's a group guide, not an individual guide. In the Caribbeans it's that way too.

Even if they are not the most experienced in the area, I guess, I hope they are still better than just any buddy I get paired with who may or may not know the area. So in that sense I'm not going with huge expectations.

I see Rainbow also has bigger boat so there can be more divers than some other ops with 6-pack boats.

 

[azchipka]

Yep both Rainbow Reef and Ocean Divers use larger boats which can accommodate I believe 24 divers on each boat.

Below are from my memory and should not be quoted as being 100% correct

Horizon Divers = Boat 1: Max of 20 Boat 2: 6
Amy Slates = Max of 20
Ocean Dives = Boat 1: Max of 24 Boat 2: Max of 24
Rainbow Reef = Boat 1: 6 Boat 2: 24 Boat 3: 23
Silent World = Boat 1: 14 Boat 2: 14 Boat 3: 6
Quiecensce= 6
ScubaDo = 6
Reef Adventures = 20
Sea Dwellers = 24
Captain Slates = Boat 1: 24 Boat 2: 24

 

[MSPDiver]

Torontonian,

I have dove with Rainbow Reef for three years consecutively. This is a good operation. THe intern thing is true. However, they do have several guides that have a lot of expierence. Jeff, Alan, Diego, Jeusus are all very good pros. For me, I take a lot of pics and vid; it is not so much the navigation but hopefully it is another pair of eyes keeping an eye on me (safety). It is good to know that if I do get turned around a couple of times, that someone will be able to point the way to the boat. With that being said, I just did specialty courses there in the summer and had a guide that was attempting to get her resort instuctors cert. She was not from the area and got me lost twice. Rainbow Reef has three boats. Two are 42 foot newtons and the other is the Tropical Explorer (smaller 12 person boat). This is a great vessel for a private charter. With all of this being said, I would and will continue to dive with RR, plus they have a great web site. I have also dove with Horizon Divers, Conch Republic, and Quiesense. I think all of these are great ops for several different reasons.

 

[wausman]

We dove with Rainbow Reef last summer. And I am new to diving so I do not have the knowledge to compare to alot of diffrent dive op's but they were the better one we dove with. The crew was very helpfull and we will be diving with them again.

 

[iztok]

Yep both Rainbow Reef and Ocean Divers use larger boats which can accommodate I believe 24 divers on each boat.

Below are from my memory and should not be quoted as being 100% correct

Horizon Divers = Boat 1: Max of 20 Boat 2: 6
Amy Slates = Max of 20
Ocean Dives = Boat 1: Max of 24 Boat 2: Max of 24
Rainbow Reef = Boat 1: 6 Boat 2: 24 Boat 3: 23
Silent World = Boat 1: 14 Boat 2: 14 Boat 3: 6
Quiecensce= 6
ScubaDo = 6
Reef Adventures = 20
Sea Dwellers = 24
Captain Slates = Boat 1: 24 Boat 2: 24

ScubaDo boat is registered for 14 but they do 10 max. (Definitely more personal service as they bring the gear to you so you don't walk on the boat with gear on etc.)

 

[Walter]

To each his own. I find guides to be a pain in the neck, I'd rather dive on my own.

 

[herbdb]

I think the use of guides depends on what you want to do. I dove with Rainbow Reef in December. On some dives we went with the guide. On dives when I wanted to look for small stuff or take photos, we stayed on our own.


The dive guides generally move to fast to really look at the details in my opinion, but they do serve a purpose.

 

[Danman1967]

If you are planning on doing mostly reef dives, you aren't going to be deeper than 25' on most of them, very simple to do a boat check once in a while if you get turned around. Some of the reefs are very easy to navigate, some are almost impossible unless you pick a heading and swim it. If your doing deeper stuff the guide would be helpful...If you doing the shallower stuff, imho you don't need one.