Dive Operations
Choosing a dive operation may be easier in South Florida, since divers must be more self-sufficient and rely less or not at all on guides. Some would go so far as to say that local dive boats are just a taxi service ferrying divers to the dive site, although I would not take the point that far. Local divers may bear more responsibility for their underwater experiences than they would overseas, but one's choice of dive operation can still have a significant impact on topside comfort, the selection of dive sites, bottom time, safety, and other issues, and their reliability and business practices warrant consideration as well.
Key Largo has many different dive operations, but the one that stands out among local divers for its stellar reputation and excellent service is
Horizon Divers. I have not tried any of the other operations in Key Largo yet because I have not seen the need to do so. This one works well enough for me, so I have stuck with it. One of its selling points is regular deep trips to the Spiegel Grove and other wrecks. The crew moors on the wreck and offers either two single-tank recreational dives or one long technical dive for those with appropriate training and equipment. More broadly, I like the atmospherics and the helpful crew, which seems to have a stronger sense of customer service than any other local operator I have tried thus far. They strike a good balance between being supportive without babysitting or interfering. They have the advantage of a bunkhouse at their retail location, which provides affordable lodging for those that do not want to shell out for the ridiculously overpriced hotels in the Keys.
Jupiter has two different types of operators: regular reef/wreck diving boats and specialized shark diving charters. I have gone out with both of the shark diving operations,
Emerald Charters and
Salty Divers. They are quite similar to and cooperate with each other. I was satisfied with both of them but had a slight preference for Salty Divers for their atmospherics. Unlike the regular reef/wreck diving boats, their normal schedule consists of one three-tank trip per day. The primary operator for regular reef/wreck diving is
Jupiter Dive Center, which has two boats and an ample schedule of morning and afternoon trips, and they even offer occasional night trips. I have been satisfied with those trips that they actually ran, but they seem to be more prone to cancellation than other local operators, perhaps for questionable reasons. I thus tried my luck with the competing
Scuba Works, a smaller operator whose atmospherics and customer service I preferred, but it may be harder to get a full weekend schedule with them. I would go with either one again but would be more confident and comfortable with Scuba Works. The
Kyalami gets good feedback via word of mouth, but I have not tried it yet because they only offer one trip per day that returns too late to combine with an afternoon trip elsewhere.
West Palm Beach has several operators to choose from, but I have found it harder to book spots with them, as they seem to fill up faster.
Pura Vida Divers seems to be the most popular by far, and it took me longer than I would have liked to get spots on their popular trips. I was ultimately quite satisfied with their customer service and would be happy to go with them again. The other advantage of this operator is that they specify the depth range and types of environments that they plan to dive on each trip, which is key for me, as I found that the shallower reefs here are much better than the deeper reefs and the wrecks. I also hope to go on one of their blackwater night dive charters in the future. I have also gone out with
Narcosis, which was satisfying too but did not have the same competitive advantages as Pura Vida. There are two other operators,
Calypso and
Walker's, that I have not had the opportunity to try yet, also because of scheduling issues and their apparent popularity.
Boynton Beach has three dive operations, all of which use the same marina:
Starfish Scuba,
Loggerhead, and
Splashdown Divers. Starfish has a more “boutique” feel to its trips, and perhaps a stronger sense of customer service, and thus charges somewhat higher prices. Its boat trips often have fewer customers, which I prefer, but it may get to the point that they do not have enough customers to run at all, which I obviously do not prefer. Loggerhead seems to be more willing to go the extra mile, if you will pardon the pun, to get divers to more interesting and often more distant dive sites. Splashdown is fine too but, in my experience, have not distinguished themselves as much as the other two. I would be happy to go with any of these three again but would have a preference for the first two.
The two main operators in Pompano Beach are right next to each other in the same marina and have a cooperative relationship with each other:
South Florida Diving Headquarters (SFDH) and
ScubaTyme. SFDH has the advantage of size and volume, with three boats, two of which are more spacious catamarans. The problem is that SFDH is disorganized and prone to errors, the most glaring of which was
the July 2021 sinking of one of its boats due to an unsafe stern tie-in on a wreck dive. As the icing on that cake, I booked a trip with SFDH after that incident (which I had not heard about yet), when SFDH knew that this boat was unavailable but had left it on the schedule of the online booking system anyway. To its credit, SFDH comped me a trip on the ScubaTyme boat for that same time slot. I used to prefer ScubaTyme, but they have had some staff turnover and gotten stingier with bottom time since since I first went with them. These changes makes them less competitive, particularly since they just have that one smaller boat. Operator issues are one reason that I do not dive in Pompano Beach more often, as I like the wrecks and the proximity to Miami. (The other reason is that most of their two-tank trips have one wreck and one reef dive, the latter of which is usually not that great. I would go more often if both dives were on wrecks.) I have since discovered a third operator,
AquaLife Divers, that I would like to try, but I have not had the chance yet and have not heard much feedback about them.
Miami has two dive operations:
Deco Divers/
Tarpoon Lagoon out of Miami Beach, and
Diver's Paradise in Key Biscayne. I have a strong preference for the former over the latter. Deco Divers usually does two wreck dives on a two-tank trip, whereas Diver's Paradise offers a wreck dive followed by “Captain's choice,” which is usually a reef dive (Miami's natural reefs are sparse in life and barely worthwhile). Deco Divers usually sticks to the wrecks that they advertise on the schedule, whereas Diver's Paradise often changes the destination at the last minute for no apparent reason. Deco Divers/Tarpoon Lagoon also displays a higher standard of professionalism, from their precise Nitrox fills to a perfectly executed “hot drop” that their captain set up for us due to strong current on a deep wreck. Deco Divers/Tarpoon Lagoon also enables customers to specify the percentage of their Nitrox fills, tailoring them to the depth of the wrecks on the schedule in order to maximize bottom time.
(to be continued in the next post on this thread)
