Palm Beach County v. The Keys

[MrChen]

In my short time of diving, all of it in Jupiter/WPB, I've noticed that some boats coddle more than others. Some expect that you'll be with the DM the whole dive while others say see you when you come up. But even those which wanted everyone to stick with the DM (during the dive brief) didn't say anything when we either couldn't find the DM underwater or got separated in the current.

 

[acteg]

Great point about the quality of service.

Aside from the fact that these days I'm choosing to spend my diving dollars on the big-ticket critters, the other thing that appeals to me about West Palm/Jupiter dive ops is that I feel more like a welcome passenger than a cash cow wearing an air tank. Granted, maybe this is a function of not having dove Keys charters on a regular basis since about 2006 or so, and even then not widely sampling the Key Largo options. I was supposed to go on a dive with Quiescence in November, but given the lousy weather and the fact that my two visitors had maybe 20 dives between them they leveled with us and we decided not to push it. That impressed me and I'd go with them the next time I dive down there. The last time I actually dove off a Key Largo boat ... well, the dive was fun but I loathed being coddled the same as the open-water students. I think I can walk myself from my seat to the dive platform unaided after 400+ dives, thank you very much, and I'm not keen on having only 45 minutes of dive time on a 30-foot reef because you decided to put the open-water students in first and they took 15 minutes to get their act together.

West Palm on the other hand - I actually have a dilemma when choosing which boat to dive with. Do I check out an operator I haven't tried before, or go with one of my usual ones where they know my name and ask me where I've been when I step aboard?

 

[danvolker]

One of the cool things about WPB and Jupiter, is that the operators cater to BOTH new divers, and very specifically to advanced divers.....Advanced can mean many different things, and the range of what you could call "advanced" is extensive here...Advanced sites can be this from depth....WPB has lots of sites between 40 feet and 95 feet, and quite a few between 100 and 140.....Jupiter has a great deal between 75 and 130, and some really amazing stuff at 220 and 270.....as does WPB also.
Some sites will have more challenge in the way the structures on the bottom are dealt with by the divers in the high current or mid level current days --and some are always very easy. Some are places to see huge fish...some are places to see macro life like nudibranchs, octopus, sea horses, etc. But the operators of Palm Beach do their best to get YOU what is best for you....Operators like Jim Abernethy, have even taken this to the point of having 3 boats they can use to stratify interest and ability levels with--which they do extensively in the Fall during the Spawning of the goliaths ( most of the year they just stratify into their 2 day boats, and the 3rd big live aboard goes to the bahamas---but in the Spawning season, it does the day boat routine here with the other 2, and in pretty awesome luxury

For that matter, Force E does a good job of booking you onto a boat they think could be good for you....they don't actually book on all the boats, as Abernethy is a shop also, so they don't exist for Force E bookings....And Force E won't book onto Pura Vida's boat Sirena, which is a nice small boat for small groups that want to dive by themselves--and Puravida is a shop, so they don't get Force E business.....But YOU can try booking with Abernethy --tell them what you are looking for...and do the same with Force E, and then with Pura Vida....and then later in Jupiter with Jupiter Dive Center....and you will perfect which crew and boat you get the best ZEN with, and which ones have passengers that dive more the way you like to....most of these boats DO have big followings, and the personalities of the divers that frequent each boat, is a large part of the experience you get...For instance, there will be a large difference between the pro photographer crowd that is on one of Abernethy's boats often, and the spearfishing crowd that is often on Narcosis ( which is an awesome boat too..but it does help if spearfishing does not bother you).

 

[devinesigns3]

Thanks for the warning. Spearfishing bothers me a great deal, not so much the ick factor but from a moral standpoint. I believe in the basic dive mantra of don't touch anything and leave nothing but bubbles.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[MrChen]

I booked with Scuba Works for a night dive and at check in, they sent me down to Abernathy's shop. I even paid for tank rentals at SW and Abernathy supplied the tanks. They must have some sort of arrangement. It's nice to see the shops work together.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Narcosis tends to do a decent job catering to both hunters and sightseers - generally they drop them in separate groups. Sometimes you will get on the boat and the majority of the crowd is hunters, which tends to dictate dive sites. That happened the last time I went out; was kind of disappointed but at least I had a decent killstreak on lionfish patrol.