Palm Beach Dive Thread

[PBcatfish]

We saw 4.2 to over 5 mph on the gps toward the end of the day. I don't remember seeing those speeds except in 200 ft of water, I think. Still not many lobsters around.

In this area I've seen 2 knots south to 6 knots north current, with 2-3 north being the prevailing norm, as measured at the LW1 "sea buoy" about a mile east of lake worth inlet.

 

[MrChen]

In other news... Palm Beach Scuba has been halted...

 

[tekkydiver]

Let the lawsuits begin!

 

[MrChen]

Rumor has it that someone got seriously hurt this last weekend.

 

[PBcatfish]

Geez, me and my wife dived with them a year or so back. The boat was packed because the other area Dive Ops didn't go out due to anticipated marginal conditions (which never materialized). The diving itself was fine and we never had a safety concern, but the boat was mostly filled with spear-fishers and it was like massacre, with blood and guts everywhere, people holding big beautiful fish over their heads and parading them around the deck.

When it comes to marine life, the only thing I like to shoot is pictures and it was a disgusting nightmare for us. That particular week we got blown out of diving all along the SE coats from Jupiter to the Keys, this was the only diving we were able to do and it was rather disappointing.

I'm not going to comment on the ethical arguments for or against spearing, but I will say that it's been my experience that fish seem to be more active on days when the water is rough. I have personal theories as to why this may be, but I do not intend to post them until a formal paper is ready for publication. That aside, my basic observation stands. Rough water gets them active.

 

[PBcatfish]

In other news... Palm Beach Scuba has been halted...

View attachment 859566

Thank you for the information. It's a shame that there is now one less option for those who wish to dive but it's good that standards are being paid attention to.

Strangely, the website seems to still be up & accepting reservations - Palm Beach Scuba | Scuba Diving Charters In Palm Beach

Where did you find the information about them being halted? When I google the name Palm Beach Scuba, I don't see anything about them getting shut down.

 

[PBcatfish]

There's plenty of structure, there just aren't any fish worth catching. Maybe because they're dove on so often.

There's another spot, less than a mile from there, that isn't so picked over. Or at least that's how it was the last time I was there. It's been a little while. It's not marked & it hardly shows up on a bottom finder. I stumbled across it quite by accident one day. Prospecting does eventually pay off. There's a lot of stuff down there that most people don't know about.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Thank you for the information. It's a shame that there is now one less option for those who wish to dive but it's good that standards are being paid attention to.

Strangely, the website seems to still be up & accepting reservations - Palm Beach Scuba | Scuba Diving Charters In Palm Beach

Where did you find the information about them being halted? When I google the name Palm Beach Scuba, I don't see anything about them getting shut down.

While it may be a shame, given the way they chose to run their business, it's also not a shame. Taking an unsafe operator off the market is good for all of us. Hopefully they will sell the boat to new, ethical owners who will once again run a safe dive operation.

As to where was this posted, it was posted on Facebook. The fact that their website remains up and they remain happy to take money for charters they cannot currently run speaks further to their lack of ethics.

 

[MrChen]

Geez, me and my wife dived with them a year or so back. The boat was packed because the other area Dive Ops didn't go out due to anticipated marginal conditions (which never materialized). The diving itself was fine and we never had a safety concern, but the boat was mostly filled with spear-fishers and it was like massacre, with blood and guts everywhere, people holding big beautiful fish over their heads and parading them around the deck.

When it comes to marine life, the only thing I like to shoot is pictures and it was a disgusting nightmare for us. That particular week we got blown out of diving all along the SE coats from Jupiter to the Keys, this was the only diving we were able to do and it was rather disappointing.

You're obviously not up to date on this charter. For one, the boat "was" well known as a hunting boat. Be sure to do your research before booking a charter. Pura Vida would have been more your style. Two, the dive op was sold 4-6 months ago and turned into a shark dive op.

 

[MrChen]

Seems like business as usual. If @DandyDon hasn't posted about it then it's not newsworthy.

Even that screenshot doesn't point out a serious problem. So what a minor incident led to one or more failed inspection items and they didn't have an official employee drug alcohol policy in place. "Uncredentialed Mariners". How many boats have crew performing operations they aren't officially trained for. Sounds like a bunch of BS propagated by an authority having a slow day that will blow over rather quickly.

How do you know a minor incident occurred? From a good source, I heard someone was severely hurt this past weekend. Besides, who wants to go on a dive boat that is not credentialed? What if the captain didn't have a license or it didn't have all the safety equipment it was supposed to have? This is a big problem in Florida where many yahoos think that because they have a boat, they can run a charter.