Professionals not recommending Rainbow Reef FL Keys/

[-JD-]

There seems to be a real attitude among some divers towards classes. They just don't want to endure them and get all pissy that we have to accommodate them as well as the seasoned divers.

Seems to me we (divers) should be doing all that we can to support new divers instead of bitching. That pipeline supports the continued operation of boats, shops, manufacturers, etc. that we all rely on.

That said, some thoughtful planning and coordination can be beneficial to all parties. My general experience is that forethought is an unfortunately rare commodity in this world.

 

[Tracy]

Hah---I bet the Seakeeper does the trick eh? Seakeeper Web Site

Just like most problems in life. You can fix them if you throw enough money at them.
The SeaKeeper is kind of amazing. I'm sure the new boat will eventually get one.

 

[NothingClever]

Most of the classes in Palm Beach County where I dive, Boynton Beach, Palm Beach, Jupiter, do their first 2 check out dives at the Blue Heron Bridge and their 3rd and 4th dives off one of the charter boats. Since the dives are drift, the classes disappear after they jump and are generally back on the boat well before I return. Classes do not affect my diving in the slightest and I am glad to applaud at the end of the trip for the newly certified divers.

< channeling my exuberant inner 7 year old self with arms stretched out wide >

This x one bazillion million jillion and then to infinity!!

 

[Wookie]

Never let them know you're a certified diesel mechanic.

Never let anyone know you are a certified diesel mechanic. Or have any skills.

 

[FreqFlier]

in small craft advisory conditions, the boat captain went so fast that seated individuals were flying about in the cabin

We had a similar experience on a multiple occasions with RR. Seems their captains are put on a very strict/tight schedule to make things happen, but it cannot serve as an excuse IMHO.

RR should have delayed others from going in until this group was done.

Captain or DM should have assessed the skill level of all diver groups on that boat and put a proper entry schedule together.

our group had a few individuals vomiting; however, the staff did nothing to ask if they could bring water or assist.

I would question who is supposed to anticipate or prevent things like that. Dramamine is always your friend. Does not excuse crew of not being courteous or polite.

Who was the attentive shop that was more professional?

My wild guess would be Horizon...

When the weather is sporty, all bets are off. They just are.

Exactly right. Plenty of weather apps and websites out there, easy to predict and anticipate, especially when you have a bunch of "instructors" with you.

IMHO the main reason RR is called a "cattle boat" op is because you have to spend some 20-30 minutes in line to check in and lack of attentiveness from some captains and/or DMs on the boat. Former is always an issue for us, latter depends on the crew. RR has some great crews and some not so great, no pun intended.

​

 

[scubadada]

Diving with a mixed boat of divers, including OW students, can be very tough.

In early March of 2022, I was on a charter with Jupiter Dive Center along with my friend @Dan There were one or two OW classes on the boat. Seas were up and we were getting pounded on the way out to the dive site, several divers were already sick. About halfway to the site, the captain made the difficult decision to call the trip and head back in. He was thinking that the diving, perhaps particularly the reboarding, would have been quite dangerous, especially for the students. Of course, it was disappointing, but understandable, to lose the trip. I'm not sure if the decision would have been different with all experienced divers. Jupiter Dive Center gave us a full refund.

Occasionally, the captain must make difficult decisions, sometimes possibly unpopular ones. I respect the captain and assume that they have my and other divers safety in mind.

 

[Allen-1]

Diving with a mixed boat of divers, including OW students, can be very tough.

In early March of 2022, I was on a charter with Jupiter Dive Center along with my friend @Dan There was one or two OW classes on the boat. Seas were up and we were getting pounded on the way out to the dive site, several divers were already sick. About halfway to the site, the captain made the difficult decision to call the trip and head back in. He was thinking that the diving, perhaps particularly the reboarding, would have been quite dangerous, especially for the students. Of course, it was disappointing, but understandable, to lose the trip. I'm not sure if the decision would have been different with all experienced divers. Jupiter Dive Center gave us a full refund.

Occasionally, the captain must make difficult decisions, sometimes possibly unpopular ones. I respect the captain and assume that they have my and other divers safety in mind.

I dove with Jupiter Dive Center this past August. Thoroughly impressed with the entire operation. Captain of the boat, deckhand, dive master, shop guys, owner - all of them.

Had really rough seas, (compared to what I'm accustomed to), on one of the dives, and a squall blew up as we were boarding. They worked as a team getting divers out of the water.

They had to cancel several of their runs, due to weather. I'd pre-paid, and they had an issue with their credit card processor. The owner phoned me multiple times while resolving to make sure that I knew that it was being worked on.

Managed to turn a lost day into a gained day when @Scuba_Jenny's schedule changed, and she was available to take us on a guided swim at Blue Heron Bridge.

 

[The Chairman]

Managed to turn a lost day into a gained day when @Scuba_Jenny's schedule changed, and she was available to take us on a guided swim at Blue Heron Bridge.

The mark of a good dive trip is having options and possibly using them. They don't all have to be diving options either. I live by Ventusky, but there are other wind apps. I view it before and then often during the trip. Before I go to sleep and then when I wake up.

 

[The Chairman]

That said, some thoughtful planning and coordination can be beneficial to all parties. My general experience is that forethought is an unfortunately rare commodity in this world.

If I'm on a large boat, I get my class there early so we can get the back seats. I want their first OW dives on a boat to be the best possible.

 

[Rae HalfTheHill]

As the Captain for OP's trip, I can provide some relevant details and allow readers to draw their own conclusions based off that.

For backstory- OP is a friend of an old instructor buddy that I have worked with at shops in both Key West and Key Largo. This friend had worked with me while I was a captain at Rainbow, and thus was going off of his local experience when recommending shops to OP.

Conditions that day were not the best, but South Florida diving in the middle of January is always hit or miss. A small craft advisory is set probably more often than not between Dec-Mar, and that is not an indicator of if a trip can be safely run. As OP quoted either myself or another crewmember "we do go out in harsher than this"- because as long as everyone follows briefings, we safely can, have, and will.

It was a bumpy ride out, and I did throttle down for conditions, but keeping the boat on plane will avoid the worst of the major rocking. I've been in the instructor/guide position cursing out the the captain as I'm getting rocked around while trying to gear up, but I recognize that you can't idle out in those conditions.

Upon tying into the Spiegel, we were observing winds from the SSE at about 15 kts, with 2-3' waves. Current was flowing, moderate to challenging, from the south. Due to winds/current being mostly in line, the wreck line that leads from the stern to the mooring was close alongside the boat, but manageable. All of these conditions and the procedure for safely using the line system were briefed to divers prior to splashing.

The deep wreck trips are often left to captain discretion for the second dives, as to staying and doing a double dip or relocating to another location. Given how the dive on Spiegel played out and the abilities of all divers onboard, I opted to relocate to the Benwood (a shallow water wreck with more forgiving conditions) for dive two-in other words "adjusting the trip location based on conditions."

Dive two hardly went any smoother than dive one, with several groups ending up off the wreck, surfacing between 200-400 yds away, some without SMB's. While unfortunate that some individuals fell ill, there is only so much the boat crew can do at the time, especially when our attention is on the safety of other divers and maintaining a visual on them, while continuously bringing other divers back onboard.

Lastly- I end each and every trip I run with a statement "if anyone had less than a five star experience this trip, please come find myself or another crewmember and let us know how we can make that better for you next time." I've had numerous other dive professionals take advantage of that and pull me aside, one frequent outside instructor even did so on this trip for an unrelated issue. At no point did you address the above concerns with myself.

The dive operator the group went with for the second day was Captain Slate's, and I believe they participated in the "Creature Feature" dive, which, for better or worse, involves baiting and animal handling. The conditions on their next day of diving were significantly less challenging as well.

OP-if you would like to DM me to discuss any of your concerns, I am always available to have a discussion. This post is not meant as an attack on you, merely my experience and recollection of the trip. I've been working in the industry in multiple capacities for many years, but am always trying to learn more, so if you have other items we could improve, please let me know.