Rainbow Reef Dive Center buys Ocean Divers

[Wookie]

I am not sure how you read my post and thought I was suggesting that we needed to populate the sea floor with more screamers. I never mentioned 'screamers.' I personally cringe a bit at the term. I specifically mentioned contributing to the economy while diving fakes. That was my message. If there is any confusion I read, it is that "We are spending way too much money on fakes" could have more specifically said "My family is spending way too much money on fakes." But I still never said or implied or hinted that anyone needed to create screamers.

I was confused. I think that creating litter is an awesome way to get rid of litter. It disposes of junk the Navy no longer wants, it gives stuff a place to hang out, and it puts Ensco out of business, which is a triple win in my book. We don't spend near enough preparing litter to dump in the ocean.

 

[DavidFL]

This thread really makes me want to drive down to Key Largo tomorrow night. I hate you all.

Stop in Orlando and pick me up on the way....I'm right off of 417 at the airport....I haven't been to Key Largo since mid-January when it was COLD.

 

[txgoose]

I do hope you realize that my comment was tongue a cheek.

Dang it! I love dry humor. The drier and more subtle the better. I missed it, and I apologize. I will blame it on my own cringe factor. <insert beer mugs being tapped in friendly gesture similie, that I can't find> :beer:

 

[caruso]

Since those were basically 'twin' ships in fairly close proximity, the Duane upright and the Bibb on its side, I inferred that being upright was somehow preferable...though I've never figured out why.

Shipwrecks that stand upright are much easier to navigate when a diver penetrates deeply. A ship on it's side creates a situation where a diver can easily become disoriented because the walls might really be a ceiling and the ceiling might really be the floor. If a diver isn't going to penetrate the wreck and just swim around on the outside, then the orientation of the ship doesn't make any difference, in fact it might be more interesting and dramatic if it's on the side. As far as the Duane and Bibb are concerned, having dived both I can tell you that the Duane is much easier to penetrate, there are various large rooms to swim through, and yet the Bibb makes for a more spectacular "external" dive with it's tipped over orientation (as is the Eagle). It's not really all that good for penetration anyway because of it's depth, at least not for recreational divers.

 

[caruso]

It was less contrived. I divide ships on the bottom of the ocean into two categories: Screamers and fakes. Boats that go down with passengers and crew screaming are the real wrecks. The SG is a fake: t.

I'd rather dive a real wreck than an artificial one, all other things being equal. Problem is, in the Keys, there is only one real wreck worth diving within recreational limits and that's the Benwood, for the obvious reasons that they sank because (for the most part) they grounded on shallow reefs and they have been exposed to rough conditions over a long period of time so they've been reduced to rubble. There are 8 artificial wrecks between Key Largo and Key West within recreational diving limits that are large and mostly intact (because they're deep and protected from rough surface conditions) and because they've been down there a while they've got healthy corals on them and attract a lot of fish. I'd dive those over the Keys reefs any day.

 

[The Chairman]

Back to the OP, I've been thinking about this purchase. First, Rainbow Reef is the most successful dive op in Florida by any measure. Most boats, most divers, most new instructors and there are probably more "mosts" we could add to that. That was before this addition. Now they are a mega dive op and might the biggest in the US or even the world. How did they get here? Hard work, innovation, and a commitment to excellence... all at a fair price. So, why would anyone think that they are going to mess with their recipe for success? I certainly don't.

Moreover, before this, they were at complete capacity. It was sometimes hard to get on one of their boats and they had no way of continuing to grow. This makes complete sense for them and I'm glad that they've done this. I don't have a crystal ball, but I can see this giving way to more tech trips and even more and varied double dips. I know they donate boats to @DiveHeart, so this should help that out too. I might have to go down to the Keys just to see how they have it all set up.

 

[RainbowReefer]

Pete,

Thank you for the kind words and your assessment is pretty much right on target.

Simply stated, we had a lot of customers who enjoyed the way we delivered our service and classes, we were at capacity and we were having problems accommodating everyone. We had thought about building another boat but then we realized we wouldn't have enough parking or It would create other bottlenecks at check in time. Our Air system could handle it, we already fill over 600 tanks a day on a busy day, so another 120 or so wouldn't be a big deal. But, after careful consideration, we decided another location across the canal and a few more boats would allow us to split the customers into two places to check in, we'd have a lot more parking, and also spread out the customers more evenly onto the boats..It basically became a no brainer for us.

As you speculated, there were many great things we plan to take advantage of as we grow this way. We will have 8 boats, so we can schedule them for 8 different locations, different dive experience levels, and much more. So for example, it's very likely we will have snorkelers on one boat, classes like discover scuba and open water on another boat, shallow reef dives on a couple of boats going to different locations, advanced trips, wreck trips, double dip trips, tech trips, and as you said, a lot more space for more DiveHeart divers. We haven't really finalized the new schedule yet, but as you can see it opens up a world of possibilities in how we can better accommodate our wide range of customers and their preferences or experience levels.The truth is, we probably have not yet thought of all the ways we can enhance the things we do by bringing these two companies together, but we are thinking about it each day and gearing up the staff and the infrastructure to be better than ever going forward.

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about how we might be doing things going forward to better serve our customers.

D.J. @ Rainbow Reef

 

[The Chairman]

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about how we might be doing things going forward

Good to see you here! In addition to answering questions, I imagine this would be a great time to hear from customers on what they would like to see you do. You guys are responsive if anything.

 

[Steve_C]

Add a drawbridge/zipline/catapult??? across the canal. So if you are diving RR and OD the same day it is quick to get from one to the other. Also the RR folks can quickly hop over to get fish tacos for lunch. Said only slightly in jest. I have dove OD and the old Horizon on the same day more than once and the connection was not always convenient.

More seriously it would be nice if dive packages can be split between the two locations.

 

[RainbowReefer]

Pete,

Sure, we would be happy to answer questions and take suggestions. Some of our best ideas and things we've implemented over the years have come from our crew and customers

Good to see you here! In addition to answering questions, I imagine this would be a great time to hear from customers on what they would like to see you do. You guys are responsive if anything.

Pete,

Sure, we would be happy to answer questions and take suggestions. Some of our best ideas and things we've implemented over the years have come from our crew and customers. Clearly, we may not be able to do everything suggested, but normally when it's feasible and would be good for all of our customers, it usually happens.

D.J. @ Rainbow Reef