Rainbow Reef Dive Centre

[Slym]

Hey guys,

This April I am hoping I can get away for some warmth and such, I mentioned it in another thread and drrich2 told me about rainbow reef. I did some research on most of the ones mentioned but rainbow reef stood out. I'll probably be road tripping it down with my dad, who isn't a diver and would want nothing more than a beach and a bottle of rum to keep him occupied in between snorkelling.

Has anybody had any experiences at this place?

I finally got them on the phone they must get a lot of calls in the morning as I had trouble reaching them. They seem alright to me so if anybody has anything to share I would love to hear it!

 

[sportxlh]

There's a lot to like about RR. Their boats are big, stable and comfortable. They provide guides in their base price (roughly one guide to 4-6 divers) if you want to take advantage of that service and the staff is really nice. They are a large training center for instructors so always have a lot of helpful staff on hand. Their boats can be crowded during the busy season, but given they are big Newtons, you still usually have elbow room.

I tend to use Conch Republic and Silent World (which are good operators for more experienced divers) most of the time, but would have no issue going back to RR too. Especially if I was by myself and wanted to take advantage of the guide service

 

[scubajoe123]

I did a few dives with rainbow reef out on molasses reef a few weeks ago. Like sportxlh says, there is a lot to like about them, I found that it was a little too crowded to my taste and got bumped into a lot.

I went with Horizon Dives later in the week and hands down had a much better time. My feeling is they tend to cater to more experienced divers, I think everyone on board had a backplate/wing setup, there were some tec divers onboard with backmount doubles. I dive sidemount and felt that I fit in much better with the divers on that boat.

Both are great dive ops, I would dive with either one of them again.

 

[drrich2]

When you read forum threads on Key Largo op.s, you'll find preferences vary with what the customer is looking for. Rainbow Reef Dive Center offers good-sized boats, guide service at no added charge, and when I went, the best deal dive package (10 trips, 20 dives) was about as cheap as boat diving gets. It's reputable and I had a fine time. There were often 2 guides, so it wasn't one huge group following just 1 guide.

That said, you'll see some people don't want to use a guide, and prefer smaller boats with fewer passengers (e.g.: a '6-pack') where they may have more say in where the boat goes. You'll see mention of an op. called Quiescence that seems to be favored in this category.

For what I was looking for, I chose Rainbow Reef Diver Center and that's probably who'd I'd go back to. On this forum, I think you'll see they're reputable. I get the impression from other threads that Conch Republic has a powerfully good reputation.

Richard.

 

[gr8jab]

I dove with Rainbow Reef last summer. I also did my AOW while there. They were very professional, safe, and helpful. It is a well run operation. Lots of 'interns' as guides and other labor.

As others have said, it depends on what you value.

Here's what I liked:

1. Guide provided, no worries about a buddy (I was alone)
2. Guide provided, no worries about getting lost.
3. Exceptional Value
4. Big boats, so little concern over getting a spot
5. Cheap AOW ad-on

Here's what I didn't like:

1. AOW was bare minimum, only following the letter of the law and nothing more.
2. AOW specialties were limited to the available dives for that boat. I could not do wreck and deep, and had to do navigation instead.
3. Dives were time limited. I NEVER used my whole tank, often surfacing with >1000psi
4. Dive sites seemed redundant
5. Big boats with lots of people and guide resulted in lots of floating around and waiting for stragglers to get in...

 

[sportxlh]

As an FYI, you don't have to use RR's guide service. I did two days of diving with them with a buddy who was in town for the weekend and we didn't use a guide on any of the dives. They let us get in the water first and we tended to be last back on the boat. On one trip where my buddy and I decided to take different boats, they let solo on the deep wrecks

 

[Slym]

I tend to use Conch Republic and Silent World (which are good operators for more experienced divers) most of the time, but would have no issue going back to RR too. Especially if I was by myself and wanted to take advantage of the guide service

Checking these two out, and a price comparison are about the same, as all three places have different rates for gear rental, I haven't done the numbers yet but my estimation is that it will all work out to be about the same price. I like that silent world offers a backplate with wings as that is what I will be learning on at my LDS.

For what I was looking for, I chose Rainbow Reef Diver Centre and that's probably who'd I'd go back to. On this forum, I think you'll see they're reputable. I get the impression from other threads that Conch Republic has a powerfully good reputation.

From what I have read and the impression I am getting is that all three are a good quality certainly the free guide is very appealing at RR

gr8jab:

What do you mean by the dive sites seemed redundant?

 

[sportxlh]

Some operators have a regimented schedule in which they'll hit the same sites several times per week. Check out the various websites: most operators publish their expected dive schedule so you can see if the operator is going places you're interested in. For me, multiple dives on any of the deep wrecks is pretty cool but multiple dives on the same shallow reef over a few days isn't as enjoyable.

 

[Slym]

Good idea, I won't be able to dive too deep as I will only have a couple dives under my belt. I don't think I will take a course might just enjoy the trip and scenery, so seeing a few sites will be ideal. I am thinking that if I take advantage of both RR and Silent worlds 3 trip package I could probably take advantage of all the best places they have to offer for an open water diver and still leave some for the next trip!

An added bonus for the hotels that I am looking to stay at is that Silent World offers discounts at the Pelican Inn. Pelican has free kayaks

 

[They call me Tater]

My couple dives with RR were very good they put several DMs in the water and each group of 6 went in different directions. Frankly I didn't want to like them and told one of the staff that I preferred smaller boats. But the weather was not great and I was happy on the larger boat. No complaints at all. Was also a handy location and stay packge.