So is Kelly's on the Bay/Aquanuts closing?

[MsParamedic]

The new owners of the boats *may* have kept the operation open under the Kelly's name, but not the Hotel. At the time when we were there the entire DiveOp fate was up in the air, and Kelly's was attempting to find buyers which apparently has now happened.


The Aqua Nuts (Kelly's) dive boats and operation was bought by Cristal Clear Charters (Cay Clubs) and is now located at MM90.5.

 

[RonFrank]

Since they're closing, I will opine that I think Aquanuts was one of the worst cattleboats I've ever had the displeasure to board. We drove down from Miami to do one day of diving in Key Largo and it was Molasses Reef for exactly 60 minutes with perhaps a 5 minute SI and motoring about 100 feet to dive it again. I was so fed up with all really bad divers kicking up sand and torturing the reef, I called the 2nd dive a 35 minutes. My buddy signaled he was going to hang out under the boat and shoot some more photos. The DM almost went ballistic and was going to haul my buddy up even though you could see him perfectly well from the boat.

Got that off my chest . . .

I had a very different experience wth Aquanuts.

The boats were not crowded except one day on the weekend when one of their captains decided to take the day off in an unexpected move. Can't blame him as he was basically out of a job in less than a week.

Sixty minutes is the drill on EVERY boat in Largo I've either been on, or read about. If you know of Ops that will go longer than sixty minutes on the Reefs PLEASE respond with the names as I'd be VERY interested in hearing about them. But think about it, boats leave at 8:00am (generally a bit later) diving diving 9:00-10:00, then from maybe 10:30 - 11:30, that leaves them just enough time to get back to the dock, cleanup, do some necessary fills, and do it again.....

You can not blame the charter for divers kicking up the reef. However I dove with many of the same people over four days of diving with Aquanuts. They were totally into scuba, many carried camera or video, and most had logged PLENTY of dives and had advance certifications. In general they were a rather experienced set of dives and most had stayed with Aquanuts several times over years if not decades.

Molassas is so big I'm surprised that you felt the need to hang near divers that were not up to your expectations. After 10 minutes of BT my buddy and I were rather seperated from most other divers on our section of the reef, and there must have been 10 dive boats tied off at the time were were diving. 100vis that day, a great and memorable dive.

At this point it is water under the bridge, but if ONE agency is buying up a lot of the Dive Ops down there I would not necessarily expect things to get better.

 

[TheRedHead]

Ron, my experience with Aquanuts was just the opposite. There were 24-30 divers crammed onto the boat. The reaction of the DM to an experienced diver photographing under the boat without his buddy where he was in plain sight was extreme. He said some very macho things like "dragging his butt back up here." I just didn't like the vibe of it at all.

I didn't think I got what I paid for either. I expected more of a SI and would have preferred have dived 2 sites rather than 1. With so many divers getting on and off the boat, it decreases dive time because the 60 minutes - for Aquanuts - included getting on and off the boat which takes a lot of time with so many people.

ADDED: Personally, I would pay more for a more tailored dive experience. When you've spent a good amount to travel to a location to dive, this kind of McDiving makes me hesitant to plan dive trips to the Keys.

I guess I posted it because of Catherine's experience of posting the name of the dive op and then being asked to delete it. Maybe a little bit of protest? I think we should be able to review/critique/criticize dive operators openly and honestly without having to worry about hearing "the other side." I think we're mature enough to take things with a grain of salt and consider the source of the critique. And if someone here has another point of view, I've found they're not shy about stating it.

 

[KeyLargoBrent]

Ron, my experience with Aquanuts was just the opposite. There were 24-30 divers crammed onto the boat. The reaction of the DM to an experienced diver photographing under the boat without his buddy where he was in plain sight was extreme. He said some very macho things like "dragging his butt back up here." I just didn't like the vibe of it at all.

I didn't think I got what I paid for either. I expected more of a SI and would have preferred have dived 2 sites rather than 1. With so many divers getting on and off the boat, it decreases dive time because the 60 minutes - for Aquanuts - included getting on and off the boat which takes a lot of time with so many people.

ADDED: Personally, I would pay more for a more tailored dive experience. When you've spent a good amount to travel to a location to dive, this kind of McDiving makes me hesitant to plan dive trips to the Keys.

I guess I posted it because of Catherine's experience of posting the name of the dive op and then being asked to delete it. Maybe a little bit of protest? I think we should be able to review/critique/criticize dive operators openly and honestly without having to worry about hearing "the other side." I think we're mature enough to take things with a grain of salt and consider the source of the critique. And if someone here has another point of view, I've found they're not shy about stating it.

Sounds like NDMS (Nazi Dive Master Syndrome) to me... but, alas, there are two sides to every story. An inexperienced or burned-out crew can easily ruin the vibe of a dive trip. So can any diver aboard any dive boat. In my experience... the fewer the divers, the fewer the problems! If you want to have things your way, then why not charter a boat privately?

 

[TheRedHead]

KeyLargoBrent, there were just too many divers on the boat, everyone was tense, and this occurred after an incident that made the news (I found out later).

I don't think I should have to charter a boat privately to get a better experience. Why can't the Keys offer the same services of the good shops in places like Cozumel? I would be willing to pay more than $65-70 a trip if I could get the same kind of experience that I get in Coz.

My expectations would include:

Small fast boats with double Yammies to get to the site quickly.
100 and 120 cf Steel tanks.
Nixtrox including lean mixes for deeper dives.
First dive deep and dive your own profile.
Long SI at a beach club where I could buy a good late breakfast.
My gear is on the boat when I board it during a multi-day trip and I don't have to worry about shelpping wet gear back to a hotel and trying to dry it in the bathroom or balcony. The shop handles all the gear except wetsuits.
Second dive length deteremined by gas consumption rather than being rushed so the crew can get back and pick up another load of divers.
Friendly crew and DMs who give excellent briefings and take the time to find out about the experience of the divers.
Divers on same boat matched for experience/interest levels.

How much would that cost? It's the level of service I get outside of the USA. Since I can fly to Cozumel for $100 more than Florida and the accomodations are cheaper and often nicer, where is the incentive to dive in a Keys cattleboat type operation?

As I said, I would be willing to pay more, possibly much more, for a better experience. And I don't think I'm alone in this wish.

 

[RonFrank]

My expectations would include:

Small fast boats with double Yammies to get to the site quickly.
100 and 120 cf Steel tanks.
Nixtrox including lean mixes for deeper dives.
First dive deep and dive your own profile.
Long SI at a beach club where I could buy a good late breakfast.
My gear is on the boat when I board it during a multi-day trip and I don't have to worry about shelpping wet gear back to a hotel and trying to dry it in the bathroom or balcony. The shop handles all the gear except wetsuits.
Second dive length deteremined by gas consumption rather than being rushed so the crew can get back and pick up another load of divers.
Friendly crew and DMs who give excellent briefings and take the time to find out about the experience of the divers.
Divers on same boat matched for experience/interest levels.

First I would Highly recommend Brent, but his boat is deisel, and you want to specifiy the brand name of the outboard on a Six pack? Would Johnson work for you What about a nice Merc I/O? But IMO a boat the size BlueDiversUses is MUCH more comforatble with 10 people diving vs. any six pack with six divers.

Second, I'm curious where in Coz you get that much service, and what do you pay? Where in COZ do you get Steel 100/120 tanks with various mixes of Nitrox? I'm asking because that is one option that you describe that I'd like.

Diving in COZ is NOT diving in the Keys, as the NDL will keep the dives short, and the SI's long, even with Nitrox.

Another thought is WHY would anyone diving the reefs in Keys generally need Nitrox or HP 100's/120's? The reefs can go to 100' in places, but a lot of the best diving is at a nice, low air comsumption 25~40fsw. Nitrox IS available in the Keys BTW.

As to having people in the US wash your gear for you, store it, and then pack it back on board IMO that would cost a fortune (what op in MX does this?).

I'd suggest bringing a personal assistant with you on your trips. That would certainly eliminate the worry of having to wash gear

 

[TheRedHead]

Actually, Frank, I've dived with 3 shops which offer exactly this service:

Aldora Divers www.aldora.com
Liquid Blue www.liquidbluedivers.com
Living Underwater www.living-underwater.com

and I'm sure there are more. 2-tank dives are $87-$90 each, plus $5-$10 tank for Nitrox. My average first dive is Max depth 110, avg. 57, BT 75 minutes, then a 2 hour surface interval on the beach, then a 2nd dive of around 70-80 minutes at max depth of 90. I like Santa Rosa or Cedral as a 2nd dive.

If you are making your first dive in the Keys as deep wreck dive, I would prefer Nitrox 30 and a larger tank. Wouldn't you? Then you can spend a couple of hours on the 2nd dive exploring a reef.

 

[StSomewhere]

Thanks, do they have a website?

They sure do...go to www.diveinflkeys.com

[threadjack]
I hate web designers who try to do it all with Flash instead of at least offereing a real html alternative. Yeah, like I really need to see the cute intro everytime.
[/threadjack]

 

[Divin-D]

[threadjack]
I hate web designers who try to do it all with Flash instead of at least offereing a real html alternative. Yeah, like I really need to see the cute intro everytime.
[/threadjack]

Yeah, the intro thing bites, but Dive In is a first rate dive operation. I dove with them for a week, two years ago, and it was great! Dawn was wonderfully helpful, working out all of the particulars of our trip and the Nitrox class we we taking via the phone, so all we had to do was show up at the dive shop and we were all set to go diving. Joe was great as both teacher and captain. He even helped me adjust some new gear that I had purchased at my LDS.

We dove the Grove, the Duane and the Eagle (and the reefs of course). Not many shops in Key Largo go to all three. The six-pack boats are fast, plus they are ocean side, so the trip to the dive site is much shorter! All around, I had a great time diving with Dive In. I will dive with them again whenever I go to Key Largo and would recommend them to anyone.

 

[Big Mike]

While we are commenting on AQUANUTS, I have the following to say:

I dove with them on 2 occassions. The first about a month or so BEFORE they left the 2 divers out on the reef overnight, and the second about a month AFTER.

I noticed they had a different procedure on the 2nd trip, they were using the D.A.N. TAG system. I asked the CAPTAIN about it and why they were using it. I got a B.S. answer that didn't make sense. (I was in insurance business for 17 years and what he was saying wasn't true.) So when I got home I did a GOOGLE search and found out about the incident. I chose not to dive with them after that because they LIED to me about the problem, not because they had the problem.

Even after this "situation" there are still dive ops that don't do a ROLL CALL. ????
This troubles me because I usually dive by myself...get paired with a buddy on board. So I make sure to introduce myself to Captain/DM and make sure they know it if I'm not there!


Mike