Southeast Florida dive boats

[djtimmy77]

Funny, I support JDC for the same reason you are boycotting them. Anticipating giving Pura Vida a try sometime soon.

I also like Kyalami (Sl8r), Narcosis, and Little Deeper.

I agree about some (most) of the big boats being too crowded on the weekend. Therefore in addition to these boats I also support six pack boats such as Underwater Explorers as mentioned above. RDC in Jupiter only takes 8, but if there are more than 4 divers that boat feels really crowded due to the narrow beam. I'll probably try out Calypso this summer on a non-shark feeding dive. WPB/Jupiter needs more six pack boats.

There are a couple boats I didn't mention that I completely avoid for a variety of reasons. I won't go into details here, but I encourage you to stick with boats that have been mentioned multiple times.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Emerald Charters in Jupiter or Calypso in West Palm Beach if you are experienced and like sharks.
Capt. Sl8r, JASA, & Narcosis are all very good but get too crowded for me.

Jupiter Dive Center & Pura Vida were good but I'm boycotting them due to their public opinions against shark feeding dives.

I believe the OP is just getting started, so I'd advise against the Emerald. Saturday we started at Hole in the Wall (130+ feet, current) and then did two dives on the Bonaire. A bunch of folks went into deco on the Bonaire dives hoping tigers would show; I did that on the last dive and just to be safe added two intermediate stops and an extra 3 minutes at 15 feet to what my computer was telling me. Emerald dives are jumping into the deep end in a very literal sense of the word.


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[scubadada]

The 3 tank dives out of JDC on Friday and Sunday cut down on the number of divers on the boat and probably increases the experience and expertise of the divers. I particularly like the Friday dives, some folks have to work during the week.

I will side with my friend djtimmy77 and not with mscott556 on the shark issue. I saw a load of sharks in Jupiter at Tunnels and in Boynton Beach on 95, Table Tops, Lynn's Reef, and Briney Breezes the week before Memorial Day, without the inducement of feeding.

I'm disappointed that nearly every thread on SE Florida now pits shark feeders vs non

 

[HalcyonDaze]

The 3 tank dives out of JDC on Friday and Sunday cut down on the number of divers on the boat and probably increases the experience and expertise of the divers. I particularly like the Friday dives, some folks have to work during the week.

I will side with my friend djtimmy77 and not with mscott556 on the shark issue. I saw a load of sharks in Jupiter at Tunnels and in Boynton Beach on 95, Table Tops, Lynn's Reef, and Briney Breezes the week before Memorial Day, without the inducement of feeding.

I'm disappointed that nearly every thread on SE Florida now pits shark feeders vs non

Agreed; I think we fight enough battles over it in dedicated threads. The spillover in this case is because let's face it - to a certain breed of diver, what goes on in the feeds looks very, very cool and they're eager to share that experience. It looks tempting to a new diver, but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of friends I'd take on one of those trips. Forget the sharks; as far as the dive profiles go it's very much know your limitations and don't expect anyone to hold your hand. I pushed things farther than I usually do last Saturday and while I calculated every aspect of it, what kept going through my head on my deco stops was the mantra "there are old divers and there are bold divers, but there are no old bold divers."

Boat diving in Palm Beach County already has enough wrinkles for a new diver. It's deeper depths than the kiddie-pool reefs in Key Largo, you have a current pushing you along, it's live-boat pickups, and often as not nobody's going to blink if you're diving solo. No need to make the learning curve steeper.

 

[MrChen]

Check out Capt Sl8r Charters in Jupiter (www.jupiterscubadiving.com). There is a reason that his reviews are over the top 100% excellent. Tell them Paul from Vero Beach Scuba Club sent you.

Also look at Sea Pup Divers (www.seapupdiver.com) out of Riviera Beach. This is a brand new op with very experienced people behind it.

you won't go wrong with either of these.

I love Sl8r. Going to try Sea Pup next Tuesday.

 

[taymag]

I believe the OP is just getting started, so I'd advise against the Emerald. Saturday we started at Hole in the Wall (130+ feet, current) and then did two dives on the Bonaire. A bunch of folks went into deco on the Bonaire dives hoping tigers would show; I did that on the last dive and just to be safe added two intermediate stops and an extra 3 minutes at 15 feet to what my computer was telling me. Emerald dives are jumping into the deep end in a very literal sense of the word.


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Thanks for the heads up

 

[wspalding]

Agreed; I think we fight enough battles over it in dedicated threads. The spillover in this case is because let's face it - to a certain breed of diver, what goes on in the feeds looks very, very cool and they're eager to share that experience. It looks tempting to a new diver, but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a list of friends I'd take on one of those trips. Forget the sharks; as far as the dive profiles go it's very much know your limitations and don't expect anyone to hold your hand. I pushed things farther than I usually do last Saturday and while I calculated every aspect of it, what kept going through my head on my deco stops was the mantra "there are old divers and there are bold divers, but there are no old bold divers."

Boat diving in Palm Beach County already has enough wrinkles for a new diver. It's deeper depths than the kiddie-pool reefs in Key Largo, you have a current pushing you along, it's live-boat pickups, and often as not nobody's going to blink if you're diving solo. No need to make the learning curve steeper.

I agree with you 100%. I am anxious to try Emerald, but am still working through the notion of tiger sharks up close and friendly. That, plus I only really go diving 2-3 trips a year (probably 4-8 dives per trip), and I like to think that I know my limits, and doing those deep dives, for me, is probably pushing the envelope since I'm just not in the water often enough. Hell, I even leave my camera behind on the first dive so that I don't get task loaded while getting re-acclimated, and it usually takes a bit of re-orienting myself to the simple stuff like, deploying my safety sausage at the end of my dive. I can't imagine a new diver taking on the extra demands of an Emerald Charter dive (which I guess is why Randy only wants "good" divers on board). I don't feel anxious at depth, and I can probably manage that dive, but I sure do like the extra time underwater when I keep my depth around 60-70 ft and not sucking down my air because I am over-anxious about tiger sharks in my face.

 

[iluvtheocean]

the lemon shark dives when they are around are nice ---

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I agree with you 100%. I am anxious to try Emerald, but am still working through the notion of tiger sharks up close and friendly. That, plus I only really go diving 2-3 trips a year (probably 4-8 dives per trip), and I like to think that I know my limits, and doing those deep dives, for me, is probably pushing the envelope since I'm just not in the water often enough. Hell, I even leave my camera behind on the first dive so that I don't get task loaded while getting re-acclimated, and it usually takes a bit of re-orienting myself to the simple stuff like, deploying my safety sausage at the end of my dive. I can't imagine a new diver taking on the extra demands of an Emerald Charter dive (which I guess is why Randy only wants "good" divers on board). I don't feel anxious at depth, and I can probably manage that dive, but I sure do like the extra time underwater when I keep my depth around 60-70 ft and not sucking down my air because I am over-anxious about tiger sharks in my face.

We did our first dive Saturday at the Hole in the Wall on the deep ledge; you can do a high altitude flyby at 110 or so but the ledge itself is at about 120 and goes down to 130-140. I hit 127 trying to knock off some lionfish. The next two were on the Wreck Trek; if you get the nosebleed seat on the davit over the Bonaire's fantail you can hang at 70 and sip your air. It's 90 in the sand where the action is. I stay up high to conserve my bottom time; on the second dive I stayed up there as we only had three lemons and a nurse shark. On the third I made the call towards the end to push it and at least snap some lemon shark pics in the sand, which pushed me into deco. I would not have made that call if I wasn't fat on gas; I had a steel 120 pumped to 3800 psi with a 35% nitrox mix and had 2500 psi left when I dropped to the sand. I left bottom with over 2000 and was back on the boat with 1000 after a 35-minute ascent.

Honestly, if you just want to see lemon sharks, if we have an aggregation as good as we had this year any of the other boats shouldn't have an issue finding some for you without baiting.


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[guyharrisonphoto]

Dang it, Halcyon!

Due to personal and work reasons, I completely missed the lemon migration this year. Glad it was good but now I feel lemon envy . . .