West Palm area?

[cth6]

I have been following along with the thread and new to diving the WPB area. Both dives in the WPB area were very structured. Air divers 30 mins, Air Divers with computers 25 mins, Nitrox Divers with computer 45 mins.

I am looking for a place that will reasonably let you dive to your equipment. I am diving with 95's so its not like I am going to be in the water for two hours, but it is crazy when I come to the surface with 1500 psi left in the tank after a 45 min dive.

I know that the charters have to get in and out of the area to make their two daily trips, but do some charters shorten the SI for computer divers on Nitrox?

Also any good recommendation for charters that offer some deep lobster hunts during the season, not just during mini-season?

Thanks.
Chad

 

[FSUgly]

Here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/t54951.html 3 of us with the same problem. Like I said, the crew and boat were great, but the business end of things is a fraud. I ended up getting my refund through my credit card company, and NEVER got a call from Coral Island.

 

[kjunheart]

I would like to here what FSU has to say, I recently dove Coral Island and had a great time. I Live in Orlando and have been diving since 1999 and have used allot of different dive charters because of my spur of the moment dive habits. I always forget to make plans during the week and find myself calling around trying to squeeze on to any boat that has room on a afternoon dive. I can honestly say I have had a great experience with all the Charters that I have used including Coral Island. Please if you can elaborate on your experience I would like to know what was so bad about them. :06:

Hoot, IMHO Coral Island had a great operation. When I first started diving with them, they were on the ball, professional, had an excellent staff, awesome dive briefs and I could go on and on. I even (pre-baby) had joined their "dive club" because I enjoyed their crew and dives so much.

Then the last few dives I have done were absolute CF's if you understand that abbreviation. On a night dive, my buddy rented gear from them and was told it would be at the boat. When he got to the boat...no gear. So they had him wear a crew member's gear...told it was too late to go back to the shop. The gear was too big, he was miserable because he had to keep fighting with the gear so we finally called the dive. Another time we paid for NITROX tanks...get to the boat and they had run out of tanks. The crew told us too bad (tell me I am sorry for the mix up but don't tell me too bad)...again we had to use a crew member's tanks which had a higher mix than my buddy generally dove with. On most dive boats I have been on that do drift diving, they include in the dive brief for people to watch out as they ascend and decend, etc. Not only did they not do this but it was one of the DM's that clobbered me while decending.

It use to be a great op and I am happy that you had a good experience. On the last dive, I saw that Russ was still with them and for me it is their only saving grace. Hopefully they will get their act back together because I used to really love diving with them.

 

[JustJoe]

Glad to hear you left without harm, I'm suprized they didn't just tie the anchor to you and re-drop ya down to a few hundred feet..






(sorry, couldn't help myself) :11ztongue

They probably wanted to do just that. :1poke:

 

[hypnodean]

i drive down from orlando once a month or so to dive, and i LOVE Scuba Club... Theya re nice, reasonable and friendly!

 

[MSUscuba]

I have been following along with the thread and new to diving the WPB area. Both dives in the WPB area were very structured. Air divers 30 mins, Air Divers with computers 25 mins, Nitrox Divers with computer 45 mins.

I am looking for a place that will reasonably let you dive to your equipment. I am diving with 95's so its not like I am going to be in the water for two hours, but it is crazy when I come to the surface with 1500 psi left in the tank after a 45 min dive.

I know that the charters have to get in and out of the area to make their two daily trips, but do some charters shorten the SI for computer divers on Nitrox?

Also any good recommendation for charters that offer some deep lobster hunts during the season, not just during mini-season?

Thanks.
Chad

If you're looking to be trusted to dive your own profile, Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures is your best choice. They will allow you to dive your individual profile - you're still in the water with a divemaster, but they will not restrict your bottom time. Table divers are expected to dive a non-deco profile, and computer divers (both air and nitrox) are simply asked to stay out of decompression and begin ascending at 750psi. Typically, the divemaster will stay down as long as there are people in the water with air and bottom time left - you aren't expected to ascend at some arbitrary time.

Our club has been diving with them for year's and wouldn't go anywhere else. None of the dive shops in the area compare in terms of site selection and bottom time.

Someone asked about the accident involving their dive boats being destroyed by a falling forklift (more details on their website) - they still have one day boat running in addition to their live-aboard. Hope this helps.

 

[cth6]

If you're looking to be trusted to dive your own profile, Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures is your best choice. They will allow you to dive your individual profile - you're still in the water with a divemaster, but they will not restrict your bottom time. Table divers are expected to div...

Thanks, I will give them a call today to set up a trip.

Chad

 

[Scubakevdm]

None of the dive shops in the area compare in terms of site selection and bottom time.

Ther are some that would disagree.

 

[MSUscuba]

Ther are some that would disagree.

Of course some people might disagree - but when you look at it, they were able to fill 3 day boats pretty much every day, when other operators are out there with boats that aren't full. That says a lot about the company in my eyes. I've always been impressed with the variety of sites that they'll take divers to also - many other operators don't go north of the inlet in west palm either, which drastically reduces the variety and quality of dive sites available to their customers.

I (and many others that I know) refer to days that we have to, unfortunately, dive with another operator as "Abernethy Appreciation Days" - it makes you realize what a great operation Abernethy's is. Plus, the shop offers so much more than just your average dive charter - I've had them stop so that we can snorkel with manatees and manta rays - it's an awesome expirience. They even have a spotter plane to find mantas and such for their divers!

 

[cth6]

I am really looking forward to this trip. I am hoping that I have the same experience.