Mike51
New
Long time lurker, always enjoy the forum.
16 year old son and I drove down to key Largo from Sarasota early Sat AM(Oct 15) for Sat afternoon 2 tank dive and Sunday morning 2 tank dive with a return drive Sunday afternoon(@7hrs rt).
OW cert last summer with total of 10 dives including certification. Last summer dove Benwood, French and Molasses in spectacular conditions.
Lurked here for reputable operators. I called a recomended operation. They couldn't book us but suggested another outfit. When I made reservations I reviewed our dive history and desire to replicate last summers experience. They stated on the phone that the Benwood could probably be done Sunday and that the Sat afternoon dives would be similar to what we discribed. We made reservations for them and the hotel right then.
Saturday trip left the dock at 2:30, not 1:00 as advised. The boat had had problems and was only put into operation again 48 hours earlier. We discovered once underway that we had been attached to a group of 14 from Michigan. The boat couldn't get on a plane and we ended up diving in 20 feet of water(Snapper Hole) in order to complete the OW cert fort 4 preteen boys. Dive 2 was fifteen minutes away (at Pickles?) depth 10-20 feet. On the way in the boat broke down a mile from shore. Our anticipated arrival at the dock of @6:30 ended up being 9:30. When the Captain gave up and called for help a small center console (maybe 17 ft?) arrived and almost sunk itself trying to get us (35+ ft) in because of wind and seas.
Our goal of dinner at Sundowners on our only night there evaporated since we still had to check in the adjacent hotel at 9:30pm.
The issues:
1)We question the seaworthiness of the boat from the outset. Sloowww, followed by nonfunctional.
2)A private party rescue (free?) delayed us 1-1 1/2 hrs longer than a Boat US(expensive) docked in the same marina. Cost us dinner at Sundowners...
3) Was trip misrepresented? should we have been warned it was a child shallow water certification dive?
After the large party had left, I approached the crew about an adjustment on fees thinking a 50-100 percent refund was in order. The young man who booked the reservation was stonewalling until the captain came up, apologized and said we don't owe if we were that unhappy.
The question: Are we being cry babies? As novices the only cattle boats I've been on is Pennekamp and can't compare the experiences. I would have been happy with 1/2 off but the Capt didn't want to negotiate, just said keep them in mind down the road. If we had gotten nothing I'd offer up thier name since they got torched on here in another post. As is, I repect what I see on here enough to pay it all if we're being totally unreasonable.
Sorry about the length of the post. Appriciate hearing from dive instructors, operators as well as consumers.
Mike
16 year old son and I drove down to key Largo from Sarasota early Sat AM(Oct 15) for Sat afternoon 2 tank dive and Sunday morning 2 tank dive with a return drive Sunday afternoon(@7hrs rt).
OW cert last summer with total of 10 dives including certification. Last summer dove Benwood, French and Molasses in spectacular conditions.
Lurked here for reputable operators. I called a recomended operation. They couldn't book us but suggested another outfit. When I made reservations I reviewed our dive history and desire to replicate last summers experience. They stated on the phone that the Benwood could probably be done Sunday and that the Sat afternoon dives would be similar to what we discribed. We made reservations for them and the hotel right then.
Saturday trip left the dock at 2:30, not 1:00 as advised. The boat had had problems and was only put into operation again 48 hours earlier. We discovered once underway that we had been attached to a group of 14 from Michigan. The boat couldn't get on a plane and we ended up diving in 20 feet of water(Snapper Hole) in order to complete the OW cert fort 4 preteen boys. Dive 2 was fifteen minutes away (at Pickles?) depth 10-20 feet. On the way in the boat broke down a mile from shore. Our anticipated arrival at the dock of @6:30 ended up being 9:30. When the Captain gave up and called for help a small center console (maybe 17 ft?) arrived and almost sunk itself trying to get us (35+ ft) in because of wind and seas.
Our goal of dinner at Sundowners on our only night there evaporated since we still had to check in the adjacent hotel at 9:30pm.
The issues:
1)We question the seaworthiness of the boat from the outset. Sloowww, followed by nonfunctional.
2)A private party rescue (free?) delayed us 1-1 1/2 hrs longer than a Boat US(expensive) docked in the same marina. Cost us dinner at Sundowners...
3) Was trip misrepresented? should we have been warned it was a child shallow water certification dive?
After the large party had left, I approached the crew about an adjustment on fees thinking a 50-100 percent refund was in order. The young man who booked the reservation was stonewalling until the captain came up, apologized and said we don't owe if we were that unhappy.
The question: Are we being cry babies? As novices the only cattle boats I've been on is Pennekamp and can't compare the experiences. I would have been happy with 1/2 off but the Capt didn't want to negotiate, just said keep them in mind down the road. If we had gotten nothing I'd offer up thier name since they got torched on here in another post. As is, I repect what I see on here enough to pay it all if we're being totally unreasonable.
Sorry about the length of the post. Appriciate hearing from dive instructors, operators as well as consumers.
Mike
