Quiescence .... Impressions?

My wife and I are headed to Key Largo the last weekend in March and have been doing some research on dive ops down there. Someone up here suggested Quiescence. We like the idea of not being on a boat with 10 other divers and it looks like these guys don't do that.

Has anyone dove with this op and what did you think? Also, since we only have 19 dives under our belt, we would like to have a DM in the water with us.

Thanks for any feedback.

Can't go wrong with Rob and his crew at Quiescence.

You can't do any better than them; boat size, staff, safety awareness, customer satisfaction, and so on. You'll be very pleased with them.

Good choice. Good op

quality outfit with personable and knowlegeable crews,,,,,,,,

reefman
key largo

They took just two of us out to the Grove. Kind of nice to have the whole ship to yourself. Really beats the big boats.

+1 for Quiescence. There are a lot of good operators in the Keys but these are at the very top. Nice boats with small groups (6 max), great captains, full assistance with gear (which few or no other operators can match), and very safety conscious. They are a few dollors more than other ops due to the small group size, but worth every penny. They are also very good at putting together groups of people with similar abilities and then offering a flexible selection of sites. When you call tell them what you are interested in.

They do not offer a standard guide in the water with the group (no Keys operator does, that I know of), but can arrange a guide for you if you give enough notice. I don't know what the fee is.

You might consider going without a guide. 20 dives should be enough for you to be comfortable on the Pennekamp reefs. If you select one of the standard Pennekamp reef dives (that would be the best for your experience level), the conditions are shallow (25-40 feet), vis is usually good (40 to 100+ depending on conditions), and they are usually low-stress situations. If you want, you can stay near the boat and enjoy great reef diving. If you want to roam a little, the usual procedure is to begin by swimming up-current (there is usually a slight to moderate current), making your return to the boat pretty easy. These are very good conditions for both enjoying yourselves and practicing basic skills.

Hey tkscuba....I hope you have a great trip down in the keys!

A couple thoughts....You and I are pretty similar in number of dives, so, we're still novices. I totally get the wanting a DM in the water with you. I do think guyharrisphoto has a great post here about striking out on your own. If we are to grow as divers, we must do that sometime and the shallow reef dives around Key Largo are hard to beat for easy yet beautiful diving.

Only you and your wife can know if you feel really ready for this. Trust your gut on this one. If you don't feel you have the competence to dive without a DM...then hire one. If one of you feels ready and the other doesn't...then still hire one. You're a buddy team after all...gotta be on the same page!

What if you were to take guy's advise...and just tweak it a little? Hire a DM, but ask them to come along on YOUR dive and observe? You plan your dive thoroughly. Plan it as if the DM wasn't going to be there at all. After the dive, the DM could tell you what he or she saw...where you were strong, and where you might improve. Just a thought.

FYI....as you'll often hear on this forum, MOST dive ops don't put DMs in the water with you unless you hire them yourself, but there are a couple of exceptions. Both Rainbow Reef in Key Largo and Key Dives in Islamorada DO provide DMs at no additional charge. But remember, now you're going on the DM's dive..not necessarily what YOU want.

Good luck and let us know how your trip went!

I have gone with Quiessence. They are a very good dive op. We reserved slots. One morning we got there and they took us out even though it was just the two of us. We got to choose our dive most days. They do not put anyone in the water, as mentioned above. They also know a bunch of spots that no one else seems to dive.

But, if you dive the shallow stuff, Key Largo is pretty easy diving. The vis is pretty good, not great but good. There are plenty of good places that are no more than 30'. When we dove, the currents in the shallow areas were almost non existant. So the diving should be well within your capabilities. If you want to stretch just a bit, you can do a 40'+ dive at the Benwood which is a very nice wreck that is encrusted with all sorts of sea life.

Thanks for the input! I think we're ready to strike out on our own and stretch ourselves a bit. time to gain independant experience. Will definately report on how the trip went. Good to here the praises of this dive op.