Just returned from a month of diving with Chuck and Robbie's, and I thought I should share my experience with this dive op. First off my wife and myself prefer to dive with the smaller dive operators. Doing research here and trip advisor we felt this was the dive op for us and we were not disappointed.
First we were greated by Robbie and introduced to Big Sexy and Giovanni the dive masters who immediately made us fell at home. Robbie said they would pick us up at our dock (Cloisters) at 8:30 on the days we wanted to dive(always on time) . They rinsed and stored and looked after our gear at their shop during our stay.
Now the diving, first off they gave a thorough safety briefing to every new diver that came on the boat. At the time off these briefings everyone was encouraged to be quiet so the new divers could hear and understand the briefing. After the safety talk the fun begins a quick clear dive briefing of the site.During this briefing we were told the dives would be 40-45 minutes I think in the month we dove with them we only had 1 dive in this time range the rest were how ever long your air and computer let you last. The entry was a back roll and return to the boat you took your BC off in the water and then climbed the ladder. We didn't have to lift a finger to carry equipment change tanks or even putting our gear on as they lifted it into postion. All you had to do was show up put your arms thru your BC clip the straps and dive.This just may have spoiled my wife and myself for all other dive op's to follow.
The boat held a dozen people comfortably and when we had those numbers there was always at least 2 dive masters in the water sometimes 3. Robbie does have a smaller boat which he takes out when he has more than dozen and with students.
We were greeted everyday with a handshake or hug(wife) and you felt like you were apart of a family and not a number.
Well diving the divemasters were very attentive and aware of the surroundings. They did spear the Lionfish the big ones were cleaned back at the shop. Little ones were left as food.Now I watched several times as these dead Lionfish were eaten by the snapper,grouper,and eels. I couldn't believe the feeding frenzy that went on over a dead Lionfish. Now Robbie said they were hoping that by killing the lionfish and feeding them to the snappers etc they could train these fish to become predators of the Lionfish. Hopefully this works because we speared upwards of a dozen Lionfish on some dives. On one trip to Mexico Rocks we chased a floating garbage bag full of trash and brought abck to the shop for disposal.
Most of the people diving here were repeats and had nothing but good to say.All I can say right now is I feel like we were diving with family and we will diffently be back and diving with Chuck and Robbie's. If anyone wants to know anything specific about our experience please feel free to ask I will be happy to help. I feel you can't go wrong with this dive op and feel privledged to now belong to this family.Now back to the -40 reality.
First we were greated by Robbie and introduced to Big Sexy and Giovanni the dive masters who immediately made us fell at home. Robbie said they would pick us up at our dock (Cloisters) at 8:30 on the days we wanted to dive(always on time) . They rinsed and stored and looked after our gear at their shop during our stay.
Now the diving, first off they gave a thorough safety briefing to every new diver that came on the boat. At the time off these briefings everyone was encouraged to be quiet so the new divers could hear and understand the briefing. After the safety talk the fun begins a quick clear dive briefing of the site.During this briefing we were told the dives would be 40-45 minutes I think in the month we dove with them we only had 1 dive in this time range the rest were how ever long your air and computer let you last. The entry was a back roll and return to the boat you took your BC off in the water and then climbed the ladder. We didn't have to lift a finger to carry equipment change tanks or even putting our gear on as they lifted it into postion. All you had to do was show up put your arms thru your BC clip the straps and dive.This just may have spoiled my wife and myself for all other dive op's to follow.
The boat held a dozen people comfortably and when we had those numbers there was always at least 2 dive masters in the water sometimes 3. Robbie does have a smaller boat which he takes out when he has more than dozen and with students.
We were greeted everyday with a handshake or hug(wife) and you felt like you were apart of a family and not a number.
Well diving the divemasters were very attentive and aware of the surroundings. They did spear the Lionfish the big ones were cleaned back at the shop. Little ones were left as food.Now I watched several times as these dead Lionfish were eaten by the snapper,grouper,and eels. I couldn't believe the feeding frenzy that went on over a dead Lionfish. Now Robbie said they were hoping that by killing the lionfish and feeding them to the snappers etc they could train these fish to become predators of the Lionfish. Hopefully this works because we speared upwards of a dozen Lionfish on some dives. On one trip to Mexico Rocks we chased a floating garbage bag full of trash and brought abck to the shop for disposal.
Most of the people diving here were repeats and had nothing but good to say.All I can say right now is I feel like we were diving with family and we will diffently be back and diving with Chuck and Robbie's. If anyone wants to know anything specific about our experience please feel free to ask I will be happy to help. I feel you can't go wrong with this dive op and feel privledged to now belong to this family.Now back to the -40 reality.
good lad he is, glad he is doing well I always knew he would.
