FWIW, my comments are based upon two years ago. Hopefully, staff have changed and Aquanuts improved their operation based upon the mandated safety improvements due to the settlement when they left two divers in the water on a night dive.
Hobo's is fantastic. The rooms at Kelly's were clean and serviceable. Good for divers but don't expect posh surroundings.
Some were small but we don't spend much time in the room anyway. The continental breakfast is sufficient to get you to your first dive and back. Fair value for the money.
The two dive boats are 42 ft Newtons with twin diesel's. Well maintained and roomy. Really sweet ride.
My problems were with the crews. Of the seven dives we did with them, we were taken to the Benwood three times. The crew was not open to any different location requests. They wanted the trips over as quickly as possible.
During a night dive, they tried to coerce my buddy and I into accepting a diver as a buddy who had never been on a night dive and who had just completed his OW certification dives that day. I was upset with their attempt to get us to accept such a responsibility. The young man had rented a primary light and didn't have a secondary. We loaned him a secondary. Nice young man who really wanted to dive. You quessed it, we took him along. Sure enough, his primary failed. My buddy and I had kept him between us and he maintained his cool. After the dive, he understood the problems that can occur.
The next day at North North Rocks, the crew pushed for a ten minute surface interval. They didn't have any patience with new divers struggling with their exit and board protocol. I felt sorry for the divers getting snapped at but thier instructor got things settled down.
All in all, an unpleasant experience. Just my $.02 worth.
If you have a trip leader, they should be able to circumvent these problems. The Key's are great and you will have a great time.
DSAO,
Larry
