Key West Diving- Captain's Corner - Feedback

[joe8mofo]

So my friend and I were able to go diving with Captains Corner on Feb 27th, dive 1 was on the Vandenberg and dive 2 was on a shallow reef. My friend is currently OW and I am AOW; we were informed that because my friend is OW, we would have to pay for a divemaster to dive with us, 60 feet is not the maximum depth for OW but just a recommendation; but my friend really wanted to see this wreck so he offered to pay for that portion.

We chose to dive nitrox on the Vandenberg; which means that if you have a guide than they should be diving nitrox as well so you can have the same profile; especially when NDL dictates dive-time. Well our Dive master has air; I said something to him about it and decided it wasn't that big of a deal and that my friend's air consumption would probably be the limiting factor.

So we gear up and on the way out to the Vberg we are told that this other diver who doesn't have a buddy will be diving with us. So despite the fact that we paid for a dive guide; we are now stuck with a diver of unknown skill. I protested but was told there was no way around this.

We hit the water and there is no current and visibility on the wreck is 15-30 ft; not bad for the season, but definitely makes me reconsider FL Key diving in the future. After 15 total minutes in the water the divemaster is rushing my friend and me to ascend. It turns out that the unknown buddy who didn't pay to be with us is at 700 PSI and the DM is forcing us to end the dive. My buddy and I had 1500 and 1800 PSI when we surfaced with a total runtime of 22 minutes. Max depth 102, avg depth 61, water temp 74

The 2nd dive was on a shallow reef and visibility was 5-10 ft. Runtime was 51 min, max depth 36, avg depth 26, water temp 75.

The crew of the boat was decent and professional, the boat was clean, the ride was comfortable. There is water on the boat and no snack is provided.

Needless to say I will not be diving with Captain's Corner again and will stick with S Florida drift diving off of Jupiter/west palm/Jupiter as those ops don't play the 60 ft max depth card for OW in order to stick you with a DM.

 

[oly5050user]

So my friend and I were able to go diving with Captains Corner on Feb 27th, dive 1 was on the Vandenberg and dive 2 was on a shallow reef. My friend is currently OW and I am AOW; we were informed that because my friend is OW, we would have to pay for a divemaster to dive with us, 60 feet is not the maximum depth for OW but just a recommendation; but my friend really wanted to see this wreck so he offered to pay for that portion.

We chose to dive nitrox on the Vandenberg; which means that if you have a guide than they should be diving nitrox as well so you can have the same profile; especially when NDL dictates dive-time. Well our Dive master has air; I said something to him about it and decided it wasn't that big of a deal and that my friend's air consumption would probably be the limiting factor.

So we gear up and on the way out to the Vberg we are told that this other diver who doesn't have a buddy will be diving with us. So despite the fact that we paid for a dive guide; we are now stuck with a diver of unknown skill. I protested but was told there was no way around this.

We hit the water and there is no current and visibility on the wreck is 15-30 ft; not bad for the season, but definitely makes me reconsider FL Key diving in the future. After 15 total minutes in the water the divemaster is rushing my friend and me to ascend. It turns out that the unknown buddy who didn't pay to be with us is at 700 PSI and the DM is forcing us to end the dive. My buddy and I had 1500 and 1800 PSI when we surfaced with a total runtime of 22 minutes. Max depth 102, avg depth 61, water temp 74

The 2nd dive was on a shallow reef and visibility was 5-10 ft. Runtime was 51 min, max depth 36, avg depth 26, water temp 75.

The crew of the boat was decent and professional, the boat was clean, the ride was comfortable. There is water on the boat and no snack is provided.

Needless to say I will not be diving with Captain's Corner again and will stick with S Florida drift diving off of Jupiter/west palm/Jupiter as those ops don't play the 60 ft max depth card for OW in order to stick you with a DM.

So my friend and I were able to go diving with Captains Corner on Feb 27th, dive 1 was on the Vandenberg and dive 2 was on a shallow reef. My friend is currently OW and I am AOW; we were informed that because my friend is OW, we would have to pay for a divemaster to dive with us, 60 feet is not the maximum depth for OW but just a recommendation; but my friend really wanted to see this wreck so he offered to pay for that portion.

We chose to dive nitrox on the Vandenberg; which means that if you have a guide than they should be diving nitrox as well so you can have the same profile; especially when NDL dictates dive-time. Well our Dive master has air; I said something to him about it and decided it wasn't that big of a deal and that my friend's air consumption would probably be the limiting factor.

So we gear up and on the way out to the Vberg we are told that this other diver who doesn't have a buddy will be diving with us. So despite the fact that we paid for a dive guide; we are now stuck with a diver of unknown skill. I protested but was told there was no way around this.

We hit the water and there is no current and visibility on the wreck is 15-30 ft; not bad for the season, but definitely makes me reconsider FL Key diving in the future. After 15 total minutes in the water the divemaster is rushing my friend and me to ascend. It turns out that the unknown buddy who didn't pay to be with us is at 700 PSI and the DM is forcing us to end the dive. My buddy and I had 1500 and 1800 PSI when we surfaced with a total runtime of 22 minutes. Max depth 102, avg depth 61, water temp 74

The 2nd dive was on a shallow reef and visibility was 5-10 ft. Runtime was 51 min, max depth 36, avg depth 26, water temp 75.

The crew of the boat was decent and professional, the boat was clean, the ride was comfortable. There is water on the boat and no snack is provided.

Needless to say I will not be diving with Captain's Corner again and will stick with S Florida drift diving off of Jupiter/west palm/Jupiter as those ops don't play the 60 ft max depth card for OW in order to stick you with a DM.

Totally understand your frustration. Try to see it from their point of view. They get many people who have no idea what they are doing. They see it every day. By requesting at a minimum of advance certification at least it shows an attempt to run safe dives. If you paid for a private dm to accompany you, the you had every right to refuse the person who did not have a buddy. If you still had to accept them you should bring this to owners attention . If no satisfactory agreement reached dispute the credit card charges. I had a active military friend of mine with myself and my wife who only had at the time ow certification. I explained to Leslie , the owner of Capt corner, that he will dive with us and that we all just 4 months ago had been diving in Bonaire. No guide required. She also gave all of us a military discount. Capt corner allows you to dive your profile, no hand holding.

 

[2airishuman]

I think I saw your narrative on Trip Advisor, also. If not it was a similar report. Captain's Corner replied there.

I dove the Vandenberg with Captain's Corner a couple of weeks after you did. I've been on their boat once before for a reef dive, and have made a number of other dives in the Keys with various operators.

It is not unusual for dive operators in the Keys to expect AOW certification for dives below 60 feet.

Any dive boat will buddy up people who show up without a buddy. If there are an odd number of people they will end up forming a group of three. Can happen whether you have a guide or not. Dives on the Vandenberg are short due to the depth and current. Without the other diver you would have had maybe 7 more minutes.

I have found the diving further up the keys to be more rewarding overall. The Vandenberg is a challenging dive and many people just love it. I suppose I would too if I dove it every week and got to know all the nooks and crannies.

 

[Steve_C]

Sorry for your experience. Stuff happens.

Was out with ocean divers near molasses reef in early winter. Just three of us. Regular buddy and I plus an instabuddy. He had to dive with us. Had strong top winds, it was frigging cold, fair amount of current, and viz of say 20 ft. I was leading and made a point of checking frequently where boat was from below. But then a turtle swam past and settled on the bottom next to some pretty coral. I swam the short distance over for some great photos. Then I went back up the wrong sand channel. Realized we were lost. I popped up for a location check and we were a ways from the boat but fairly parallel to it. Went back down and while buddy and I had plenty of air left, after a short swim at 15 ft., instabuddy was down to a very few hundred. So we completed our safety stop holding onto a piece of dead coral at 15 ft and then went to the top for a long surface swim in rough water. Got back to the boat. Buddy and I were both winded. Buddy thumbed second dive. Viz was not so good and I was tired of current so I thumbed also, one of the very few times I did that. So depending on how you look at it buddy and I had to do a surface swim because of his bad air consumption or he could not do a second dive because of diving with two old divers who did not feel like diving cold and tired.

 

[sportxlh]

That sucks.... I've always had a good experience with Capt Corner when I'm in KW. Then again, I'm solo certified and have redundant gear and dive by myself. I wouldn't be real happy if I were in your shoes, but I've had similar experiences with other shops in other places that forced unequal divers to buddy up: it's no fun when one of those is a gas hog (that was before I got solo cert and I almost never dive with an insta buddy these days).

The upper Keys usually have better vis..... but I've had 15 feet there too on occasion in Key Largo. On the Vandy, I've had 100 feet of vis and also less than 30 feet. Usually it's worse with no current, at least in my experience. Don't write off Florida diving yet, you never know exactly what you'll get, but is usually is fairly nice.

BTW, I understand the AOW requirement that some shops insist on: some insurance carries force such procedures on the dive shops