Looking for a tech-friendly charter in WPB

[Six Feet Under]

I want to go dive the Ana Cecilia with a buddy of mine, but I'm having a hard time finding a charter that goes to that site that is tech equipment friendly. I dive doubles, he dives sidemount, we might get into some deco territory if it happens after I take AN/DP in the coming months. I'm doing my intro to cave class next week and he is currently intro, working on full.

Any suggestions?

 

[seeker242]

Went out with http://littledeepercharters.com/ a couple times with local GUE people, most in doubles, etc and it was no problem. One of which was to Ana Cecilia. I don't know about deco but they had no problem with the equipment itself.

 

[Johnoly]

Luis at Calypso Dive Charters in the West Palm Bch, Lake Park Marina will run tech with deco if you get 4 divers. Sometimes if you give plenty of notice he can find other local tech divers to jump on his 6 pack boat. The problem isn't the gear configuration. The problem is combining your long run times with others on the boat doing 45 min rec profiles. Can make for a long day if the dive profiles are balanced and staggered correctly.

 

[sportxlh]

You can also call Force-E to see if they know of anyone running Tech dives on the days your interested in going n out.

Johnoly is right, it's not the gear, I see doubles frequently and side mount occasionally on recreational dives. The issue is time commitment for deco dives and the need for the charter to have enough paying Technical diving customers to make the trip worthwhile, since Rec and Tech divers different dive profiles don't mix well.

 

[packrat12]

...Rec and Tech divers different dive profiles don't mix well.

The 2 types of dives mix quite well actually and I do them all the time. You need to look for 'double dips' on wrecks. Most operators will let you run a 2hr or so dive while the recreational divers take 2 dives. Some operators will even allow you to do a longer deco dive while the recreational divers are on the SI and then relocate the boat, if it is close to the 2nd site. Operators like Stuart Scuba, (Little Deeper) are technical aware and more friendly to this. If the operator is focused purely on recreational divers, all bets are off.

I have not encountered issues bringing doubles or my CCR on any boat. I call ahead and make sure they do not have an issue if it is a recreational dive. Pure recreational boats may not be happy with any deco (although I have had 'longer safety stops' 1 or 2 times).

The Ana Cecilia is a small ship (I have not dove it myself). Not much to see for a whole technical dive, especially at 85'. If you want to work your gear out, go to the Spiegel Grove in Key Largo and dive with Horizon Divers. You can get a nice long Tec dive there. Or find a double dip to a dive like the Jim Atria which is relatively deep and will work you out more.

 

[sportxlh]

packrat12: Does Stuart Scuba routinely do double dips?? I know that Keys operators conduct double dips all the time and that allows mixing rec and tech divers but in all my dives in Palm Beach County, I've never done a double on any site with a standard dive charter (have done so on private boats). Also, given WPB is usually drift diving, I'm surprised the operators would mix the two types of divers. I have done deco (drift) dives with Jupiter Dive Center on the deep ledge that mixed rec and Tech but those aren't routinely on the schedule.

 

[sheeper]

Stuart Scuba (www.stuartscuba.com) and Little Deeper (www.littledeepercharters.com) are tec friendly. just call and let us know what you're looking for and we'll be sure to accommodate!

 

[Six Feet Under]

Thanks for the help guys! I have several options now for whenever I'm able to get my regular dive buddy to take a few days off from work and make a weekend trip

 

[packrat12]

Thanks sheeper - Peter runs a great operation (Stuart Scuba out of Tequesta). My comment about double dip is not so much for WPB specific as in general areas in South Florida. Drift reef dives are difficult to mix with a true technical dive, although I have done it in WPB. Jupiter and south of WPB are much easier. I find the WPB captains rarely announce where they are going and the wrecks are smaller anyway, great for a single dive but may get long for a technical dive. It seems that the dives are either technical or recreational but rarely mixable, in WPB. Jupiter, Pompano, Key Largo are a different story though. There are many wrecks that are deeper and larger in those areas, but not too deep for recreational. The technical divers can take advantage of these dives and mix. Coordination with the shops helps out immensely. Peter took me on one of my first AN/DP dives after certification, with AOW divers at that.

Being that Six Feet Under is listed as Central Florida, diving options easily range from Stuart (Jupiter) to Pompano. I personally like diving the variety of locations. There are many good operations, many of which are technical friendly in that range.

Good luck to Six Feet Under ...