Pompano Dive Center and charters going out of business...

[boulderjohn]

PS My LDS owner has been told that they have two large and one smaller dive boat, and that if we bring a group of 12 we’ll have the smaller boat to ourselves with somewhat more control of where we dive.

The smaller boat is the newest of the three. I did my first Florida dive on one of the Corinthians nearly a quarter century ago. For some reason, they don't use it much, preferring the Corinthians. They advertise the scheduled dives on their home page, so if you are looking for a dive with them, you have three choices. Then you go to the shop and find out the reality, which is they did not have enough divers sign up to run three boats, so they are combining everyone on one or two of them. They tell you then where you will actually be going. If it is only one boat, they will drop some of the divers off at one site and then take the rest to another.

 

[FreqFlier]

The shop owner has never been there but has had good second hand reports of the combined hotel and dive operations and they are offering reasonable rates. I don’t want to put myself in a bad position by joining in on a losing proposition, but I also don’t want to be left out of a good trip just because of old hard feelings over past business dealings that don’t or won’t affect me.
Green Frog
PS My LDS owner has been told that they have two large and one smaller dive boat, and that if we bring a group of 12 we’ll have the smaller boat to ourselves with somewhat more control of where we dive.

2+1 is definitely SFDH. We've dived with them on more than a dozen occasions. They are doing a reasonably good job - and yes, they are more oriented towards tourist / recreation style trips, not pros. Don't set your bar too high and you'll be perfectly fine.
They run up to half a dozen trips per day out of SHM - and yes, their rental gear is not too stellar. But I assume tanks and weights is all you need? They have cheap air, cheap Nitrox, easy access to some of the best wrecks and reefs in the area - I'd say go for it.

 

[Green Frog]

Thank you all for your input, especially the personal, first hand reports. I’m leaning toward going with an asterisk. I’m definitely carrying my own (redundant) gear down to a wide variety of hard weights and a couple of belts. Also, since we’re going to shore dive @ BHB, as well as the boat dives, that’s two sets of fins, and since the water temp is so variable at that time of year, I’ll pack more than one set of dive skin/shorty suit, etc.

If can rent a couple of tanks full of good clean air and be on a boat in reasonably calm seas (that doesn’t sink ) I should be good. One question, though. At BHB, I’m wondering whether that should be expected to be a one or a two tank dive? Knowing it’s a shallow dive timed to correspond with the slack around high tide, I’m guessing the former. If only one tank will be needed, perhaps it would make sense for me to throw mine in the back of my vehicle. I’m driving my TrailBlazer, probably alone, so I’ll have virtually all the room in the World.

Again, thanks for all the first hand information and reportage. This is one of the great features of ScubaBoard… one can get information that is fresh and first hand from wherever we are, about wherever we want to go. Priceless!

Froggie

 

[Green Frog]

The bigger boat issue with SFDH was with one of the Corinthians, then called the Coral Princess and now called the Black Pearl. It was entering the Hillsboro inlet on its return to harbor, and the story is that a huge rogue wave came up diagonally from behind, lifting the back end of one of the pontoons up high, throwing gear and people diagonally across the deck to the opposite corner and causing the boat to flip. One of the passengers died in that incident.

Specific to boulderjohn, the LDS is working on getting a large enough group (10-12?) to have the smaller boat to ourselves for group dives. This seems like it would be the most desirable arrangement from the rest of what I’m hearing. I’m guessing the captain will have “perfected“ his technique for hooking up to shipwrecks. At least one can hope. Repeating the same mistake in hopes of achieving different results is not a symptom of high intelligence.
Apropos of comments about “tourist level” bar of expectations, I for one am perfectly satisfied to do a couple of low stress easy dives so long as the water conditions are pleasant and there are sights of interest. This is an off season dive trip after all!

 

[boulderjohn]

since the water temp is so variable at that time of year, I’ll pack more than one set of dive skin/shorty suit, etc.

I'll be there in January, and I will wear a 5mm full suit and hood. My cold tolerance is about average.

 

[tekkydiver]

Specific to boulderjohn, the LDS is working on getting a large enough group (10-12?) to have the smaller boat to ourselves for group dives. This seems like it would be the most desirable arrangement from the rest of what I’m hearing. I’m guessing the captain will have “perfected“ his technique for hooking up to shipwrecks. At least one can hope. Repeating the same mistake in hopes of achieving different results is not a symptom of high intelligence.
Apropos of comments about “tourist level” bar of expectations, I for one am perfectly satisfied to do a couple of low stress easy dives so long as the water conditions are pleasant and there are sights of interest. This is an off season dive trip after all!

It wasn't a rogue wave... it was pilot error

 

[boulderjohn]

It wasn't a rogue wave... it was pilot error

I have no information to the contrary--just repeating the public story. If you have evidence to the contrary, please show it.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

@Green Frog there is another boat a little further north called Diversity, out of Deerfield Beach. Capt Tony has been around forever. He is my go to boat, and can hold up to 12 divers.

As for BHB, one tank is enough unless you are an air hog.. If you can last 90min on a tank with an average depth of 10ft, you will be fine.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

@Green Frog there is another boat a little further north called Diversity, out of Deerfield Beach. Capt Tony has been around forever. He is my go to boat, and can hold up to 12 divers.

As for BHB, one tank is enough unless you are an air hog.. If you can last 90min on a tank with an average depth of 10ft, you will be fine.

His boat has an odd layout but it works for the most part.

If it weren’t for the Boca Inlet I’d use him more. I thought the Boynton Inlet was bad getting in & out of until I went out with Tony through the Boca inlet. Incredible captain but he gets blown out quite regularly because of that inlet. Plus he’s incredibly safety conscious, which is very much a good thing.

 

[Green Frog]

Well, my trip as planned will be a group thing where we all stay at the Sands and dive together on (hopefully) the smaller of the SFDH boats. Then we will have the option of going up and spending a night in another hotel and diving BHB. It’s a planned, group thing for us tourist strangers from up here in VA, but will give us a chance to see what the area has to offer so I can hopefully take additional trips in the future on my own. I just wanted to make sure the organizer’s plans fit into the reality of the situation there in FL. This will be his first group to this place.
Thanks everyone for your input.