Scubastud16
Contributor
So my family and I went on a short cruise this weekend out of the Ft. Lauderdale, the only stop being Princess Cruise Line's private "island," or rather the section of it that they own. There was a 1-tank "Shore Excursion" offered, and we as a family had not been diving in a while, so we opted to go for it.
The dive op used was named "Ocean Fox" (Welcome to Ocean Fox Cotton Bay, Eleuthera, The Bahamas). The boat was nice, somewhat small. The tank rank system made gearing up difficult....it's was a cube with the normal tank holes drilled in the top, but the tanks were extremely close together. There is also very little room to gear up (if you bring your own gear like I did), or stand around while driving out to the site.
The dive master was a bit abrasive (more on this later). We were given instructions for the dive, and although I didn't agree with a good bit of them, I went along for the sake of my family. The bottom time would be around 50 minutes, max depth was 35 feet, average of around 20.
My first real complaint about the service was that they wouldn't let you gear up standing on the boat (mainly because of poor design of the boat, layout, and the tank rank). You would move to the back of the boat, they would bring your kit over, and you'd gear up standing/sitting (bar stool style) on the back of the boat. Not my cup of tea, especially in the 3 foot seas we had. I was diving a back plate/wing combo, and they were helpful enough getting me situated, even though they refused to let me gear up on the boat and walk (3 feet at most) to the back of the boat.
Once in the water, we hung on a tag line drifting off the back. Everyone got in, with the DM being last. We dropped, met up us a group, and he began a very large circle around the boat mooring. He began to point things out, and made sure that just about everyone saw them. Right off the bat was a crab in a coral head that had to be 4' across with his legs tucked in. After this, the DM took off like a bat out of hell. I was swimming a pretty good pace frog kicking, and I could hardly keep up with him.
He continued to point things out, but I'm much more of a macro guy, so I stayed towards the back of the group pointing out smaller things to the family (arrow crabs, cleaner shrimp, flamingo tongues, etc.). Towards the end of the dive, with the group thoroughly spread out (he would occasionally turn around for an 'OK' from the group; this practice faded as time went on), we came upon the "boiling hole" for which the site was named.
In reality, this was a fresh water spring out in the salt water. It was around 15 feet by 25 feet (see attached pictures), and pumped out fresh water at a rate that blew away and fresh water spring I've been to in Central Florida (and I've been to several). Depending on the tide, it can siphon as well. We were told by the DM to not swim over the hole, so I got completely negative and peeked over the edge. It just about blew my mask off.
The hole was right next to the buoy, so I spent a few extra seconds checking out the hole (starting my cavern class in late May, so I had a special interest in it) as mom took pictures of it (you can see part of me in one picture). The instructor signaled to ascend, and I parked myself at 15 feet for a leisurely safety stop with my brother (who was my buddy, and had gotten ahead of me during the dive). The instructor went all the way up, took his gear off, and proceeded to come back over to me, telling me to surface. I shook my head, tapped my computer, and stayed put. He swam closer, told me to surface again, and I again shook my head no, pointed at my computer, and hung. I cut the safety stop short by about a minute because I didn't want to cause problems.
Back on the boat the DM gave me some attitude for taking more time on my safety stop, but did compliment me on some of my equipment. We waited on the tag line as the rest of the group got on the boat, and geared-off like they had geared on, sitting/resting on the transom of the boat in the still 3-4 foot seas. Yikes.
My last (and biggest) complaint was the fact that the DM messed with my equipment after the dive. He began disassembling all the other rented equipment to prepare for the later charter, and finally got to mine. I told him that I would take care of it when we got back to the dock, and to please not worry about it. He began to take my equipment apart, and I asked him to please not touch it. He ignored me, and took my reg off the tank. I don't have my dust cover on my reg (for entanglement reasons), so he just let it drop as he attempted to get the 2 cam bands of my BP/W off the tank. We were instructed to not leave the engine cover (where we were sitting), but I finally got up and took my equipment from him because I didn't want my first to become flooded with no dust cap on it.
We got back to the dock and I thoroughly rinsed all my equipment. The boat staff was otherwise friendly and helpful, but the actions and attitude of the DM really bothered me.
The coral formations were incredible. This place hasn't seen diving since the 70's, and the reef was pristine. Mostly individual patch corals (not spur-and-groove), with some heads almost reaching the surface. This place blows away the Keys as well as most of the east coast of Florida. Get here while you can, because the way some of the divers were all over the reef, it won't stay nice for long.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. Worth the 110 bucks? Probably. I enjoyed the time with my family, and I hadn't been diving in salt water in quite some time. The reef system and life on it were absolutely amazing, the 'boiling hole' were pretty impressive.
Pics to come in the next post!
Stats:
Water temp: 77 degrees
Max Depth: 35 fsw
Avg. Depth: 20 fsw
Run time: 47 minutes
Danny
The dive op used was named "Ocean Fox" (Welcome to Ocean Fox Cotton Bay, Eleuthera, The Bahamas). The boat was nice, somewhat small. The tank rank system made gearing up difficult....it's was a cube with the normal tank holes drilled in the top, but the tanks were extremely close together. There is also very little room to gear up (if you bring your own gear like I did), or stand around while driving out to the site.
The dive master was a bit abrasive (more on this later). We were given instructions for the dive, and although I didn't agree with a good bit of them, I went along for the sake of my family. The bottom time would be around 50 minutes, max depth was 35 feet, average of around 20.
My first real complaint about the service was that they wouldn't let you gear up standing on the boat (mainly because of poor design of the boat, layout, and the tank rank). You would move to the back of the boat, they would bring your kit over, and you'd gear up standing/sitting (bar stool style) on the back of the boat. Not my cup of tea, especially in the 3 foot seas we had. I was diving a back plate/wing combo, and they were helpful enough getting me situated, even though they refused to let me gear up on the boat and walk (3 feet at most) to the back of the boat.
Once in the water, we hung on a tag line drifting off the back. Everyone got in, with the DM being last. We dropped, met up us a group, and he began a very large circle around the boat mooring. He began to point things out, and made sure that just about everyone saw them. Right off the bat was a crab in a coral head that had to be 4' across with his legs tucked in. After this, the DM took off like a bat out of hell. I was swimming a pretty good pace frog kicking, and I could hardly keep up with him.
He continued to point things out, but I'm much more of a macro guy, so I stayed towards the back of the group pointing out smaller things to the family (arrow crabs, cleaner shrimp, flamingo tongues, etc.). Towards the end of the dive, with the group thoroughly spread out (he would occasionally turn around for an 'OK' from the group; this practice faded as time went on), we came upon the "boiling hole" for which the site was named.
In reality, this was a fresh water spring out in the salt water. It was around 15 feet by 25 feet (see attached pictures), and pumped out fresh water at a rate that blew away and fresh water spring I've been to in Central Florida (and I've been to several). Depending on the tide, it can siphon as well. We were told by the DM to not swim over the hole, so I got completely negative and peeked over the edge. It just about blew my mask off.
The hole was right next to the buoy, so I spent a few extra seconds checking out the hole (starting my cavern class in late May, so I had a special interest in it) as mom took pictures of it (you can see part of me in one picture). The instructor signaled to ascend, and I parked myself at 15 feet for a leisurely safety stop with my brother (who was my buddy, and had gotten ahead of me during the dive). The instructor went all the way up, took his gear off, and proceeded to come back over to me, telling me to surface. I shook my head, tapped my computer, and stayed put. He swam closer, told me to surface again, and I again shook my head no, pointed at my computer, and hung. I cut the safety stop short by about a minute because I didn't want to cause problems.
Back on the boat the DM gave me some attitude for taking more time on my safety stop, but did compliment me on some of my equipment. We waited on the tag line as the rest of the group got on the boat, and geared-off like they had geared on, sitting/resting on the transom of the boat in the still 3-4 foot seas. Yikes.
My last (and biggest) complaint was the fact that the DM messed with my equipment after the dive. He began disassembling all the other rented equipment to prepare for the later charter, and finally got to mine. I told him that I would take care of it when we got back to the dock, and to please not worry about it. He began to take my equipment apart, and I asked him to please not touch it. He ignored me, and took my reg off the tank. I don't have my dust cover on my reg (for entanglement reasons), so he just let it drop as he attempted to get the 2 cam bands of my BP/W off the tank. We were instructed to not leave the engine cover (where we were sitting), but I finally got up and took my equipment from him because I didn't want my first to become flooded with no dust cap on it.
We got back to the dock and I thoroughly rinsed all my equipment. The boat staff was otherwise friendly and helpful, but the actions and attitude of the DM really bothered me.
The coral formations were incredible. This place hasn't seen diving since the 70's, and the reef was pristine. Mostly individual patch corals (not spur-and-groove), with some heads almost reaching the surface. This place blows away the Keys as well as most of the east coast of Florida. Get here while you can, because the way some of the divers were all over the reef, it won't stay nice for long.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. Worth the 110 bucks? Probably. I enjoyed the time with my family, and I hadn't been diving in salt water in quite some time. The reef system and life on it were absolutely amazing, the 'boiling hole' were pretty impressive.
Pics to come in the next post!
Stats:
Water temp: 77 degrees
Max Depth: 35 fsw
Avg. Depth: 20 fsw
Run time: 47 minutes
Danny
