Since the viz at Venice Beach is so bad lately, my wife and I made the 3 hour drive up to Crystal River today to dive springs and snorkel with the manatees. Wow, what an experience. Where do I begin.......
We get there and stop in to one of the operations where we get the rundown of where to go and what to do. The folks in the shop were very nice and helpful. My wife and I decided to rent a Jon boat as we had seen mentioned on here. We were told that we should stop over at snorkeling area first, then head down south of Banana Island to Kings Spring for our diving. So far so good.
Next we head over to find out which boat is ours, and the gear guy comes over to help us out. He seems like a nice enough guy, but my wife and I both could smell a very heavy odor of booze on him. This was a bit troublesome since this person is the one who is filling the tanks. We loaded up the boat, and headed towards the snorkelling area.
Once at the area, we dropped anchor.....which turned into a series of trial and error to get the anchor to secure. Once finally secured, we got into our suits and slipped over the sides. Another group of people had already found a young manatee, so we worked our way over to take a look. For having a name like "Crystal" River, the viz was anything but. We practically bumped into the manatee before even saw it. At best, I would say the viz was about 5 feet. That being said, it was fun swimming alongside the little manatee and rubbing his stomach when he rolled over onto his side for us. I must say that it was fun, I just wish we could have had a bit better visibility underwater.
Now done with that, we got back into the boat to begin our diving adventure. I fired up the motor and pulled up the anchor, and as we started slowly pulling away, the motor died. I tried pulling the rope to start it, and it wouldn't start. On the 4th pull, the handle came off and the rope went back up inside the engine. We were stuck. Fortunately for us, a tour boat from another charter was getting ready to head back and the captain gave us a tow back to the docks. I wish I remembered his name because my wife and I cannot thank him enough for his help.
Once back at the docks, we informed our shop what happened and they offered us another Jon boat. At this point, I'm hesitant to take another for fear of going through the same thing again. We ended up deciding to take the other Jon Boat out, and switched our gear to the new boat. Right off the bat I noticed a decent amount of water in the bottom of the boat. It definitely wasn't going to sink, but it most certainly looked as though water was slowly leaking in. On top of that, there were cigarette butts all over the bottom of the boat along with old plastic wrappers. It was very unprofessional, but at this point, we just wanted to get out and dive.
So we begin our journey back out to the spring, seeing some interesting birds and more manatees along the way. Once we get back behind Banana Island, my wife dropped anchor while I powered down. Once again, as before with the other boat, the anchor would not secure. After repeated tries, I got my gear on and dove down to the anchor so that I could secure it myself. The hinge on the anchor was not staying open by itself, so I had to open it secure it on the bottom. At this point, the visibility was just awful. At best, maybe 5 feet. I've seen better visibility diving in quarries.
I came back up to the surface, and was approached by a fishing boat with 3 older gentlemen who asked if I could help them locate their anchor that had gotten stuck. They had to cut the line since the anchor would not budge. Fortunately they left a marker attached to the rope so that they could relocate the area it was in. I located the marker, and literally had to go hand over hand along the rope until I could finally see the anchor. Once found, I was able to free it and bring the anchor back up for them.(my first recovery dive :lol
Back at our boat, we headed over to the spring and began our descent. For all the talk about "unlimited" and "150+ foot" visibility, I'd be surprised if it was more than 5 feet in the spring. I took one look around and said forget it. I motioned to my wife that I wanted to ascend, and the wife agreed. We surfaced and decided to scrap the dive. The other springs back in the area were all closed off, so we couldn't even try our luck with another.
Back on the boat, we pulled anchor and got ready to head back. I pulled the rope to start up the motor, and it wouldn't start. A couple more pulls, and it still wouldn't start. I figured I would give it one more good pull.....and as I did, I slipped with the water in the bottom of the boat and my shoulder quickly popped out, then back into the socket. The motor still didn't start. We had been told earlier not to pull the primer out, but at this point, nothing else was working. I pulled out the primer and pulled the rope with my good arm. Sure enough, the motor started this time. Time to head back.
We got back to the docks, and there was no space for me to pull the boat in. My wife and to get out and go find someone to make space on the dock for our boat. Afterwards, I went to get changed while my wife went in to talk to the shop about what had happened today. After all of this, they took one hour off from our rental time of the boat. Being nice is important in running a business, but it only gets you so far if you aren't offering a quality service.
Having gone now to Crystal River, I would HIGHLY recommend against people wasting their time going here if they are thinking about it. Do not waste your time or money. It was by far the worst diving experience I've had in the last 4 years. I just wish I could get back those 6 hours of my life that I wasted in the car today for this.
We get there and stop in to one of the operations where we get the rundown of where to go and what to do. The folks in the shop were very nice and helpful. My wife and I decided to rent a Jon boat as we had seen mentioned on here. We were told that we should stop over at snorkeling area first, then head down south of Banana Island to Kings Spring for our diving. So far so good.
Next we head over to find out which boat is ours, and the gear guy comes over to help us out. He seems like a nice enough guy, but my wife and I both could smell a very heavy odor of booze on him. This was a bit troublesome since this person is the one who is filling the tanks. We loaded up the boat, and headed towards the snorkelling area.
Once at the area, we dropped anchor.....which turned into a series of trial and error to get the anchor to secure. Once finally secured, we got into our suits and slipped over the sides. Another group of people had already found a young manatee, so we worked our way over to take a look. For having a name like "Crystal" River, the viz was anything but. We practically bumped into the manatee before even saw it. At best, I would say the viz was about 5 feet. That being said, it was fun swimming alongside the little manatee and rubbing his stomach when he rolled over onto his side for us. I must say that it was fun, I just wish we could have had a bit better visibility underwater.
Now done with that, we got back into the boat to begin our diving adventure. I fired up the motor and pulled up the anchor, and as we started slowly pulling away, the motor died. I tried pulling the rope to start it, and it wouldn't start. On the 4th pull, the handle came off and the rope went back up inside the engine. We were stuck. Fortunately for us, a tour boat from another charter was getting ready to head back and the captain gave us a tow back to the docks. I wish I remembered his name because my wife and I cannot thank him enough for his help.
Once back at the docks, we informed our shop what happened and they offered us another Jon boat. At this point, I'm hesitant to take another for fear of going through the same thing again. We ended up deciding to take the other Jon Boat out, and switched our gear to the new boat. Right off the bat I noticed a decent amount of water in the bottom of the boat. It definitely wasn't going to sink, but it most certainly looked as though water was slowly leaking in. On top of that, there were cigarette butts all over the bottom of the boat along with old plastic wrappers. It was very unprofessional, but at this point, we just wanted to get out and dive.
So we begin our journey back out to the spring, seeing some interesting birds and more manatees along the way. Once we get back behind Banana Island, my wife dropped anchor while I powered down. Once again, as before with the other boat, the anchor would not secure. After repeated tries, I got my gear on and dove down to the anchor so that I could secure it myself. The hinge on the anchor was not staying open by itself, so I had to open it secure it on the bottom. At this point, the visibility was just awful. At best, maybe 5 feet. I've seen better visibility diving in quarries.
I came back up to the surface, and was approached by a fishing boat with 3 older gentlemen who asked if I could help them locate their anchor that had gotten stuck. They had to cut the line since the anchor would not budge. Fortunately they left a marker attached to the rope so that they could relocate the area it was in. I located the marker, and literally had to go hand over hand along the rope until I could finally see the anchor. Once found, I was able to free it and bring the anchor back up for them.(my first recovery dive :lol
Back at our boat, we headed over to the spring and began our descent. For all the talk about "unlimited" and "150+ foot" visibility, I'd be surprised if it was more than 5 feet in the spring. I took one look around and said forget it. I motioned to my wife that I wanted to ascend, and the wife agreed. We surfaced and decided to scrap the dive. The other springs back in the area were all closed off, so we couldn't even try our luck with another.
Back on the boat, we pulled anchor and got ready to head back. I pulled the rope to start up the motor, and it wouldn't start. A couple more pulls, and it still wouldn't start. I figured I would give it one more good pull.....and as I did, I slipped with the water in the bottom of the boat and my shoulder quickly popped out, then back into the socket. The motor still didn't start. We had been told earlier not to pull the primer out, but at this point, nothing else was working. I pulled out the primer and pulled the rope with my good arm. Sure enough, the motor started this time. Time to head back.
We got back to the docks, and there was no space for me to pull the boat in. My wife and to get out and go find someone to make space on the dock for our boat. Afterwards, I went to get changed while my wife went in to talk to the shop about what had happened today. After all of this, they took one hour off from our rental time of the boat. Being nice is important in running a business, but it only gets you so far if you aren't offering a quality service.
Having gone now to Crystal River, I would HIGHLY recommend against people wasting their time going here if they are thinking about it. Do not waste your time or money. It was by far the worst diving experience I've had in the last 4 years. I just wish I could get back those 6 hours of my life that I wasted in the car today for this.
