Hall's Dive Center: The WORST diving experience in my 30 years in diving:

dazed and confuzzed <dedmann@comcast_remove.net> wrote in
news:_qqdnSXrjJR1fj_YnZ2dnUVZ_t6qnZ2d@comcast.com:

<snip>
>
> Oh hell, lets face it.....
>
> It's Bush's fault.
>

Ah, I see you finally talk sense... >





ducking



--
Michael Wolf

-----

Cthulhu For President.
Why settle for the lesser evil?

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Lee Bell wrote:

> Douglas W Popeye Frederick wrote
>
>
>>I've never seen 2 ft of viz anywhere in the Keys in a score of trips, and
>>near ten score dives. That's from mm99 to mm0. I've never seen 2 ft of
>>viz -inside- the Duane or the Bibb.
>
>
> 1. You normally contact somebody local before you go.
> 2. You tend to dive with people you know, people that are more interested in
> ensuring you, and they, have a good time than the
> money you give them.
> 3. You tend to dive deeper sites, or at least be willing to, giving your
> captain the chance to go find something with more than two
> feet of viz.
> 4. You're easy to please.
>
> I've seen less than two feet of viz on some of the sites nearer to shore.
> The first time I saw Hens and Chickens, I damned near ran into the reef face
> first before I saw it. Luckily, the first time I saw Looe Key, visibility
> was good, even by Keys standards, but I've been back times when it too was
> completely silted out.
>
> Being willing, and having a captain that is willing, to thumb the planned
> site in favor of something with better visibility, usually deeper, sometimes
> a lot deeper is a big advantage.
>
> Lee

Yeah, it can get pretty gummy.

My point was, after the first boat goes out everyone knows.

esg

El Stroko Guapo wrote

> Yeah, it can get pretty gummy.
> My point was, after the first boat goes out everyone knows.

I know and agree. On the other hand, we've all seen a nice, calm morning
with a completely blown out afternoon. Frankly, I doubt that was the case
this time. As you know, being almost as local as I am, winds were up for at
least a week on either side of Christmas. They're not new to the business.
They knew that visibility wasn't real good and, in my opinion, should have
been able to look out the window on the morning of the dive and known it
wasn't going to be 30 - 40 feet either.

When Curtis and Hugh chose Scuba Do, I was unimpressed with the cost of the
trip. When I showed up at the dock and the captain was completely honest
about what we could expect, I was impressed. I'm not used to such honesty
in the Keys. Honesty is worth something.

Lee

flyboy08 wrote:
> Jerome's Sock Puppet wrote:
>> flyboy08 wrote:
>>
>>> Most of you guy's are missing the point....It's certainly not about the
>>> money...hell, I'll spend $300 bucks on a bottle of wine with dinner.
>> So then why complain? The guy gave you an estimate, and it came in a
>> little high. Are you shocked, SHOCKED!!! that this could happen?
>>
>>> And it's not the fact that my wife slithered off either
>> Right. Because that is her fault and yours. The dive operator didn't
>> have anything to do with it.
>>
>>> For those that have ONLY dived without a DM...I feel sorry for you. I guess that
>>> limits your diving to the KEYS? Maybe Bonaire?
>> Right. Puget Sound and the Sunshine Coast. I've never been off a boat
>> down California way, but I'm not getting in the water with a DM there,
>> either.
>>
>> You can't seem to manage a dive without someone to hold your hand, and
>> you feel sorry for us. Rich!
>>
>> You need to get out more.
>>
>>> My last four dives in the KEYS were in fact with DM, granted 6 years
>>> ago, so this was a bit unusal for me.
>> The fact that you are shocked, SHOCKED!!! that no one will provide you
>> with a nursemaid says more about your diving experience than anything
>> else.
>>
>> Hint: You are a certified SCUBA diver. You should, at a minimum, be
>> able to plan your dive and dive your plan. If you are unable to do so
>> without assistance, you should take up something safer.


perfectly put.

the diver is responsible for himself.
the diver does not need his hand held for the dive.
who wants or needs a hand holding dive?
who want to be led around like a student?
(or are you padi trained?)

Lee Bell wrote:

> There's a cold front headed my way. Temperatures will drop precipitously,
> all the way down to the mid to upper 60's . . . maybe.
>
> Hope I don't have to dig my car out of that white stuff . . . what do you
> call that stuff?

Sand.

Get your vehicle stuck on the beach often?
--
SJM

Scott McFadden wrote

>> Hope I don't have to dig my car out of that white stuff . . . what do you
>> call that stuff?

> Sand.

A lot of the sand down here is actually crushed shell and it's usually not
white.

> Get your vehicle stuck on the beach often?

As far as I know, there are no longer any beaches in South Florida where you
can drive a vehicle. When I do go off road, I don't get stuck, well not in
sand, anyway. I drive a Honda Rancher ES.

Lee

On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 09:26:32 -0500, Lee Bell wrote:
> Art Greenberg wrote
>
> > I've got ~600 dives, and have been with a DM on about 2/3 of them. But
> > only
> > because my wife got her DM cert after about 200 dives.
>
> Does she make good coffee?
>
> Lee

Dunno. Neither of us drinks coffee.

--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net

Art Greenberg wrote

>> > I've got ~600 dives, and have been with a DM on about 2/3 of them. But
>> > only
>> > because my wife got her DM cert after about 200 dives.
>>
>> Does she make good coffee?
>>
>> Lee
>
> Dunno. Neither of us drinks coffee.

Nevermind. She can still be a South Florida DM. Not only do they not get
in the water with divers, the boats don't normally offer coffee either.
You're lucky to get water and/or a cooler with some ice for beverages you
may bring with you. The better boats have animal cookies.

Lee

On Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:03:43 -0500, Lee Bell wrote:
> Art Greenberg wrote
>
> >> > I've got ~600 dives, and have been with a DM on about 2/3 of them. But
> >> > only
> >> > because my wife got her DM cert after about 200 dives.
> >>
> >> Does she make good coffee?
> >>
> >> Lee
> >
> > Dunno. Neither of us drinks coffee.
>
> Nevermind. She can still be a South Florida DM. Not only do they not get
> in the water with divers, the boats don't normally offer coffee either.
> You're lucky to get water and/or a cooler with some ice for beverages you
> may bring with you. The better boats have animal cookies.

She likes diving too much to be a working DM, anywhere.

Animal cookies? Damn! Sounds like we need to make a trip to South Florida.

--
Art Greenberg
artg at eclipse dot net

In article <1168282680.449254.107020@51g2000cwl.googlegroups. com>,
flyboy08 <phoward@aeroconsulting.com> wrote:


> While still in the shop, we were informed that the dive master on our
> boat would not be in the water with us? Hmmm, I have dived the world
> and never experienced this before, but I have 300 plus dives and many
> from the key's years back.

As many have pointed out, DMs in the water aren't all that common. I'd
point out that the exception is in tourist/resort areas that tend to
have large numbers of divers that need to be kept out of trouble.