Dixie Divers, Deerfield Beach, Fl
- AND -
Lady Go Diver, Hillsboro Inlet, Deerfield Beach, Fl
http://www.ladygodiver.net/
Kim P
Saturday night the 4th advanced boat dive:
What a mess, the story goes like this. I had all of my divers call and book their spot on the boat and tell them they where with Kim’s group. I informed the dive shop on several occasions that these divers are from online and I may not personally know them so PLEASE ask certification level and I told them they would all say Kim’s group.
Every diver that called and booked was quoted 6 shoe 6:30 go unless they need tanks then come to the shop before the dive to pick them up and they would have to deliver them back to the shop after the dive. Since I needed to collect money to pay all at once some of my divers had not paid so I showed up at 5:15 to meet them collect $$ and then sent them over to the boat, my tanks was getting filled for the dive as well and I rented a tank also. Cliff and I then looked at the manifest … Dixie divers did not make who was in Kim Porter’s group even though we all had stated “Kim Porter’s group” At 6 we (cliff and I) decided to go ahead and pay … this is was all the divers that where going to show … we had 10. While cliff went in the back room with the owner to take care of the money transaction I checked to see if my tank was ready. The large man who fills the tanks said it is going to take 45 minutes … I was like the goes at 6:30 and I have had this tank here for you since 5:15, I asked do think the boat will leave me? He said yes and smiled so I was like ok he just messing with me and went ahead and analyzed the rental Nitrox tank it is now 6:15 my phone rings and it is Showboat aka Dan on the boat calling me to tell my the boat is leaving the dock … with Dan on the phone I went into the shop said the boat is leaving it is not 6:30 please call and tell them to wait …. The Owner looked at me and just shrugged his shoulders like …. So. Now I am mad and I asked Dan to put the captain (NICK PALMER) on the phone he refused to take it and said we are not turning around because we will miss the draw bridge that only opens every 30 minutes. Now my people on the boat are getting upset tell the captain and they want him to turn around or they will not dive… he then told them SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN …. By this time every on of my group is calling me and the shop. No results, so in the state of mind I was in (pissed) I walked into the dive shop right into the back room and took all the money right out of Cliffs hand … looked straight at the owner and said if you do not turn the boat around you will not get paid and walked out of the store with the money. My people on the boat are now upset and saying if you won’t take the phone the call you shop on the marien radio and see that what we are telling you is correct Captain Nick Palmer said “We do not have a marine radio aboard” No my guest are getting worried what if something happens … not radio omg. By this time Pavan (owner) is trying to reach the captain he would not answer so the shop had my call one of my friends on the boat and try to give the so called captain the phone telling him it was the shop owner. Captain Nick Palmer said “What part of no do you not understand? Shut the Fu#* up and sit back down” Ok so the boat belongs to Dixie Diver and they hire a captain who must now like to make $$ cause I still have it. After about 15 minutes I calmed down and brought my rental tank back in for a refund on my CC at that time the fat man who fills the tanks is talking to another diver in the store and said loudly yes most divers a a bit nuts like that one over there and pointed at me and called me crazy. This hurt my feeling I had worked so hard on this event and it brought tears to my eyes Pavan is still fiddling around with my refund on my card and doing something else and said I really need my card back because I did not want to cry in a store that is ok with insulting a costomer in that manor … finally he finished I left to go se it the boat was at port I was at the dock at 6:25 no boat so I went back to the store and talked to cliff outside and said here is the money … I do not want to go back inside to be insulted so would you please go pay for the divers on the boat only … it’s was only fair. Cliff went to the front door and it was locked … he gave the money sign to Pavan and Pavan said NO LEAVE … . So we left and Cliff went back later to pay. As it turns out Lady go diver did not make the draw bridge anyway and sat there for 30 minutes until it opened again … instead of turning around and coming back he sat for the 30 minutes and waited for the draw bridge to open and went out. Cliff went and paid and asked what he was going to do to make it right for me P avan said absolutely nothing will I do for her.
Kim P
aka divergirl4u@yahoo.com
Why I'm staying away from Narcosis Dive Charters in West Palm
While were talking about bad experiences with dive operations, let me bring up this on in West Palm Beach. Years ago, many divers went with C apt Bob on the Rampage . You could call him on a Friday night and get on a Saturday morning dive. His famous "Wreck and a Reef" dives were great. During the Hurricanes of 2004, the Rampage was lost:
h ttp://www.irishmansoftware.com/Rampage.htm
We all felt for the dear loss of this boat and one of the Greatest Dive Boat Captains in the area. Well, along came Capt Ray in his 48 ft Twin Screw Pro-Line Narcosis. The fast boat was nice; you could do the Jupiter Ledges for the first dive and Breakers for the second. There also was a lot of room on board. Again, you could usually call a few days before the weekend and get on a Saturday / Sunday morning dive.
This year, Capt Ray sold the Narcosis operation to Capt Van. Van's a newbie Capt!!!! Myself, along with many other local divers have called a week ahead for a Saturday or Sunday Dive. Vans response is, the boat is full, why not come down on a Friday or Monday. Well, I work on Friday and Monday and want to dive on Saturday! After getting this disappointment for over a dozen calls, I've finally switched to Pura Vida
http://www.puravidadivers.com/index.html
also in the Riveria Beach Marina in West Palm. We had no problems getting on the Saturday dive. The boat is a 30 ft 12 pack Island Hopper and a little more cramped than Narcosis, but would you rather Get On a Boat, or Not Get On a boat with more room!! So, I'll no longer be supporting or recommending Narcosis. I'll give my support to this little young married couple's 12 Pack and continue to give them support through the winter when most newbie divers hang up their wet suits!!
Geo / The Irishman
Not Recommended: Florida Keys Dive Center
I'd like to pass on an incident involving spear fishing! On Sunday, 15-July-2007, during a morning dive on the Duane in Key Largo, Florida with 20 Advanced Certified Divers an incident occurred. Among the divers were some that have never dove the Duane and several teenagers with their father. As for me, I've been diving for over 10 years, AOW and NITROX, @ 1,000 dives and a few dozen on the Duane, do not spear, but respect the rights of those that do!
We were part of a larger group of Experienced Advanced Divers down for a weekend of Deep Wreck and Reef dives. On this particular dive, we were hot dropped on the bow of the Duane with a pickup due on the stern either by tie on or free float to the boat. Approximately 3/4 the way through the dive, most divers were assembling towards the stern of the Duane. At this time, I noticed a group of spear fishing divers all together on the starboard side and the end of the superstructure. One had some fish on a loop and I wanted to get as far away from him as possible as there were numerous cuda and a few sharks in the area. One spear fishing diver in particular, he had a mustache as could be seen through his mask, was attempting to load his gun's bands. The other divers in his group were watching him. The problem was he was aiming the gun directly towards me. He was then waving it around pointing it towards the other divers in our group. He was on the side of the wreck aiming his gun towards the inside of the wreck instead of towards the open sea. I tried for several minutes to communicate with him and his fellow divers for him to aim his gun towards the open sea. He did not understand and spent a lot of time trying to load his gun, all this time it was waving towards our dive group! We all were awaiting a spear release at this time. There was not much we could do except head for the stern up rope.
The spear fishing divers started to head for the bow of the ship. If they headed for the stern up rope, I was going to go up the amidships rope. As our group all gathered around the stern line and started up, the spear fishing group also decided to go up the stern line. The problem now was there were at least two and possibly a third diver that had their guns LOADED and aiming up - towards our group of 10 - 15 divers doing their ascent. Again, I tried to communicate with one of these loaded gun divers to have him unload his bands. He did not understand and kept the gun aimed up - towards our group. After a few minutes of showing him one of his buddies unloaded gun, he still would not unload his gun. It was a forever hang at 50 and 20 ft. The group finally passed us up and left the area.
When I got back on the boat, the rest of the group had already briefed our Capt. His comment was it is legal to spear on the Duane and this diver can aim his gun at anyone. Only if goes off and hits someone else can we take action. The boat was identified as the Orian from the Florida Keys Dive Centers. I was informed that there was an Instructor on board, probably teaching the group how to spear fish.
I resent deeply the total incompetence of these divers, the instructor on board and the dive shop sponsoring such action. Although there may be nothing that I can do to prevent further such actions, I can spread the story out to the many divers that I communicate with. I'm sure there are some spear-O's that will use this to keep going to such an operation. I would never recommend this operation and would pass on this episode to those that desire to associate with them..
For the 99% of the spear fishing divers that would not ever do such actions, I apologize for bashing out on this. As a non-spear fishing diver, but respecting your freedom to do so, I would ask that you police the people that you deal with so that hopefully this episode will never happen again. Actions like these are what cause innocent divers to get hurt or killed!
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Notes from another diver:
Let me share a moment, I was also on the Duane this dive (Great Wreck BTW). I had a three buddy dive team and we fully enjoyed expolring the swim thrus of the Duane. Irish had said topside peek over now and again you will be rewarded with some special sites. We where about mid-ship when one of my Buddys decided to peek over, so he goes to the rail and slowly looks of the side ... I was laughing thinking he is afraid a big shark is gonna be there (we heard Bulls) and grab him lol. Then I turn to check out the diver next to him ... this was a young man possibly 19 or 20 then I notice he has a speargun. Not only did he have it but he was peeking over the side as well and his speargun was drifting back in forth to his right side pointing directly and MY buddy peeking over the side ... just as the gun comes to a complete stop (about 3 inches from my dive buddys kidney I also reliaze that this kid has his finger on the triger. So I drift towards the kids and gently take both of my hands and kinda shew the kids gun away from my friend looked at the kid said no no with my finger and then asked ok? he said ok and swam away ... my dive buddy never knew it happened. KP
One more note on this matter another interesting experience was the safty stops ..... as I hang away from the line let the current drift me out I was completely surronded by bubbles thinking this is soooo cool ... like swimming in a glass of champain .... the line was so full of divers and I was at 20 ft I look at my right hand that is holding the line and see a stringer full of fish being dangeled down from a diver above me on the line it is right behind my right sholder .... now all the bubbles surronding me became .... omg I could not see anything. New experience for this divergirl ... but he had a stringer full of nice fish.
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The following is a note written for the Down Under Dive Club [ also a NOT RECOMMENDED CLUB ] which the author was the Safety Officer for the club:
The Down Under Dive Club's spare Sherwood Regulator / Octopus was presented to me as Safety Officer to get fixed last month. It was stated that it did not work, but had been serviced by a " Local Shop in Palm Bay Florida ". I really do not have first hand knowledge of the past of this regulator except from what I have heard from others! I dropped it off at my preferred shop and here's the report on its repair:
1) The
1st stage piston was the wrong piston
for this regulator. The reg could not work with this incorrect piston in it.
2) The primary regulator purge button was
missing one of four prongs
, the
spring was missing
and the
button was forced fully in
. The purge could not work in this condition.
3).
Two hoses
were replaced. One hose would have broken in half on its next use.
4). The primary reg case had numerous
cracks
.
5). The primary reg
diaphragm had a hole
in it – it would not work
6). The primary reg
mouthpiece was torn
.
All of the above problems are now fixed. Sherwood Parts replacement kits were used on the primary and the two secondary regs. The pressure gauge could not be removed from the console; therefore the high-pressure swivel was not serviced. The primary reg hose was not replaced; it did not need it at this time. These should be done at some time in the future, they are not needed at this time.
Moral: You would have died if you attempted to use this regulator for a deep dive. Have your equipment repaired at a reputable dealer . Ask to see the repair facilities – if you can't see where your reg is being serviced, don't leave it there. Ask to talk to the person doing the repair, not just the local counterperson. Explain how you use the equipment. When you pick up the equipment, ask to talk to the person that repaired it . Discuss the repairs that were done and what else might need to be done. If you can't see where your equipment is being repaired or talk to the person doing you repair – go to another shop ! You can't get the work done at 100 ft in the middle of a dive!
Last Updated: 10-July-2002