Dive Review of Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver in
The Continental USA/Key L argo, Florida

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Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver, Nov, 2004, by Andrew Levin, MA, USA . Report 1443.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I signed up for a half day with Paradise Charters based on earlier reviews on Undercurrent. My first inkling of trouble was when, following the directions I received on the phone, I found an abandoned tent marked "Paradise Charters". A local told me that they had moved. I telephoned again, and received new directions to another address in Key Largo. When I finally found it, the sign said "Island Reef Diver". The staff informed me that the assets of Paradise Charters had been acquired by this operation. Of course they didn't tell me that the liabilities had also been acquired, which became a little clearer in short order. The boat set out with a few divers, divemaster and captain. When I casually inquired about weights to see what they had on board, they were able to turn up a total of 13 lbs - just enough for me, but no one else (luckily, the others had their own). First site was the Benwood, a shallow wreck mostly disintegrated, but a good artificial reef. The divemaster was my buddy. We circled the Benwood, where I found plenty of fish to look at, from schooling grunts to lizardfish, in tunnels and under ledges in the wreck. After about 40 minutes, the DM showed me that he was running short of air, and asked me to surface with him. I surfaced with 1,000 psi still in the tank. The DM said that "once we circled the boat once or twice, there wasn't anything more to see". Welcome to the "been there, done that" school of diving. We moved on to the second site, French Reef. Beautiful spot with swim-throughs and that day, lots of smaller reef fish. The DM didn't give me time to explore a swim through, but paddled along between the coral heads seemingly oblivious to the local residents. He managed to knock the regulator out of my mouth at one point. Once again he ran short of air and asked me to surface after about 40 minutes. His comment was "nothing to see. where were all the fish today ?". I guess his time was more valuable than mine, even though I had paid $68 for a two-tank dive and still had about a third of my air supply left over, unused. Key Largo is a great place to dive, but you can do a whole lot better than Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Cape Ann, Catalina Island, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Hawaii, Brazil
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	choppy, noCurrents
Water Temp	81-0°F / 27--18°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-50 Ft/ 12-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Had to follow an inexperienced divemaster
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	This operation is not set up to support UWP

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Dive Review of Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver in The Continental USA/Key L argo, Florida

Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver, Nov, 2004,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Paradise Charters/Island Reef Diver in
The Continental USA/Key L argo, Florida