Dive Review of Ocean Divers/m/v Santana in
The Continental USA/Key Largo, Florida

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Ocean Divers/m/v Santana, Aug, 2008, by David Schwab, AE, USA ( Contributor 14 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 4309.
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	Ocean Divers runs a solid operation; good safety briefings, crew looks after divers. Plenty of room on the boat during the week; gets a bit crowded on weekends . . . but I've seen worse. First dive on a wreck, second on a shallow reef. Dived USS Spiegel Grove (she's back on her keel!!) & USCGC Duane. Both wrecks were excellent, adventureous dives . . . but they are not for novice divers. The decks of both are at about 30m, ambient light isn't great but sufficient for photos. There was a strong current on each; the captain recommended not taking large cameras with strobes, since divers have to hold on to the shotline while decending (or risk going on a drift dive); I took mine and had no difficulty. Plenty to see on both wrecks; the only downside is wasting air on decent . . . waiting for inexperienced divers in front of you to decend. On one dive my buddy and I had to climb over divers returning to the boat . . . they had either changed their minds or forgotten something!! Shallow dives, m/v Benwood and Molasses Reef were enjoyable; French Reef was boring and in bad shape (divers should stay off it!).
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Pensacola, Cayman Islands, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Scotland, England, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Red Sea, Cyprus, Malta, Germany, Croatia, Thailand
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	20-40 Ft/ 6-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth limits
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	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		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Fresh water bucket and table space available for cameras; crew asked non-photographers to respect photo equipment, etc.

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Dive Review of Ocean Divers/m/v Santana in The Continental USA/Key Largo, Florida

Ocean Divers/m/v Santana, Aug, 2008,

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 Ocean Divers/m/v Santana in
The Continental USA/Key Largo, Florida