The Elite Tactical Dive Team for Any Diver, Anywhere, Anytime

By Brian Piece

I’ve been a scuba diver for the better part of a dozen years. Although I average 25 to 50 dives per year and make at least one annual dive trip, I consider myself a casual diver. This is probably a clue that I’m in total denial about my diving addiction. I know I’m not very different from anyone else who wants his vacation to be unique, yet painless and safe. Divers, however, have some special needs that can completely make or break an excursion. How can you as a diver ensure that your needs are met and be sure that what you originally booked for your trip is what actually gets delivered? Here are some key questions that will help you select the best dive operator for you.

Where do you want to stay? Often the temptation is to go with an all-inclusive resort, but don’t be afraid to select your accommodations separately from your dive provider. This allows you to get the best value in both regards. For my most recent trip, I was flying to the Ft. Lauderdale Airport and staying at the stellar Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. The Hard Rock Hollywood is not in the dive business, but they were happy to suggest a local operator, Aqua Sports Inc. The best thing about this arrangement was that my group could enjoy all the accommodations at the Hard Rock when we weren’t in the water, and still go diving with a world class dive team.

Who will I dive with? You should find the dive operator that will best meet your specific needs. It's hard to judge; in this case we took the recommendation of the Hard Rock staff in choosing Aqua Sports. Hotel referrals are usually a good way of ensuring quality of service and safety. Operators have an incentive to keep the business relationship healthy by accommodating guests. Aqua Sports' website, aquasportsinc.com, gave a really clear overview of what was available to us. Listening to recommendations and reviewing what a shop, boat or operator has to offer, whether online, in print or on the phone, is usually the best way to find real quality. 

Where do you want to dive? In my case the answer was easy – the ocean. I was simply trying to get some dive time. Dive time is a near transcendental state where all worries are left behind. Are my feelings about George Bush misguided? Should I get out of the market or should I be buying? Did that guy who wants my corner office cut my brake lines? I can forget about all that while I’m diving. If you have specific needs that are different from mine, for instance, if you want to dive a shipwreck, see large sea animals or explore a reef, you need to make sure that your dive provider is going to do that for you. Most dive providers will customize an itinerary for a large group, but if you are only going to represent two out of 22 people on the boat you need to be sure that they’re going to go where you want to go.

Who will save my life in the water? My dive partner Tim and I met in a tank of sharks at the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden and have traveled all over the world, diving together for 10 years. The only buddy issues we have are whether to eat at Denny’s or Applebee's afterward. We intuitively know how the other will handle himself in any eventuality underwater. We train together at the Pennsylvania Quarry regularly throughout the summer months. Every diver should seek to develop a long-term dive partner. If none of your friends dive, there are numerous recreational clubs that always dive together. You need a buddy who is as skilled as you are, is trained in rescue techniques and won't push the limits. They should know your gear and you should know theirs. Lastly, you should have someone who will never make you feel guilty if you call off a dive in the first 10 feet because your sinuses hurt. However, they are welcome to ridicule you if your seasickness makes you vomit on some big dude’s dive gear back at the surface. These requirements are optimal and the safest buddy circumstances you can strive for. Aqua Sports has an excellent team that can act as buddies if you are alone and can also assist with training that can be customized to suit you.

Do I want to see anything special while I’m diving and what will I take away? “Take only pictures, leave only bubbles” is often repeated as the mantra of the eco-dive crowd. Conversely, New Jersey and New York scuba divers are often unfairly tagged with a “take everything that will fit in my goodie bag” mentality. There is a happy medium. Personally, I often like to take shellfish, legally, in season, in places where it is allowed. Since our Aqua Sports trip was often in a marine park and I was unsure of the local regulations, we were definitely operating under the “pictures only” rules. Aqua Sports provided us with world class photography and I’ll be honest – there isn’t much I enjoy more that forcing my friends to page through my travel pictures – especially when they are professionally done.

What I took away from my trip with Aqua Sports was even better than a vacation; it was more like an education. What a great outcome! I learned some things about myself while I learned about the ocean life in southeast Florida. Aqua Sports is now highly recommended, by me.

Diver’s Log

By Tim Sullivan

Friday, 5 p.m.

Brian and I get back from all day outing at Billie’s Swamp Safari and do a full-on gear check. We confirm with dive operator Colum Sullivan of Aqua Sports. We get directions, load address into GPS, load gear in car, meet The Boulevard editorial staff for dinner at Council Oak and try to sleep.

Saturday, 6 a.m.

We wake up and eat breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner in the hotel. We then drive 30 minutes to the marina, meet our four-person dive host team, sign waiver, load boat. Our six-person dive team splashes at 10 a.m. The first dive is a double wreck at 60 feet. The six of us break off from the larger group at depth and use our compass headings to find a second wreck. On the swingback, we fight a very strong current. Current swimming requires exertion and we burn so much air there is no exploring of second wreck. 

The second dive is a drift. The boat drops divers while moving and we gather at the surface with dive master who will float a flag, and we fly with the current for 500 yards at 50 feet, over coral. This type of diving involves very little exertion, but you do need excellent buoyancy control for a floating safety stop at 15 feet on the ascent. We wait on the surface after giving the OK sign for the boat to return and throw us the “Jesus line,” a thick rope that extends 25 yards off the back of the boat with a mooring ball attached. The Jesus line is the main method of boat re-entry for drift diving. Drift diving covers the most distance on the sea floor of any type.

Saturday, 6 p.m.

After an afternoon relaxing, Brian and I are back at the marina at dusk for an evening departure. Night diving is one of my favorite dives. We splash into significantly choppy water and descend 100 feet into pitch black to a large cargo wreck. Because we were doing multiple dives that day we filled our tanks with 32 percent nitrox. This enriched formula mixes more oxygen into what you breathe so there is less diver fatigue and less nitrogen buildup in your bloodstream. All divers should seek a nitrox certification to have the option of using different mixes and increasing both their bottom time and decompression safety margins. No big animals were seen on this dive, just the ghostly rusted corals and sleeping fish. 

Our second night dive is a drift. Drifting at night is a bit nerve-racking if you are new to either diving at night or drifting. At 60 feet we followed a similar pattern as that morning, yet the underwater fauna is drastically different. Lobsters, stone crabs, nocturnal squid are seen in abundance. The fascination with these critters gives way to a heightened sense of awareness as I remember they are favorite food of bull and tiger sharks that prowl in large numbers through South Florida. The highlight of this dive is the snake eel. This beautiful, slow-moving serpent fish is purple with white spots and seen on only one in every 200 dives. 

Sunday, 6 a.m.

Today is the big animal encounter day. As Brian noted, we met years ago in a tank at the NJ State Aquarium with a dozen huge sharks swimming around us, so we love to be around big creatures. The team takes us to a wreck where an enormous 100+ pound southern stingray swims up to be fed. We pop open some cans of sardines and the huge slimy pillow nudges over my hands and I can feel his hairbrush-like mouth. Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge 9-foot green moray swims over and between my legs. Colum had told us that he knew this eel well and that he had rehabilitated her after she was hurt in a fight with another eel. An eel this size could easily end your life or tear off an appendage if it were in the wrong mood. For all my years of close encounters with sharks, I still get anxious around big morays. I calmed myself down and remembered this one was supposed to be totally tame. For the next 45 minutes, she swam around the dive team playfully looking for more food. She and Colum seemed to have a relationship, but she wasn’t short on the affection with any of us. It's paradoxical anomalies like this one that make diving with the right team key to unlocking the secrets of the ocean's inhabitants. It was an experience that I will never forget, and can't wait to do again. For those recreational divers reading this and for prospective divers and snorkelers – all types of moray eels are dangerous and should never be touched or harassed! Unless a master instructor briefs you on an animal prior to an encounter, LEAVE IT ALONE! There are plenty of opportunities to arrange animal interaction with teams like Aqua Sports where you can experience sharks, eels, dolphins, manatees and giant turtles close up in a respectful and safe way.