Dive Review of
Rainbow Reef Divers in
The Continental USA/Key Largo, Florida

St.Lucia, Grand Bahama, Nassau, Hawaii, Dominica, Grand Cayman, Cayman
Brac, North Carolina, Virginia Beach, Cozumel, San Salvador (Bahamas),
Roatan

Dive Conditions

Be back on board in 1 hour or 500psi, whichever comes first.  

Overall Rating

We went on one two-tank trip with Rainbow Reef Divers. $75 for a non-guided
2-tank trip. Other dives this week included three two-tank dive trips with
Key Dives in Islamorada one two-tank trip with Blue Water Divers in Key
Largo. We split trips between operators to gain easier access to the Eagle
(Islamorada) and the Speigel Grove and the Duane (both from Key Largo).
However, this morning Blue Water Divers had two divers opt out of the dive,
leaving only my wife and I on the manifest. In addition, the seas were in
the 4’+ range. The captain of Blue Water Divers, Glenn, helped us rebook
with Rainbow Reef Divers who had one of their boats scheduled to go to the
Speigel Grove that morning. Unfortunately Rainbow Reef Divers had two
no-shows, leaving only my wife and me booked on their smaller boat. They
offered us two spots on their bigger boat so we accepted in an effort to
get some underwater time in today. The boat was crowded with 16 divers (but
I wouldn’t be surprised if they occasionally book it for 20). This was a
good example of a ‘cattle boat’ operation. Captain Bill was cordial and
gave an adequate briefing. Onboard, one of the crew changed my wife’s tank
between dives and helped me change mine. Normally I don’t mind doing this
myself but it was good to have assistance in the rough seas we experienced
(4’+ seas). Bottled water was provided. Mask and camera buckets were
available. No head that I saw or was told about. No granny line to the
front of the boat provided. First dive on the Benwood had horrible
visibility (~10’). Second dive at Molasses Reef had about 25’ of
visibility. Experienced a lot of surge on both dives. Several people got
sick between dives due to rough seas and some divers didn’t do the second
dive. There was no divemaster guide for either dive so one needed to be
able to do their own navigation. Instructions were to be back on board in
60 minutes or with at least 500psi. My wife and I were the last on board
for both dives after about 50 minutes (with >1000psi). Overall, crew did
a good job, especially given the rough conditions and the number of divers.
 An after-dive lunch stop at Mrs Macks is worth it. For dinner, we loved
the fish preperations at the Fish House. 

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