Article Author:

Owen
Master Scuba Diver Trainer

During the past several monthes I have traveled to several different continents to pursue diving adventures, and to enjoy the various cultures of the world. I have been to Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, and Thailand. Although each location had it’s unique scuba diving strongpoints, overall, I prefer Key Largo. Considering average visibility, currents, water temperature, surface conditions, and marine life, I believe Key Largo rates as one of the best locations in the world. In particular, the overall volume of marine life, and the numerous, varying species, is Key Largo’s greatest strongpoint. The fact that most of this marine life can be found in less than 40 feet of water makes it a particularly great place for recreational scuba divers. I have just returned from Pattaya, Thailand, where I was completing my PADI IDC Staff Instructor training. While there I had occassion to converse with divers from Zimbabwie, Australia, England, New Zealand, and the United States. Many of them couldn’t believe my description of the marine life one observes during one dive in Key Largo. Yesterday I completed my first two dives in Key Largo since I left for Thailand over a month ago. It was great to be back. I observed Eagle Rays, sharks, turtles, a Green Moray Eel, a Golden Tail Moray Eel, and numerous, large Barricudas. The visibility was about 50 – 60 feet. These dives re-affirmed my beliefs. I will continue to dive the world with great enthusiasm, and with a sense of adventure and discovery. I will continue to immerse myself in foreign cultures which contribute to the enrichment of my life. But my travel these past few monthes has taught me that I SHOULD NOT take diving here in Key Largo for granted. I hope you enjoy the photos from yesterday’s dives.

Article Author:

Captain D.J.
Master Instructor

We are very pleased and proud to introduce you to the newest vessel in the Rainbow Reef Fleet! The TROPICAL ADVENTURE! She is a 42 foot Newton, and powered by two 300hp John Deere engines. We’ve been working on getting this boat since last summer, and finally it all came together. As I’m writing this, I’m just back from running her maiden voyage with customers out to Snapper Ledge and Fire Coral cave. We had 14 divers, and one of them was our good friend and most frequent customer, Mr. George Yates. It was really windy today and she powered right through the 2-3 foot waves at 19 knots giving everyone on board a smooth ride. For as much wind as we had, the diving was still pretty good, there was no current and probably about 50 feet of visibility in mostly blue water.

Of course, we still love all of our boats. The Tropical Voyager is staying right in Key Largo and the Tropical Explorer is going to return to Islamorada to partner with the Tropical Daze to hit all of the reefs and wrecks a little further south.

We hope to see you soon..

Article Author:

Captain D.J.
Master Instructor

We are pleased to announce that we’ve added 5 new PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors to the dive industry. The January IDC was another success with everyone getting very high scores and impressing the Instructor Examiner.

Congratulations to James Begeman, Brad Grizzle, Suzanne Hutchings, Michael Jordan and Glen Way. We also would like to congratulate Venson Jordan on his achieving his IDC Staff Instructor certification by staffing and helping with this class.

Brad is born and bred in Texas, James is from the Midwest but spent the last bunch of years in California. They are both Interns in the Rainbow Reef Internship Program, and they have taken the next step towards become the best dive professional they can be.

The rest of the gang also hails from far and wide, Michael Jordan (not the basketball player!) is from the Los Angeles area, and Glen is from Key West! Suzanne comes from England but came up from Turks and Caicos (where she currently resides and works as a DM) to attend this program. Venson came to us from Washington, DC.

The pictures have our happy new Instructors, with Tom Witmer (Rainbow Reef’s�Course Director) and Gary the PADI Instructor Examiner. And of course, one goofy picture just for kicks.�

If you’d like more information�about what it takes to become a PADI�Instructor or�join our Internship program, just visit http://www.keysidc.com�

Congratulations to all and we look forward to another successful IDC in February!