2Shea Fishing and Diving Center — Attraction in Clearwater

Legal warning. I have chartered through 2 Shea a few times. Usually this is an excuse to spend time with family members during the holidays. It was on social media that I learned from one of 2Shea’s instructors who was bragging about his credentials that 2Shea occasionally permits non licensed captains to operate their vessels. He bragged that he was one of these “Captains” while degrading a recreational diver over a mistake they made on a dive. This caught my attention as I am involved in the commercial side of the diving industry and know many people who would be interested in this information.

I scheduled a recreational dive with my family through this company. They are open water recreational divers. I am not, though I chartered as one.

I called their company about twelve hours before departure and spoke with a man over the phone. He answered the phone as Captain “X” and when asked informed me that he would be the captain during our charter. Summarily, I asked what kind of Captain. I even specified OUPV/Six Pack or Master Captain of “X” weight class. He was confused and did not seem to indicate an understanding of what OUPV/Six Pack was (I.e Captain). Instead, he spoke defensively about being able to operate a 100 ton vessel and that none of this speaks to the competency of the captain. Competency is not why I asked. I asked for legal reasons. A six pack license is only permitted to operate a vessel with up to six paying customers. That large vessel 2Shea has sits approximately twenty-five by my understanding. A Master Captain is therefore required. Further, all licenses are under the purview of the U.S. Coast Guard. Meaning, a company can get into big trouble for something like this. I now have two red flags regarding the potential illegal operation of this company.

When the time of departure came it was not the gentleman who played captain for us but the same lady whom I typically see at the helm from previous charters. I have listened to her conversations with others and she does speak with considerable knowledge and understanding, even where law is concerned. She is not restricted to recreational diving. She is likely a legitimate captain as she knows things that typically only those who have gone through the course know.

Dive 1 One of my family members was renting a regulator. Third time booking with this company and it never fails to provide broken rental equipment. I had to take her back and thankfully the crew was very helpful and polite about providing assistance.

While waiting I decided to do a visual inspection of their vessel since I occasionally do this for work. That boat is in serious need of attention. Anodes were in bad shape. Metal was corroded along propellers and prop-shaft. Overall, the underside of that vessel was seriously neglected. Meaning, they do not take proper care of their vessel. For understanding purposes, replacement of anodes would cost 2Shea the approximate amount in what they make for one single diver’s charter. Further, anodes can literally be replaced in water by a diver. A vessel does not have to be pulled. Very simple to do if you are a diver. And they have plenty of them. I informed the captain of what I saw. She was not happy about it and snapped that the vessel will soon be serviced.

2Shea, if you cannot do it yourself call Dive911. I am sure one of their guys could help you and or teach you.

Upon our return I made a couple phone calls within the industry. It seems people are already aware that 2Shea sometimes permits non-registered captains or unqualified captains to operate vessels outside of licensing. This has been reported to the Coast Guard by other professionals. I was informed that the Coast Guard may be making random inspections at sea of 2Shea vessels in the future to see if they are operating according to standard. This includes documentation of captain’s license, which they are required to have on person, navigational charts, safety related equipment, vessel in good...

I went out scuba diving with Capt. Good 4-15 & being scubility, I need to have a rescue diver with me I had Felix who is an instructor and I’m happy that he was the one . A year prior in a trip to Punta Cana and ending up with an ear infection, soon as I got home went to urgent care and was diagnosed with just an infection and pressure, didn’t get better and a week later doctor said it was ruptured After 8 weeks ENT cleared me to dive again and my dive shop suggested that I used ear docs Well after my first dive Felix asked me if I used docs on my first dive after he saw them in my ears and explained to me why I shouldn’t use them that they actually don’t help you equalize When we went down the second dive he helped me and was very patient helping me equalize by tilting my head and had me keep my hands on my nose squeezing gently until my ears cleared properly He made sure I was safe at all times and kept close eye on how much air I had frequently He used his flashlight and made sure I saw the small fish, saw a turtle 🐢, hogfish, big starfish and many more but the best part was when he showed me the shark sign and yup, Bull shark 🦈 Of course on the assent up we did a 3 minute safety stop I would love to dive with him again I know I could learn a lot more from him Once I move to Florida, Spring of 2025 I will go out again with Shea Charters Capt Good was awesome too, we chatted a little about the military both of us are veterans Both Capt Good and Felix are very safety conscious, not all companies are but they take it seriously We had a lot of fun, it’s not fun if you’re hurt so safety is important. I really appreciate the help they provided, they got my tank and BCD on the boat, I’m not 22 anymore and kept all us divers safe TJ (owner) got me set up and I’ll be back but this time I’ll be a Florida resident They even have Steel tanks Thank you Shea Charters for a great day...

I can't rave about my experience with this company enough!

Firat off, I've worked in the outdoors industry for 18+ years, behind the counter selling high end equipment and experiences, and have come to expect a certain level of customer service, and TJ, Will, and Felix truly knocked it out of the park!

To elaborate, my Girlfriend and I had a wedding in florida, and were planning on diving with another company while we were here, I even convinced my dad to fly down and meet us. When we landed on thursday I called the shop we were booked with to discuss details, only to find out their boat was out of the water and being repaired. Not a problem because i recognize things happen. However, this shop never notified us and when I asked how when they knew the boat was going to be down, and why they didnt notify us i got crickets on the phone. So i asked for a refund, and called up 2shea/Tanks-a-lot.

I explained my situation, and that my dad already had a flight down. We only had monday available to dive due to the wedding and accomedating our flights on tuesday. TJ explained that he was already moving people of the monday charter to other days because of the weather and encouraged us to do the same, but alas we couldn't. He told us to book monday, and if the weather followed the forecast would find us somewhere inland to dive. Sunday came, and we got the call we were expecting, but were able to set up a dive on rainbow river. We were met by Will and Felix 2 hours away from where they normally work for a drift dive. The spent the morning showing us all the aquatic life they spoted and provided a 1st class experience. 2shea was able to help us pull a dive trip out of the rubble and kept it fun! Highly recommend this crew and I look forward to diving...