Captain's Corner Dive Center — Local services in Key West

This is a totally professional activity. My family (3 of us) completed dive training with Nautilus Dive in Vienna/Herndon VA (pool work)- also totally professional.

We wanted to do our open water 'check out dive' for PADI in Key West. Captain's Corner was the most cost effective. We had a pool period before the dive, which was perfect, since my boys 20 and 23 YOA, had done the pool portion almost 1 year earlier (they were at the limit of completing the course). Captain's Corner provided a TOTALLY professional dive instructor (Stephanie), who was a former 20-year teacher of English, before ditching school to live the good life, teaching people who care, instead of dealing with arrogant parents who drive teachers from the classroom.

I'm a Naval Academy graduate and had been a life guard and stash instructor of water survival for aircrew in Pensacola in my youth. These folks were 100% the best that I could have hoped for- having worked with professional Navy divers during that period, while I waited for flight school to start.

The pool period was perfect. We got familiar with their equipment and practiced skills that we had not practiced for months in my case and almost a year in my kid's case (emergency ascent; clearing masks; buoyancy control/weights; hand signals; skills to be completed in the open water; diver out of air).

There was a 90 minute classroom session to review manual dive tables and ensure we remembered the basics.

On the boat, the equipment was first class, we used a $1000 BCD; equipment was clean, organized, EXTREMELY well maintained, with the correct size (which they got at the pool earlier). The dive computers were easy, and lots of weights in all distributions.

The boat was very nice, very comfortable. They had a large ice chest for personal drinks (bring your own soda/water/Gatorade); there was a large ice water container with paper cups. The dive master and captain gave very professional safety briefs.

My brother and sister-in-law and wife were already certified and dove on an independent dive at the same two dive sites. The dives were in very warm water, no need for any thermal protection suits. Long sleeves are recommended to reduce any possibility of cuts/scrapes, as we got very close to the coral. Lots of reef fish; the others saw a barracuda; lion fish; puffer fish; no sharks; we saw many spinney lobsters which were in season from Aug-6 on (6 per person per day limit).

Worked through the many necessary skills and still had plenty of time to 'check things out'. Each dive was 45 minutes- max depth 30 feet. Lots of time spent on buoyancy control, which is a fine art - and I was much improved from over-corrections by the middle of the first dive.

They dive a 100 foot wreck, which is very popular, although, I will not attempt for quite a while with or without an instructor- post certification.

If you come to key west and want a safe, professional, inexpensive dive- use...

Was blown away by the unprofessionalism and lack of basic knowledge of the captain. The staff claim he's an instructor, but I really can't believe that. I am an instructor, and I chose to walk off the boat before departing. (Additionally I never disclosed I was an instructor, as far as he knew I'm OW)

Any captain that says "the only safe way to take off an O-ring on the tank, is to blow it off" AKA (unscrew your pressurized regulator from the tank before releasing the air) has gotta be smoking sumn - I know it CAN be done, but obviously isn't the safest way, and over time can damage the regulator. Then to be rude when I, a real instructor, tells you that I have never heard a captain say thats the 'safe way', is below my level of cognition. The crew seemed to acknowledge that "he's always like this", and the DM on the boat that day came up to apologize.

So, o ring is replaced now, and I begin testing my bcd, fully inflate it, release valve kicks in, but then doesn't seal. He comes wow you really need to get your ear close to that sound to hear it coming out (sarcastically) and then tells me it's no big deal, most of the bcds have a leak. Which is when the alarm started ringing in my head, and we bailed.

Additionally, my partner is a new diver, she is about 110 pounds, and likes to wear a wetsuit while diving. He told her she wouldn't need one, we said,"she gets very cold on the second dive" (we dive in Hawaii mostly) - the captain replies, "you're really gonna make us get a wetsuit out" I then say, "yeah the lady in the office said it was fine" the DM then came over and got a wet suit. Then the captain acted like a toddler ignoring us and side-eyeing us the rest of the time, till we disembarked before leaving the harbor.

The only reason I can do two stars is because the lady working the office kiosk and check in...

This should really be no stars but in order to post I put one. I got the bends on a guided dive trip with Captain's Corner. Stay away!

This past summer my family and I went diving with Captain's Corner to the Vandenburg Wreck. It was a deep dive and my son and I are not advanced divers. My husband however is a dive instructor through PADI. We were informed that even though we would be diving with my husband we had to hire a divemaster from CC to guide my son and I. This divemaster that we hired put both my son and I into deco on the dive and I got decompression sickness.

We notified the shop after my first emergency visit and then there were crickets. They never called to check on me, never offered to comp the dives (until we asked for this). I was in and out of the hospital for the next four days. I had to be treated in the chamber five different times requiring life flight and ambulance services. I am dealing with the hassle and the expense from all of this even five months later and will be for years to come. It will affect my dive life forever.

It has been a source of frustration to me and my family that the incompetence of a divemaster that we were required to hire caused me to get the bends. After the fact, the lack of caring that the shop expressed given my condition was astonishing.

Our divemaster was unprofessional; too laid back and cutting corners. For example, he did not brief me or my son on dive computers that they required us to use. We talked about a plan for the second dive on the boat and then underwater he did something different putting us in deco mode. Again, we were required by the shop to hire him to guide the dive!

If I were you, I would stay FAR away from Captain's Corner for your...