Lost Reef Adventures — Local services in Key West

Note- the owner replied to my review stating they would change their policies. They have not, they kept the better part of $200 of my money, and even have gone so far as to call me a "liar" on their Facebook page.

During the long 2017 Labor Day weekend in Key Largo, we decided to take a break from the reefs in the Upper Keys, and we decided to book a two-dive trip to the Vandenberg on Saturday. Although I was concerned about some of the negative reviews for Lost Reef Adventures, since it was a busy holiday weekend we considered ourselves fortunate to find a Dive shop that had availability that day on short notice. I now understand why.

I called and spoke to a woman who said she was the manager and she directed me to the website to make the booking online which I did on Thursday. I scheduled the Vandenberg trip for 2 divers, & scheduled a reef dive trip for 2 more divers in our group.

The day before, on Friday at about 2:30 pm I called the shop to add another diver to our trip. I was told "Oh the Vandenberg trip might be canceled". Not because of weather, not because of a mechanical issue with the boat, not because of something beyond the Dive Ops control. No, we were told the trip might be canceled "because there aren't enough divers scheduled to go out". I said "when were you going to tell me this?" Unbelievably, she told me "we would have notified you by 6 pm". Well, at that late time, it would have been impossible to find another dive Op because they'd all be closed, and I told her as much. She said "that's how we do it and it's in the disclaimer on our website". I said I am going to start calling other Dive Ops and if I find one that will take us I am canceling. She rather rudely said "fine you can do that!" but she didn't tell me that while we are allowed to cancel, since it was less than 24 hours away, we would still be charged the full price for 2 divers! Even though they were probably going to cancel on us, and even though we only made the reservation 1.5 days before! I started calling other Dive Ops and booked a trip with South Point Divers, with whom we had a great dive trip to the Vandenberg.

When I called back to tell her I found a dive operation who guaranteed the Vandenberg trip, and that I was going to cancel, she first said she was going to charge us full price because of the late cancellation- even though she would have been perfectly ok canceling ME at the last possible minute just because there weren't enough divers to make the trip profitable for them. After some heated back and forth, she "graciously" agreed to cancel our wreck dives at no charge since they were just booked the night before. But- even though she canceled our 2 wreck dives at no charge, she still charged us for the two divers doing the reef dive. As if it makes any sense that we split our group up and have half dive with them when our wreck dives were with a completely different dive charter.

Lost Reef Adventures, states the following on their website and reservation receipt: "Lost Reef Adventures does its best to accommodate all of our divers" and "Customers will also receive a full refund in case of operator cancellation due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances" even though they are can and will hold you "hostage" until 6 pm the night before your trip and cancel last minute when its too late for you to make alternate plans, simply because it won't be profitable for them- but at the same time they expect YOU to give them 24 hours notice! You'd think they'd at least have the consideration to tell you by no later than 5 pm so you can get on the phone with other dive shops. But no, and iff you should cancel on THEM, they will charge you full price. Such abhorrent business practices are completely unacceptable especially in the customer service oriented world of Scuba Diving. I would never, ever dive with Lost Reef Adventures in Key West, and I strongly suggest that other divers consider their attitude and poor business practices when...

This was my first time diving with Lost Reef Adventures. They are a PADI 5 star dive shop and are located very conveniently near the historic center of Key West. I was diving for 5 days and was diving with a dive buddy I had not been diving with before which let’s just say....had it’s challenges. Their captains, instructors, and divemasters are all very experienced and I was impressed with their focus on safety and in how well they managed boats with a wide variety of divers on them. Some days we had novices, students doing their AOW, tech divers, and people like me who are very experienced divers. Most days had one or two instructors who were teaching. Most of our dives were unescorted dives which is the custom here unless you have made arrangements for a divemaster or are in a class. Special shout out to Mike Rice who may be one of the best divemasters I’ve ever had the pleasure of diving with. He was always on top of everyone’s needs and was super helpful. I also appreciated the assistance with schlepping my gear to and from the boat, and with a few of the tank changeovers. The shop also had a great set up for rinsing and hanging gear up to dry and we were able to leave our gear at the shop overnight without any issues.

Our first day we did not dive with Lost Reef Adventures but instead were shuttled over to Captain’s Corner. We had a couple of unguided dives on the Vandenburg, and conditions were not great. It was a little difficult to be shuttled over and then to have to make our way back to Lost Reef Adventures with our gear after the dive. I was travel weary and it just wasn’t a great way to start our week and I wish we had known in advance that we couldn’t go out with Lost Reef. But perhaps this is just the way it needs to work in the off season.

The only complaint I have is that at times communication was lacking. I listen to dive briefings. When we were told we’d be diving unescorted for one of our Vandenburg dives, I told my buddy that I’d meet him on the traverse line mid ship as is our custom and my preference as an experienced NC wreck diver as the traverse line is a good place to get out of top current, do buddy checks, make sure the computers are working properly (which one can’t do at the surface), etc. My buddy agreed and the divemaster knew that was our plan. I dove my plan, but upon my return I was thoroughly chastised for not meeting my dive buddy on the surface at the stern on the tag line. To make it even more fun, my dive buddy threw me under the bus (for the first of many times that week), and joined the chorus. I was told that there was some instruction to meet as a group on the surface (which I never heard or I would have done so) prior to descent. Ultimately it didn’t matter as I surfaced when my buddy didn’t appear where we had agreed to meet and met the others at the stern. I am always happy to follow any instruction given to me when I am a guest on someone else’s boat. But when I am told that I am diving unescorted, in the absence of any specific direction, I plan my dive and I dive my plan and I communicate as appropriate. It left a bad taste in my mouth to be chastised for doing that. I nearly decided to opt out of the rest of the week and if not for Mike R’s positive attitude and ownership of the issue (though he was not the one doing the chastising), would have done so.

Conditions were difficult this week, diving with a new buddy a bigger than anticipated challenge, but this is a good outfit with very experienced and safety conscious staff, and I’d recommend them to any diver looking for a dive outfit...

Lost Reef Adventures...the worst dive shop that I have encountered in 30 years of scuba diving.

The negatives:

The owner, Nick, was extremely unfriendly to the point of being hostile. He had a serious attitude problem and had no idea what the concept of "customer service" meant. He just stares at you, waiting for you to say something...it's really creepy.

After telling us to show up at 7:00 for the morning dives, no one from the shop bothered to show up until 7:45.

The crew was only okay. The dive master acted like this was an annoyance to be taking us out on a dive...like he just wanted to get this over and done with. He just swam around for 45 minutes until it was time to re-board. The boat pilot told us, "We're not leaving the dock until you get your gear ready." There was one guy (with a mullet and ear rings) that was pretty cool and very helpful.

The equipment was fair, but had some issues. The first tank that I hooked up to only had 1200 psi, turns out that 1/4 of the tanks onboard had previously been used and not removed or refilled. The fact that they all had the rubber covers on the valve (indicating a fresh tank) made it very confusing as to which tank to use. My dive buddy's regulator was inoperable.

The dives were fair at best. I guess Key West really isn't that great for sea life when compared to the USVI or Belize, buy the dive master didn't even bother to point out sea life. EVERY dive I've been on in 30 years had a dive master that took pride in his/her job and did their best to point out - things to see - during the dive.

I told the travel office on the base at Sigsbee not to recommend them. There are vastly superior shops like Southpoint Divers and Captain's Corner that will give you a much more pleasant experience. I dove with Southpoint on all of my subsequent dives in Key West.

The positives:

The boat was great - lotsa space for everyone, safety equipment was plentiful, and the safety briefing was well done. As I mentioned before, one of the crew (lives in Roatan, Honduras and was visiting his daughter) was very helpful but unfortunately, he was the exception.

The BCDs, masks, and fins were fine.

There's not really anything else positive that came out of my experiences. Do yourself a favor and use one of the other dive shops in Key West.

My name is Jim H. and I was one of four divers on the morning of...