North America Dive Operators

Ft. Myers, Florida - "Ultimate Getaway"

Dive Operator Snapshot

 A wonderful adventure for advanced open water divers!

The Ultimate Getaway is a 100' long aluminum live aboard dive vessel with its own air compressor system which can also deliver Nitrox.  Bunks and showers are below deck in an air conditioned area.  Each bunk has a privacy curtain.  This is a bunk house style accommodations so don't expect private cruise ship quarters.  But that's okay, the only time you will be below is to sleep.  Top side interior is the air conditioned galley with a long and short table.  The grub was good although not really 5 Star.

Outside under a spacious awning is dive HQ.  There are 4 benches designed to accommodate 20+ divers.  Although there are more spaces on deck for divers, there is bunk space available for only 20.  Once you load your gear on board you select a spot on the dive benches and set up your BC & Reg with one of their takes. That is the last time you will have to do this during your adventure.  Nitrox divers get a green tag attached to their tanks.  At the end of a dive you disconnect your reg from the tank, but leave your BC tank combination bungied to your seat.  The crew comes along, fills your tank, tests the Nitrox mix, marks your green tag, and then reattaches your reg.  You are now ready for your next dive.  You just gotta love it.

Typical entry into the water is off either port or starboard side with a giant stride.  Return is by way of the dive deck at the stern.

The Ultimate Getaway is not a new, fancy, polished ship.  But it is kept clean and servicable.

The Food:  Alright, I said the food is not 5 Star.  That's because I've eaten in a few 5 Star restaurants and know the difference.  That being said, the food was very good.  Not a single complaint from anyone on the trip I took.  Additionally the cook brought out a variety of after the dive snacks that put to shame the typical orange slices one gets on a normal dive boat.

The Diving:  Our trip was in August and that meant lobster season.  So, what is the main thing you do on the dives?  Lobstering and spear fishing!  Here is how a typical dive works:  You suit up, get briefed, grab your gun, stinger, and bag, and then step off into the Gulf.  You will find yourself on some type of reef or another.  Almost every dive was good, and some were spectacular. 

I loved the Pinnacle.  This giant coral mound came off the sea floor in about 85' of water and towered upwards to 40' high.  Fish of all sorts and sizes.  Absolutely beautiful!  One of my top 10 ever dives!  So, after you have sucked down your air, I would make a slow ascent and at about 40' I would pop out my Scubahawk Flat Reel with Safety sausage.  One puff of air into the sausage and up to the surface it went with me playing out line from the Flat Reel.  Now it was simply to slowly wind the line back onto the reel and make a slow ascent with the mandatory 3 minute safety stop.  Typically my bright orange sausage would have been on the surface for about 4-5 minutes before I pop up. By then the Ultimate Getaway skipper typically had maneuvered the boat close enough for my dive buddy and I to swim over to the dive platform and exit the water.  There was always a crew member there to take our guns, fish, lobsters, and fins.

We also had a dive on the Baja California.  Follow the links at left to read this review.  Let's just say it was a great dive running the barracuda blockade and swimming 100' down with the biggest goliath groupers I have ever seen!

Trips End;  At the end of the trip the crew cleans your fish and lobsters sending you home with baggies of good eats!

The trip was definitely 5 Star fun.  The crew was 5 Star.  The boat is showing its age a little so I just couldn't give it a perfect 5 Stars.
 

http://www.ultimategetaway.net/

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