The Good Guys

[Miss Roxy Chablis]

Ended up a bit emroiled in poor old Nigel's thread about his lousy day out so I thought on a more positive note - it would be good to talk about the skippers I've been out with who I've found to be really good:

Dover: Dave Batchelor - Neptune
Terrific, quiet guy - hugely experienced with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Dover area gained from being a really active diver himself. Difficult diving in the busiest shipping lane in the world means you need a good man in your corner and he's just that. Nice big boat and you can park close by for loading

Eastbourne: Dave & Sylvia Ronan - Dive 125
The Dave & Sylvia show: more bickering than Garf and Gloc - but they both mean well and clearly love their boat and their diving. Huge dive deck with a compressor and Nitrox on board which is dead handy.

Brighton: Steve Johnson - Channel Diver
Another calm hugely experienced skipper who's always very booked up Virtually brand new, big boat which serves as an ideal platform for doing the offshore mix wrecks and stuff on the French side of the channel. Use him a lot and he's always spot on.

Swanage: Martin Jones - Mary Jo
Really nice guy - runs a shuttle service out to the Kyarra and other wrecks in the Swanage area. Very calm and easy to get on with and always good for a late in the day booking.

Weymouth: Smudge & Helena - Scimitar
Newish skipper - but an experienced diver - well liked by everyone I know and already has a big reputation amongst YDers with good reason. Really goes out of his way to keep you happy and theres a constant stream of hot drinks and good grub. Moving to Portland next year and taking over one of the Dive Dorset boats - so expect even more of the same

Weymouth: Grahame Knott - Wey Chieftain & Lamlash
Charming, wise and hugely experienced with a big reputation amongst serious UK technical teams as an exploration skipper bar none. Recently sold Wey Chieftain 3 and is currently finishing off Wey Chieftain 4 his new charter boat (he builds dive boats over the winter) which should be in the water for the 2008 season? Now owns Lamlash, a large fleet tender, which he bought to move more into serious offshore exploration. Always skippers the DIR-UK boat and is very much in demand (when he hasn't done his back in )

Portland: Fathom & Blues
A fleet of 5 fast RHIBS - all with great skippers like Pete, Andy & Ron. I've used them a lot this year for PADI training and they're always very accomodating and helpful. The boats have huge outboards which on a calm day is always fun. Very pleasant cafe overlooking Portland harbour and a good fill station. Great for fitting a last minute dive in when everyone else is booked up and convenient parking onsite right next to the boats

Plymouth: Steve Wright - Seeker
Another hugely experienced guy - he skippered Loyal Watcher (top offshore expedition vessel) for about 5 years and is carving out a good niche for himself doing the deeper stuff out of Plymouth. In spite of all his experience - he still manages to look about 16 and has a teenagers sense of humour to go with it. Well liked by the South West Mafia deep mix crowd and finding and naming a lot of new wrecks just now to further add to his reputation. Not the greatest boat - a little cramped - but he definitely makes the best of it

Plymouth: Dougie Allen - Aquanaut
You either love him or hate him - I love him - but he doesn't suffer fools gladly (God knows how I slipped under the wire) Aquanaut is a bit of an old tub, but he always feeds you well and puts safety first. Good choice for Plymouth inshore stuff.

Scapa Flow: Hazel & Helen - Valkyrie
Lovely roomy boat that they clearly take a lot of pride in. Diver lift which is a huge bonus on these tall sided ex fishing vessels where a ladder is the norm. Good food, trimix onboard with boosters, you wouldn't want to cross Hazel - but I don't think you'd ever have to

Just my experiences - would be nice if others added their own recommendations to this list to help people who are just starting to use dive boats for the first time. Not by any means definitive - for instance Dave Wendes on Wight Spirit has a fantastic reputation - but I've never used him (hope to rectify that next year) so I can't speak from first hand experience.

Also would be nice to get peoples recomendations from other areas of the country.

Just good rather than bad experiences please

[ratcliffe]

My slightly more limited experiences:

Plymouth - Glenn Lindsey - Maid Maggie II. Definitely recommended. Good skipper, used to run the original Maid Maggie

Portland - Dive Dorset Chater boats - Various skippers, all do a pretty decent job in my experiences.

Brighton - Paul ? - Brighton Diver. Again, nice and simple, did a good job. No problems.


Personally I haven't had a bad skipper, so I guess I have been lucky.

[TerryH]

Only have three I use, that I would recommend and have a very short list
of one that I wont ever, ever again.

Weymouth - Phil Corbin / Tango
West Wight (Lymington) - Dave Wendes / Wight Spirit
East Wight (Gosport) - Lee Hall / Trojan

As a rough guess I must have booked well over 100 club dates on
these boats over the last 4 years, so there is a lot of money to be
made by being the best and keeping in with your clients.

No.1 on the bad boy list goes out of Weymouth as well.
PM me if you want the name of the bad boy.

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by TerryH

No.1 on the bad boy list goes out of Weymouth as well.
PM me if you want the name of the bad boy.

Hmm,

Eastbourne: dive 125
Lymington: Wight spirit
Weymouth: Knotty, Smudge. Used to use Woody as well but haven't been on his boat for years and years. No particular reason though. Just tried other people. . .
Littlehampton: Not dived there for a few years but used to use Voyager and DS9

EDIT:
Penzance: Pamela P
Newquay: Atlantic Diver (although haven't used the new boat, only the old one) But i really hate that side lift thingy!


Come on Terry. . . Give us a clue then!!

[Stesh]

Newcastle, Tyne - Alan Lopez - Spellbinder II

For being a top bloke and not his fashion sense



Seahouses, Farnes Islands - William Shiel - Glad Tidings

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by ratcliffe

Brighton - Paul ? - Brighton Diver. Again, nice and simple, did a good job. No problems.

Paul Dyer. Good skipper - he knows his stuff, for sure.
I am never sure about Dive Dorset. It has been a bit hit and miss in the past, but things may become more stable with Smudge over there.
Portsmouth - Wight Diver. Run in conjunction with TDC, skippered by Steve. Nice big boat, plenty of space.

[big_si]

Originally Posted by ratcliffe

Brighton - Paul DYER - Brighton Diver. Again, nice and simple, did a good job. No problems.

Yep, I've had a good time with Paul out of Brighton too. More commonly use Steve Johnson on Channel Diver though.

I'd agree completely with Howard on

Dave on Neptune - Dover
Martin on Mary Jo - Swanage
Smudge and Helena on Scimitar - Weymouth
The Dive Dorset setup (soon to be Scimitar territory) on Portland
and of course Hazel and Helen on Valkyrie in Scapa!

Like Ratty I've not had a BAD service but these have been my best

[Miss Roxy Chablis]

I've never had a bad experience with the Dive Dorset mob - but as they're moving out of the dive boat game - it seemed to make more sense to talk about smudge. Forgot Paul out of Brighton - sorry - he's a good guy as well - massive new boat - could really use a bigger cabin?

[Clare Gledhill]

I'd agree with most of your nominees Howard

I'd add Skin Deeper out of Weymouth and also Woody - he's a character and I know that one or two have had interesting times on his boat but the times I've been out with him I haven't been able to fault him (although the language is bed enough to make a navvy blush).

[The Duck]

No new additions but a whole hearted endorsement of:

Smudge & Helena - Scimitar Diving
Hazel & Helen - MV Valkyrie