I'm heading to the area the week before Christmas.   I'm actually staying on the water in Alabama, but the drive is no big deal. 16th through the 23rd. I'm going to look for a charter to do the O during that week, and have so far been told that if the weather is good to go, and enough people want to go, they'll be down for a trip.   Some others said they'd possibly be down for the same, so this is a thread for that, so we don't hijack Marie's thread any further.  

I'm open to charter suggestions. I have no real preference on the day we go.  From what I understand, some charters are rec only, and some are ok doing mixed rides with some guys doing 1 long tech dive, others doing 2 shorter single tank dives.   Mixed works for me. I'm open to suggestions on anything.

Looking forward at how my doctor's appointments are going to fall that month it looks like the 19th, 20th, and 21st would probably be the ideal days for me. The other days around that time frame are possible but not necessarily ideal.

As far as the charter type goes I'm generally pretty flexible but I'd prefer to do a mixed ride. I'd rather get one good long solid dive with some deco obligation rather than a couple of shorter dives but that's me.

Count me out. I'd rather do the O when I've got a lot more training and can get some decent bottom time on her.

I'd prefer a mixed ride too. For the same reason.

Well crap, December is not doable for me due to work. I must have pegged on the January mentioned in the other thread.

This would be awesome but me getting off any during the week just isn't going to happen. Its also a good 9-10 hours of driving for me. Its defiantly in my future but I will sadly have to sit it out this time.

Just found the Scuba sub on arfcom - awesome!

A cpl yrs ago I tried to join a tour operator run (vs a charter) in February and they canceled morning of the dive due to weather. I was passing thru Pensacola on business so couldn't wait for them to man-up ().

Observations:
1. The trip is long, so boat speed is good
2. If some divers are inexperiened / truly "recreational," they may have issues with a long run over open sea, and be dangerously fatigued by the time you are onsite
3. Per #2 above, if you dive gas / rebreather, the rec divers may get sick / fatigured during their interval
4. After the O was reefed, she settled (maybe a storm helped?) and the deck was below rec limits IIRC. You may want to let Irma et al pass before you know if a rec diver will even have stuff to see. Meaning, if you have all gas divers but only one on air, who will buddy with the single diver limited to exploring the tower?