While this is a group excursion, the boat is spacious and even with 54 patrons aboard, it did not feel overly crowded. There are plenty of places to sit and have some peaceful time en route to the reef.
The transit time from the marina to the first dive site is about 2 hours -- during that period, they give a 30 minute presentation on the various types of coral, fish and mollusks that you might see while diving. Another portion of the trip is spent getting fit with a 'stinger suit' (a full body suit to protect against jellyfish) and with your fins and snorkel. A short presentation is given on how to fit the mask to your face and how to use the snorkel. They encourage those with no experience snorkeling to use a pool noodle as an added safety measure but you don't need to do so if you want to go under water. I didn't use one but I was also quite tired by the time the 45 or 50 minute dive was over -- treading water and paddling for that long isn't something that most people do, ever.
Once you arrive at the site, it is fairly orderly with everyone getting into the water -- and there is obviously plenty of room to spread out in the water so you will seldom find yourself with anyone except the people you want to spend time snorkeling with. The water is a bit deeper than I expected and required about 8 feet of paddling down to reach the coral but you can still see all of it from the surface with your face in the water, just not as close.
I can't comment on the second dive site as there was a medical emergency with a passenger during the first dive and we needed to depart back to port without visiting the second site. The man appeared to have recovered by the time we reached port but obviously we weren't in a position to chance it and stay out at sea. Apparently on calmer days with less wind, they can send a helicopter out for rescues but the day we sailed was too windy. It should be noted that Sailaway did the right thing and fully refunded our fare -- this is very good customer service and they should be commended for trying to make a somewhat lousy situation sit well with their patrons.
The staff aboard the boat was welcoming, friendly, and periodically checked in to see if we needed any food or drink.
There was food galore on the boat but no one in our group ate anything -- the seas were high and while no one got actively sick, we were all too worried to risk eating anything. Too bad because it all looked good.
I highly recommend Sailaway -- a very professional operation!