Dry Tortugas, Marquesas Key or Key West?

[Drvngcrzy]

I may be heading to Key West in May and am trying to find more info on day trips to either Dry Tortugas or Marquesas Key. Can you do them on a day trip or is a live aboard necessary?

If that wont work, I know diving in Key West is not the best, is it worth driving back up to a better location for a day dive? How far would I have to drive? Is it that the diving further up is that much better or is the diving in Key West just not good?

We are going to be with a non-diving couple, so Key west is definitely where we will stay, just trying to find the best diving option for us.

Also, any suggestions for dive operators in Key West or the other Key I would have to drive up to for the better diving would be great.

Also thinking about deep sea fishing. Any good ones out of Key West that you would suggest?

How about relatively hotels with a pool in Key West?

I know some of this is covered, I have searched through the forums and the Keys Guide as well. Just trying to plan out my trip to make the best trip possible.

Thanks!

 

[Jupiter31]

I'll do my best to help you with the caution that others may post more up to date info. That said, I've been to Key West many times.

There are trips to the Dry Tortugas; however they are not dive oriented; snorkle, look at Ft Jefferson, etc - might not be a bad trip especially since you are traveling with a non diving couple.

Most of the diving in that area (its not close to Key west; 80 or so miles away???) is via private charters which are multi day afffairs - not feasable for you this time as you are not going to want to be on a liveaboard for 4 days. As always, you could Google, but any of the diving in KW is "local" and you are not going to go out on a day charter to the Dry Tortugas, but google to see what you come up with.

Same for the Marquesas; I'm unaware of any scheduled trips.

I have not dove KW in years; someone else, or the search function will have to assist you there with specific operators -

I can tell you the diving elsewhere in the Keys - like Key Largo and Islamorada - is better; however KW is likely to be much better than anywhere in Ohio! But as its about a 200 mile round trip between KW and KL, on a 2 lane road with a low speed limit for much of the trip, its not real feasable IMO.

However, you could dive Looe Key, pretty close to KW, which is an excellent site and worth a couple of dives.

If you are a serious fisherman, one of the best is Ralph Delph - again, google for the website - but there are also much cheaper options in numerous "head boats" - bottom fishing; charge less than $75 a head.

Can't help you on hotels except to say in KW they tend to be expensive, however with the current recession, you may find some relative bargins. One gentle reminder if you want to go the "guesthouse" or B&B route vs a chain hotel - many of these cater to a male cliental - if this could be an issue with you, ASK!

Take the ferry to the Dry Tortugas, do some local diving, and enjoy KW, one of the most unique places in America.

 

[Buoyant1]

What Jupiter said....The Dry Tortugas is a great day trip, but not diving related at all. (shame that they don't have a day dive trip out there though) I've been out a few times and it's really good snorkeling, and if you are a history buff, it's top notch!

Can't say much for the Marquesas, I know they're there, but not aware of many dive trips over there.

I've used Captains Corner for diving and never had a bad experience with them.

http://www.captainscorner.com/Default.htm

I also agree that taking a trip a little further up and going out to Looe Key is the better option, the reefs off of Key West are tired, and not quite as lush as some of the more protected areas further up the Keys, I don't have a good recommendation for that area though. I've on;y heard a lot about that area about 20-30 miles up (I know Key West, Marathon, and Key Largo, but not the area between, KW and Marathon...well yet!)


I also can't comment on accomodations there, since when we DID stay in KW we stayed with a friend.

Have fun!

 

[cyberfed]

Anyone interested in setting up a dive trip for a weekend to the tortugas?

 

[SFLDiver3445]

I've done many fishing/diving/spearfishing trips to Dry Tortugas and the surrounding areas, going back as far as 30+ years ago. Infact, I'm scheduled to go out there on a livaboard trip the first week in June, where we'll be diving several deep wrecks in the 175' to 250' range for 5 days straight.

Unfortunately, because of the distance from Key West, you are going to have diffuculty finding a boat to take you out there for a day trip. You may be able to hire a boat to take you out to the Marquesas, and maybe Tortugas, but it probably won't be cheap. The diving is nice, especially in Dry Tortugas, but if time is a problem, don't kill yourself trying to get out there, becuase you'll enjoy the diving in the Keys just as much.

I've done several trips aboard the Playmate (Florida Keys Liveaboard Adventures: Dry Tortugas Diving, Kayaking & Much More.), but they have all been 3 and 4 day trips. They are the best operation for Tortugas trips. They may be able to help you, because I did notice on their diving page (diving Florida Keys coral reef & wrecks) they do make reference to a 28 ft dive boat they have as well that can take you out to the Marquesas, but at the least, they may be able to offer you a suggestion, because they've been at it for a long time and they're real pros, and friendly too. So I'd try giving them a call.

As others have suggested, if you don't want to spend big bucks to do diving in the Marquesas/Tortugas, simply dive Key West or Looe Key, which is not bad, it's just not as nice as Key Largo, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it nonetheless.

Other than that, you may just want to enjoy a daytrip to Dry Tortugas. I think they currently have more than one way to get there:

Dry Tortugas National Park | Fort Jefferson Key West Ferry | Yankee Freedom

Dry Tortugas National Park Ferry to Fort Jefferson, Key West Florida

If you haven't been there, it's certainly a great way to spend a day!

Enjoy!

Adrian

 

[mike_s]

You can also fly to Fort Jefferson.

There is a scheduled daily tourist seaplane service that takes you to the Ft. Gets you there earlier before the crowds do

http://www.seaplanesofkeywest.com/


Also, another liveboard to consider is the Ultimate Getaway. They do trips about every week in season.

Dry Tortugas Diving liveaboard, The Ultimate Getaway. Dive the Dry Tortugas or customize a trip out of Ft. Myers Florida.


One of the Flower Gardens boats comes over sometime and does Tortuga trips... can't remmeber which one.

 

[siegelreptiles]

hey Adrian

whats a 4 day dive trip on the playmate cost?---will they let you fish and dive?--Been fishing on andy grifiths and with yuri several times. This sounds like it might be a hoot to mix diving and fishing.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

hey Adrian

whats a 4 day dive trip on the playmate cost?---will they let you fish and dive?--Been fishing on andy grifiths and with yuri several times. This sounds like it might be a hoot to mix diving and fishing.

It's been a while since I've been on their charter, but I believe they're in the ballpark of $2600/day for the boat, and the boat will hold up to 11 divers. They're normal routine is to exclusively charter the entire boat, as I suspect the Grifith fleet does. I've never been on the Andy Grifith boats, but the buddies I always went with had previously gone on on those, but ultimately decided to pay more for Seaclusive Charters, because they always said it was a nicer boat and a higher-end operation.

Diving/Fishing - Yep! We always spearfished all day, then anchored and fished all night. And btw, if spearfishing is you're thing, Captain Bob is the best spearfishing Captain I've ever seen!

The trip I'm doing in June is aboard the Spree, which is a larger livaboard vessel. However, we are not going on their standard trip, because the person who organized our trip, Michael Barnett, is a shipwreck book author and founder of The Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE: ASSOCIATION OF UNDERWATER EXPLORERS). Mike chartered the whole boat and is doing it as a rebreather only deep wreck diving trip. I'm hoping to get some great photos of some of the deep wrecks that few folks ever dive - Should be awesome!

 

[siegelreptiles]

with that many spearfisherman in the water--sharks ever a big problem?

 

[SFLDiver3445]

with that many spearfisherman in the water--sharks ever a big problem?

Nope, I've done an enourmous amount of spearfishing in the Tortugas area, and sharks have never been a problem. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of sharks, other than Nurse Sharks of course, that I've seen in that area.