Key Largo shops/diving

[DESIGNERDIVER]

Thanks - more good press for Silent World!

Awesome! I just spoke to them as well...............you probably spoke with chris..he is the owner and very very knowledgeable and acomodating!! good luck!

 

[herman]

I just got back from diving with Silent World, nice boats and crew except for this one DM who gave me a hard time about my reg.....I like my yellow hoses. (lets see if she shows up to defend herself. ) About 12 or so is their max per boat. I would also recommend Island Ventures. I have used them on several trips and would have this trip except they were booked full. You can't go wrong with either op.

 

[Jupiter31]

If you are looking for a smaller boat (a six pack), you cannot go wrong with HMS Minnow.

Located right behind Holiday Inn in Key Largo.

Another excellent operator is Conch Republic located a little farther south in Taverner. Not a six pack but excellent service.

If you have 5 divers, on a smaller boat you basically can decide where you are going to dive. Suggest you take a serious look at HMS Minnow.

 

[F106A]

If you are looking for a smaller boat (a six pack), you cannot go wrong with HMS Minnow.

Located right behind Holiday Inn in Key Largo.

Another excellent operator is Conch Republic located a little farther south in Taverner. Not a six pack but excellent service.

If you have 5 divers, on a smaller boat you basically can decide where you are going to dive. Suggest you take a serious look at HMS Minnow.

Five divers: You wanna have first choice of sites, quick transport there, and don't want the BS mentioned about some of the other ops, then Minnow is the only choice.

 

[mike_s]

Amoray is also a cattle boat and will book snorklers as well (except on Speigel or Duane Trips). (Same type boat as Horizon).

.

I've seen one of Amoray's "cattle boats" and I can agree. There had to be 50 people on that boat. (divers and snorklers both).

I think they were headed up to a site that would support both, like Christ of the Abyss.

I snapped a pic of their boat just because I couldn't believe how many people where on it....

 

[AZdiver1279]

I've seen one of Amoray's "cattle boats" and I can agree. There had to be 50 people on that boat. (divers and snorklers both).

I think they were headed up to a site that would support both, like Christ of the Abyss.

I snapped a pic of their boat just because I couldn't believe how many people where on it....

Thanks! Valuable information!

Seems to be a fairly consistant evaluation of Amoray and Horizon in this thread.

Since we're not local I want to thank everyone for being our eyes and ears.....I would hate to go all the way to Florida for a relaxing weekend of diving and get stuck with a couple dozen snorklers - not that I have anything against snorklers

Seems like Conch and Silent world are favs down there! I never heard of HMS Minnow, I'll look them up.

Take care!

 

[AZdiver1279]

Awesome! I just spoke to them as well...............you probably spoke with chris..he is the owner and very very knowledgeable and acomodating!! good luck!

If he's the one with the british accent then yes he's the one I spoke to. Very polite and put up with my plethora of questions.

The lady I spoke to at Conch was helpful too.

Take care!

 

[AZdiver1279]

No worries, Rainbow Reef is known for catering to newer divers and there's a place in the world for those operators that do.

Also, I'm not sure what you meant by this "also looking at Scuba Do but I'm not sure about their entries and exits-seems time consumning"

With five divers, you would pretty much take over any six-pack boat. Good six-packs are HMS Minnow and I've been hearing good reviews on Garden Cove Divers in northern Key Largo as well. You also have enough divers for any of the bigger boats to run as well.

Based on where you are staying, Conch is an easy choice as they are close by and can run as far north as the Spiegel Grove (maybe further?) but I personally like to shorten the boat ride if I can. Conch does the Eagle and the Duane and has some great reef sites like Crocker, Davis, Davey Crocker, Snapper Ledge, and Secret Garden.

Conversely, for the Spiegel, Molasses, French, and points north, I'd probably choose Silent World Key Largo (if I wasn't using one of the six-pack boats).

Sorry, I didn't answer your question about Scuba-do, they mentioned (on their website) something about sitting down on the dive platform and they bring your gear to you.

No walking around on the boat with your gear on your back I guess.

Not a bad idea but I was just thinking that would take longer to get everyone in the water.

Didn't know if anyone dove with them and could shed light on this???????

 

[Scuba Ape]

We dove with Silent World in Sept and just book another couple of days with them at end of this month. Good operation.

 

[Mark GH2O]

Conch Republic is real close to Ocean Pointe and they are a very good operation.
I am heading down March 15th supporting both places for the week! The six pack
boats are nice if there is no wind. If there is, I have come to appreciate the larger
boats.

Mark