Key Largo best for Fish

[waynel]

Just got back from Belize. We've been to Cozumel several times as well. But every time I take those Caribbean trips I realize all over again why we take at least one trip each year to Key Larog. It's the fish! Yes Coz and Belize have 100' viz and drift dives and deep beautiful formations...but they don't come close the number of schooling fish species. The dive guides (which are required) actually get excited and point if they see a Parrotfish. My daughter to this day remembers doing her OW check out dives in Key Largo and was almost "run over" by a school of about a dozen Parrotfish, many of them 3' long. I have been swarmed by massive schools of grunts and angelfish many times in Key Largo. Not so elsewhere. Probably why I have to take several 4g memory cards and recharagable camera batteries with me to Key Largo.

And yes, we should be doing everything we can to protect our reefs in the Keys. Absolutely. But folks, we seem to be doing a better job on our shallow reef preservation than Coz or Belize. I know, I know, they will always point to the hurricanes as the problem. Baloney, it's dive guides reluctance to "fuss" at divers who stand on and pound the reefs. I've had more than one guide in both those places confess that their bosses don't want customers to feel bad. They always give the pre-dive lecture but won't call someone out for killing the reef. I have seen guides in Key Largo do very stern post dive lectures to the point of threatening to pull the second dive from a reef killer. Thank God.

Anyway, we'll keep diving the Carib, but we will never do so at the expense of missing our annual Key Largo trip.

 

[fisheyeview]

Glad you enjoy it down here.

I have heard the same thing from guides in Caribbean destinations. It's then that I have no problem ripping the customer a new one, and my wife take pleasure in doing it. This saves the guides the problems, and hopefully gets the point across. I figure what the hell, I'm never going to see this A-Hole again (hopefully).

 

[waynel]

Yep. I will always say something to someone doing that. If it's accidental, I simple point it out to them. If it's on purpose, then we'll have a problem.

 

[scubadada]

I have about 300 dives in the Caribbean and Hawaii and about 100 dives in Key Largo. I love my dives in Grand Cayman, Bonaire, Cozumel, and Turks & Caicos but I keep retuning to Key Largo for several reasons. It's easy to get there, it's relatively inexpensive, I have good friends at my dive operatiion, but, most of all, the wrecks of the Duane and the Spiegel Grove are fantastic and the fish on Molasses and French Reefs are continually amazing. I've seen my only Hammerhead on Molasses Reef and the density of "normal" reef fish always exceeds my expectations.

Do yourself a favor, try diving the US on one of your next trips, you won't be sorry you did.

Good diving, Craig

 

[deeper thoughts]

The fish life here is amazing!

 

[jukes23]

I agree with all of the comments above. Every year we talk about taking dive trips furth south in the keys, but always go to Key Largo. What I really like is the diversity of the spots and things to see, in such a short distance from each other. You can go from one spot to the next, it can only be a mile or so away, and its completely different. not just the sea life but the ledge formations and what not.
As far as people damaging the or deliberately touching the reef, that is a shame. Sometimes you are to close and the current pushes you into it, that is one thing. However, to just touch things, that is just really stupid. Corals not only die easily, but can defend themselves... We dove the Largo Dry Rocks where the Christ statue is. Everybody going there is told that the statue is covered in fire coral. It was funny to watch idiot snorklers dive down and touch the hands and the head then jerk away. Nature can fight back!

 

[fisheyeview]

I agree with all of the comments above. Every year we talk about taking dive trips furth south in the keys, but always go to Key Largo. What I really like is the diversity of the spots and things to see, in such a short distance from each other. You can go from one spot to the next, it can only be a mile or so away, and its completely different. not just the sea life but the ledge formations and what not.
As far as people damaging the or deliberately touching the reef, that is a shame. Sometimes you are to close and the current pushes you into it, that is one thing. However, to just touch things, that is just really stupid. Corals not only die easily, but can defend themselves... We dove the Largo Dry Rocks where the Christ statue is. Everybody going there is told that the statue is covered in fire coral. It was funny to watch idiot snorklers dive down and touch the hands and the head then jerk away. Nature can fight back!

I used to tell the tourists that it was good luck to hug the statue.

 

[deeper thoughts]

I used to tell the tourists that it was good luck to hug the statue.

 

[Red_5]

Molasses reef has always been a good place for flora and fauna when I've been there.
and yeah, it sees a lot of visitors, and the novelty can wear off over time if the boat always goes there, but it delivers.

 

[fisheyeview]

Molasses reef has always been a good place for flora and fauna when I've been there.
and yeah, it sees a lot of visitors, and the novelty can wear off over time if the boat always goes there, but it delivers.

I love Molasses reef. I can always find something to shoot there. I will admit though that when I was doing a lot of classes I was doing 200 plus dives a year, and over half of them were on Molasses. There were weekends where I would do 8 dives there.