Whom should I choose? How do I choose?

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djensen

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Messages
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Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
# of dives
200 - 499
I do realize the scope of this question... I hope to narrow down the near endless options the Keys offer.

I'm looking at coming to the Keys in June 2014 for a week. I want to dive lots. My buddy and I are experienced and we like wrecks. Deep wrecks, shallow wrecks, big wrecks, small wrecks, new wrecks, old wrecks. It looks like there's an outfitter on every corner as you drive down the keys so how do people choose one?

Can anybody simplify this for me? Can I rent a car at the Miami airport, drive to one location & have one outfitter take care of a wide variety of sites & wrecks all up and down the keys? Or does each shop have a 'turf' so to speak? How does this Wreck Trek promotion work?

Is there independent shore diving in the Keys or is it all tourist boats?

Thanks,
Darryl
 
Sure you want to go to the keys? PAlm beach county and south has a lot of wrecks and you can probably find a broader range of accomodations....
 
Interesting. Thanks Dumpster Diver. I'm not set on the Keys. I think my buddy might be. I'm up for wrecks wherever they are. I'll do some investigating in the Palm Beach area. Can you suggest some must-see dives in the region?
 
Interesting. Thanks Dumpster Diver. I'm not set on the Keys. I think my buddy might be. I'm up for wrecks wherever they are. I'll do some investigating in the Palm Beach area. Can you suggest some must-see dives in the region?

what depths do you want? You said deep etc..
 
We're both comfortable with 130'. Both comfortable with currents. Neither of us dive deco or mixed gases (beyond Nitrox). My main interest in diving is videography, so I typically look for colourful, lively, aesthetic wrecks - big or small. Historic wrecks are very cool. Aside from wrecks, we also really like independent shore diving a'la Bonaire - the freedom, independence, spontaneity. Any of that in the Palm Beach area?
 
There are no decent wrecks you can swim to. Most of the wrecks in palm beach are sunk for recreational divers.. depth is 80 to 110 or so. There are deeper ones, but those would be out of your range.

You will be stuck doing charter boats at around $55 per two tank dive, 4 hr dock to dock and maybe one wreck and one reef, unless you can arrange otherwise.

This is a video i shot this spring on one day on some local wrecks off PB in 90 and 60 feet.

[video=youtube_share;RGu2B0-VFMo]http://youtu.be/RGu2B0-VFMo[/video]
 
There are other considerations as well. Do you like cattle boats or do you prefer smaller boats? Is price a consideration? I have been on smaller boats and cattle boats. I can say that I have had good experiences on most of the boats I have been on. Another consideration is the Lauderdale by the Sea area. There are wrecks there. You could do a whole tour of the east coast :)
 
There are more wrecks off of west palm/Jupiter/Boynton/Ft. Lauderdale, but they are not historic and are sunk for rec divers. Not to say they are not beautiful because some are. Best one is probably the Castor off of Boynton which has a huge amount of orange cup coral and other growth, really nice.

The wrecks in the keys are much bigger than most of those off the East Coast. They are former navy vessels up to 500 feet long. Much more area to explore and lots of nice growth as well.

With a full week, get the best of both.

Stay near West Palm for three days and get trips to the Riverwalk wrecks, the Castor, the Zion Train/Miss Jenny/Bonaire for great goliath grouper action. You can also dive the "hole inthe wall" a very deep (135') dive on a deep reef that often has sharks and goliath groupers on it. For operators, check with Jim Abernethy Scuba Adventures, Pura Vida Divers, and, in Jupiter, Scuba Works and Jupiter Dive Center.

Then, go down to Key Largo for a few days and do the Spiegal Grove, Eagle and Duanne. All great wrecks and HUGE. Some shops offer "double dips" on the wrecks with appropriate surface intervals. There are some shallower wrecks also, along with tremendous shallow reef diving (20-40'). In Key Largo area, check with Rainbow Reef, Quiesence Diving (six packs), and Conch Republic Divers (large and small boats), all well thought of here (almost all Keys ops are very good, may people like Ocean Divers as well).
 
I dive in WPB and Jupiter a lot since that is where I live but also go to the Keys as often as possible (2-3 times per year). Generally speaking, all shops have defined ranges, meaning that Key Largo based dive opsrators dive in the Key Largo area, Marathon operators stay in that area and Key West dive boats stay in Key West. If you want to dive in multiple areas you'll use different operators. Sometimes a liveaboard like the MV Spree arranges a Wreck Trek trip: check their online schedule to see what they have going in June.

In the keys, I like diving Key Largo/Islamorada the best: you'll find several deeper wrecks, a few shallow wrecks (mostly broken up), shallow reefs and a few deeper reefs . I tend to use Conch Republic becauae I like their boats , people and location of the shop. They can easily get to the sites I like in Key Largo quickly.

There is no real beach diving in the keys and a rental car wil make life easier. Both Miami and Ft Lauderdale airports work well.
 
Interesting to me you mentioned driving from Miami in an example, since from what I've read the Miami area is known for wreck diving. The Florida Keys have wrecks, but are known for the shallow reef diving and abundant life.

I did one week in Key Largo last September, Dove with Rainbow Reef Dive Center, because they're reputable, go out twice per day so I could get in 4 dives/day total, and put a guide in the water at no added charge. Enjoyed it.

Did 20 dives in 5 days. I used my AOW card so I'd get in on some wreck diving. The pattern was like this:

Morning: Might be 1 or 2 wreck dives followed by a reef dive, or maybe both dives reef.
Afternoon: 2 Reef dives.

If memory serves, out of 20 dives, I got 3 on the Spiegel Grove, 1 on the Duane and 2 on the Benwood (which is mainly wreckage more than wreck at this point).

When you say you guys like wreck, does that mean you want some wrecks mixed in with your reef diving, or that you mainly or nearly exclusively want to dive wrecks?

Richard.
 
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