Key Largo - 6 pack or Private Charter

[LynnOnTheWeb]

We’re heading to Miami in a few weeks and would like to head down to Key Largo for a couple of dives. We’re not interested in being on a boat with 20+ people.

Does anyone have recommendations for an operation that either does 6 packs or a private charter?

This will also be my first dive with a new (and my first full set-up) UW camera rig, any tips for some good dive locations? While I would of course love to have great things to photograph, on this particular trip I’m aiming for an easy dive where I can linger to focus on technique and learning to use the new setup.

Thanks!

 

[Hoyden]

Home | Quiescence Diving Services, Inc. Quiescence runs a 6 pack.

 

[LynnOnTheWeb]

Thanks @Hoyden !

Looks like they are not doing six packs still because of Covid but we went ahead and booked a private charter with them. Appreciate the information!

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Thanks @Hoyden !

Looks like they are not doing six packs still because of Covid but we went ahead and booked a private charter with them. Appreciate the information!

Did a private charter with them back at the end of March and it was a good day out, which coming from someone who would typically rather drive 2x the distance north for diving is high praise. We got to have a say in what sites we hit.

As far as an easy dive to practice photography on, we hit French Reef on our day. Navigating it is tricky (I believe the saying is "If you haven't gotten lost on French Reef, you haven't dove it"), but unlike Molasses there's still a lot of intact coral. Pickles Reef also used to be nice back in the day, but it's been probably close to 15 years since I was out there. Others with more recent experience in the area might chime in there.

 

[Skeptic14]

My favorites from trips the past two years have been:

Davis, Davey Crocker, Pickles, snapper ledge and Molasses.

All are great for working uw photography skills because they're shallow (long dive) and typically have tons of subjects.

Davis and snapper ledge seemed to have the most schools of fish to shoot. Davey Crocker had tons of eels and sharks, pickles seemed to have some decent shark activity too. Molasses had the best reef topology, swim throughs, fans, coral and sponges.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Molasses has way better coral than French IMO.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Molasses has way better coral than French IMO.

You must have been in a different area of Molasses than me then. Last two times I've been there I found hardly any live scleractinian coral; French at least still had quite a few big heads left. Molasses did have a lot of soft octocorals like sea fans that look good in photos, but for someone who remembers what it was like 10-15 years ago they look like flowers on a grave.

 

[LynnOnTheWeb]

Thanks for these recommendations! I'm going to keep this list with me as a reference when talking to the DM and captain.

 

[Hoyden]

If you get a chance to do a night dive, Snapper Ledge is a very cool night dive.

 

[VsubT]

For operators in Key Largo, check out Island Ventures too. They're still operating as 1/2 day charters the last I heard, but they've reduced their charter rate to something reasonable for 5-6 people on a boat that can easily take double that amount. Good people, and very competent captains.

For photography sites, a lot of the reef is still recovering from Irma. I heard a couple from the mid-west who dive a lot in the Caribbean describe it recently as "very beige", and they weren't wrong for the site we dove that day. Two productive photography spots that are still in reasonable shape are the Benwood wreck and Christmas Tree Cave (part of French Reef).

The Benwood always has stuff hanging around it, and it's a great night dive too. Love the midnight parrotfish school / biker gang that bombs by often, plus there are goliath grouper that lurk around the edges of the ship. Seems like there are always turtles hanging out near the bow and lots of parrotfish bedded down in the spaces between the ship's structural ribs at night.

We found a big school of glass fish inside the cave at Christmas Tree, definitely worth some video and fun to try motion blur / longer exposures while the school is moving fast. You'll want at least a decent video light to shoot inside the cave, and preferably a strobe too. Nice, big colonies of christmas tree worms above & around the cave won't disappoint for macro.

Hope this helps - have a fun trip!

Lance