Advice/Opinions

[Peter Bomberg]

I have to admit I have never dove in the keys but I need to ask how do they compare to Bonaire or Saba or other places in the Caribbean?

I am looking for marine life and not wrecks, favourites, comparisons, etc are all welcome

Peter

 

[bowlofpetunias]

'Fraid I can only tell you about Florida compared to Calif, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, PNG, Indonesia trips. I found the marine life very pretty and diverse, the muck site at Blue Heron Bridge is IMHO a world class site, the shore diving is excellent. Only did 3 boat dives. I didn't find the coral formations to be nearly as pretty and complex as other tropical sites but the marine life more than made up for it in my opinion.

If I lived in your neck of the woods (which I used to in pre-diving days) I would consider Florida diving to be a great idea for ease of access, required safety measures and affordability. Not sure if that really addresses your question but thought I would throw in my.02

Safe diving

 

[PatW]

I have been diving at Utila, Roatan, Salt Cay, South Caicos, Little Cayman, Cozumel and the BVIs.

I would say that Key Largo has the best diving in the keys. It has better fish populations than any of the above. It has good coral growth and reasonably healthy reefs. The visibility is ok but not great. The fine marl bottom keeps the visibility from getting in the 100+ range all that often. The boat drive to the reefs is long so you tend to be limited to 2 dives per day. I dive the shallow reefs where it is 30 feet to the sand. Now it does have world class wreck dives in deeper water, but wrecks do not really interest me.

All around, I would say the diving is excellent and compares well if not better than most of the Caribbean.

Now, of the places listed above, I would rate Little Cayman the best.

Utila is is very good for variety of topography and for macro. It is not so good for large stuff.

My three favorite are Utila, Little Cayman and Key Largo.

Cozumel is very good but the currents, depth and 2 dives per day put me off some. I am an underwater photographer so I prefer puttering around to zooming over the reefs.

 

[iluvtheocean]

there is a large variety of marine life in the Looe Key area - and fairly shallow diving.. Looe Key Resort does 3 dives to 3 different areas of the reef and you get about an hour on each site. Their boat docks right at the resort & the tiki bar is just steps away. for a decent meal i'd either walk across the street or take the 1/2 hr drive down to key west. The keys in general have a lot of variety of life but almost all is boat dives - from Miami up to Jupiter you get shore dives & boat dives with a large variety of marine life - sharks though are more towards jupiter & west palm. Can't narrow it down w/o knowing what you're looking for & also what you want to do after a dive to eat & relax.

 

[jimw]

I live in Florida north of Blue Heron Bridge and dive there quite often. It can be an astounding shore dive! About a week ago the viz was horrible there, about 3-5 ft; and we still saw great stuff--juvenile trunkfish, seahorses and pipefish--amazing given the viz, nice dive anyway!! My sister lives in Key Largo and we dive there regularly as well. I have been to Bonaire about 20 times now and think highly of the diving there. In my opinion, Bonaire is waaaay above the FL keys and as dive vacations go, not expensive. Among other places in the Caribbean--Little Cayman is great as is Grand Turk and a few more. I have not been diving at Saba but understand it to be great as well.

We like diving the keys and love diving Bonaire and Blue Heron Bridge. Bonaire and the bridge are pretty much diveable all the time, but the keys and offshore SE Florida are not, as weather and winds will play a role.

 

[drrich2]

I've done 7 1-week trips to Bonaire over the years (well over 100 of my dives were Bonaire), most recently April '13. I've done 1 trip to Key Largo, diving with Rainbow Reef Dive Center for 5 days, getting in 20 boat dives in late Sept. '13. I loved both. Comparing Key Largo to Bonaire, some tips from me:

1.) It's boat diving rather than shore, but you can do 2 boat tips per day (with Rainbow Reef Dive Center, anyway), and get in 4 dives/day. It's not Bonaire's 24/7 anytime/any site diving, but plenty for me.

2.) Rainbow RDC puts guides in the water; I get to see more stuff.

3.) Of the 20 dives, 3 were Spiegel Grove and 1 Duane, so 4 'deep wrecks.' Lower viz. & some current, so a bit more involved than a Hilma Hooker dive; for example, you go up & down a mooring line.

4.) Key Largo reef dives tend to be shallow; whole dive might run around 20 - 40 feet deep.

5.) Whereas Bonaire sites are sloping hills, Key Largo's bottomography was, in my limited experience, mostly flat. We did one dive that was similar to the typical Bonaire reef look, and it was actually pretty deep.

6.) I agree Key Largo's reef sites seems to have more fish biomass.

7.) If you want to see fish, and have AOW, don't discount the deep wrecks. That's were you're more apt to see Goliath Grouper. If you haven't before, worth a look.

8.) Species differ; in Key Largo, I saw things I didn't in Bonaire - Atlantic Spadefish, Hogfish (though I saw Spanish hogfish in both), Grey Angelfish, Black Grouper, Goliath Grouper, 2 Nassau Grouper, Porkfish, Caribbean Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks.

9.) I saw more blue striped grunts in Key Largo, though Bonaire doesn't lack them. I saw more large barracuda in Key Largo. Also saw more big green moray eels.

10.) I saw sea cucumbers in Key Largo, but not as many as Bonaire.

11.) I saw a good deal more rays in Key Largo, and got close to some big brown ones on the sandy bottom (one I assumed was a southern, but our guide told me due to body shape, it was a ridgeback stingray).

12.) Key Largo viz. was not as good as Bonaire. I'm guessing maybe 30 - 50' vs. 75 - 100'?

13.) A few of our Key Largo dives were drift dives, though most were not. It's nice, and you're not committed to as much drift diving as you'd likely be doing in Cozumel.

14.) My dive times tended to run around 50 minutes or just over, less on the deep wrecks.

15.) To surface and re-board in Key Largo, we'd surface & grab a long line off the back of the boat, and pull ourselves to it. In the first few feet of water, there are often moon jellyfish; dinner plate-sized jelly fish with short tentacles that can sting humans. You can put them aside by the bell; I used a fin, but I'm told you can do it by hand. From what I understand, stings are painful, but not excruciating, and not usually considered dangerous. People try to avoid them, but don't seem particularly afraid of them. It adds a bit of adventure to the diving.

If you've already been to Bonaire, I'd suggest you give Key Largo a whirl up in the summer or fall when the water's warmer.

Richard.