Best SCUBA dive shop/crew in Key West?

[caymaniac]

I'll happily disagree with you, of course I live here, so I get to dive where the dive shops won't take you. Which is good, because the out of the way diving is awesome.

I would like to disagree with me too....does this mean if I come to dive at Key West you'd show me some great diving?

 

[Wookie]

I would like to disagree with me too....does this mean if I come to dive at Key West you'd show me some great diving?

I'd take you out to the Tortugas and show you some of the best diving and healthiest reefs in the Caribbean. If you want to know where the great diving is in Key West, look west. Off of Sand Key is an offshore "hump" that runs from Sand Key to Vestal Shoal. Visibility is usually in the 75-150 foot range, and it's usually washed by mild currents. Any diving on the reef front from Vestal Shoal west to Tail End is also excellent, and gets very little diver pressure.

The major problem with Key West diving is that we love's our cruise ships. We like to dredge our channel, and then have 2 or 3 cruise ships come in each day to stir up the bottom again. All of that silty outflow serves to smother the reefs and muck up the vis. If you can get west of the main ship channel, the diving is spectacular, and only private boats go there. We used to finish our trips drift diving those very reefs. Then they sunk the Vandenberg. Now everyone wants to dive the Vandenberg on the last day, so we no longer make those dives.

I'd love to hook you up with an operator that will take you there. Md Spear posted a video last year of that offshore lump on ScubaBoard. It was nifty.