I think its a good thing as a reference for people, so I've decided to post my first experience at the Keys.
http://www.diveflakeys.com/
I called Looe Key dive resort at 4/22/06 - 12:00PM, asked for a dive on Sunday and a room for the night so I won't be too tired to dive, they were polite over the phone, took a credit card and asked if I'll get there after 9:00PM, I said I hope I'll be there and they said I should call if I'm late so they'll have someone waiting for me.
I told them I will need only one tank as I have my 2 tanks, they said its not necessary for me to bring my tanks because the tanks are included in the dive (3 tanker).
The room was ~$120
Got my stuff, loaded the car and headed to the Keys, other than annoying amount of sail boats that kept the bridges open on the way everything went smooth. I got there, registered, got the key to my room and someone showed me to the room.
A few minutes after I got hungry so I went back to the reception (which is also the dive shop), and asked for dinner and breakfast places, they recommended the Tiki bar for dinner and said there's a few places for breakfast but didn't recommend anything in specific.
The Tiki bar is nice, looks like something that was built a few decades ago but its well maintained, got a beer ($1.50) and sat down to enjoy it, the band was preparing for a show - country lovers will love that place but I left right after the meal and a nice chat with someone there about the meaning of life..
I ate Mahi and salad, the Mahi was very good but a bit small to my taste - I'm used to a whole fish.. ($12)
The resort also had a pool but after 2 second thought that I might be in the water in the next day, I forgot about it.
The room was ok, nothing more, I didn't feel the need to take a shower there.. (hint hint) and had a hard time falling asleep because the band was playing until 11:00PM (I think).
In the morning the diveshop was open at 7:30, I registered and payed about $80 and they told me to be at the boat at 9:40AM.
I also asked for Nitrox tanks (perhaps its a waste on 25 foot dive..), they said they don't have nitrox and on their deeper dives they order the tanks for a nearby shop, I asked which air grade they have and the woman at the reception said "standard".... I figured if they messed this in the past they would be closed by now so I took a chance..
They took my c-card and I volunteered my DAN card just in case, they gave me a number for the boat so it will be easy for them to check everyone is back on the boat by yelling numbers.
I ate breakfast at the next key south (don't remember the name), right after the bridge, after the first gas station on the left, nice people, fast service and good breakfast for the $5 it cost.
The boarding was fast, we left at 10:00AM sharp, plenty of tanks for everyone, plenty of room for everyone, bubble watchers, swimmers, snorkelrs, divers, every one was on board, the captain was nice, we had 2 dive masters and on-duty private instructors who helped their clients.
I insta-buddy with the nice people who sat next to me, Ralf and Dev his sister, they were more experienced than I am and I said I'll try not to delay them or give them a hard time.
First dive at about 10:30AM, for about an hour, 20-30 foot vis, depending where in the reef, my first face to face with a shark, it wasn't a nurse shark and it looked to me like a bull shark but I'm not experienced enough to know, my heart raced as he came tword me but he was just interested to get in the next crack and ignored me completely, I was almost hurt (I'm not good enough for a bite?!?!)
We've seen plenty of fish, most of the dive was around 10-20 feet with max depth of 25 feet, it was cool, I actually had the time to look very closely at corals and fish and was at a touching distance from everything.
Second dive was aroun 12:00PM, for about an hour, 20 foot vis most of the time, this dive's highlight was a nice looking ray flying near us, beautiful creature.
Third dive was around 1:30PM for about 45 minutes, 15-20 foot vis most of the time, no highlights other than we were all tired so we decided to take things really easy and just spent a long time on everything we saw, examining really close and for a long time, it was fun and relaxing, like floating on air.. or water..
Checkout was really fast, just gave my number and got my DAN and c-card back.
The water temperature was 78F, I was wearing 3mm and didn't feel it was hot.
http://www.diveflakeys.com/
I called Looe Key dive resort at 4/22/06 - 12:00PM, asked for a dive on Sunday and a room for the night so I won't be too tired to dive, they were polite over the phone, took a credit card and asked if I'll get there after 9:00PM, I said I hope I'll be there and they said I should call if I'm late so they'll have someone waiting for me.
I told them I will need only one tank as I have my 2 tanks, they said its not necessary for me to bring my tanks because the tanks are included in the dive (3 tanker).
The room was ~$120
Got my stuff, loaded the car and headed to the Keys, other than annoying amount of sail boats that kept the bridges open on the way everything went smooth. I got there, registered, got the key to my room and someone showed me to the room.
A few minutes after I got hungry so I went back to the reception (which is also the dive shop), and asked for dinner and breakfast places, they recommended the Tiki bar for dinner and said there's a few places for breakfast but didn't recommend anything in specific.
The Tiki bar is nice, looks like something that was built a few decades ago but its well maintained, got a beer ($1.50) and sat down to enjoy it, the band was preparing for a show - country lovers will love that place but I left right after the meal and a nice chat with someone there about the meaning of life..
I ate Mahi and salad, the Mahi was very good but a bit small to my taste - I'm used to a whole fish.. ($12)
The resort also had a pool but after 2 second thought that I might be in the water in the next day, I forgot about it.
The room was ok, nothing more, I didn't feel the need to take a shower there.. (hint hint) and had a hard time falling asleep because the band was playing until 11:00PM (I think).
In the morning the diveshop was open at 7:30, I registered and payed about $80 and they told me to be at the boat at 9:40AM.
I also asked for Nitrox tanks (perhaps its a waste on 25 foot dive..), they said they don't have nitrox and on their deeper dives they order the tanks for a nearby shop, I asked which air grade they have and the woman at the reception said "standard".... I figured if they messed this in the past they would be closed by now so I took a chance..
They took my c-card and I volunteered my DAN card just in case, they gave me a number for the boat so it will be easy for them to check everyone is back on the boat by yelling numbers.
I ate breakfast at the next key south (don't remember the name), right after the bridge, after the first gas station on the left, nice people, fast service and good breakfast for the $5 it cost.
The boarding was fast, we left at 10:00AM sharp, plenty of tanks for everyone, plenty of room for everyone, bubble watchers, swimmers, snorkelrs, divers, every one was on board, the captain was nice, we had 2 dive masters and on-duty private instructors who helped their clients.
I insta-buddy with the nice people who sat next to me, Ralf and Dev his sister, they were more experienced than I am and I said I'll try not to delay them or give them a hard time.
First dive at about 10:30AM, for about an hour, 20-30 foot vis, depending where in the reef, my first face to face with a shark, it wasn't a nurse shark and it looked to me like a bull shark but I'm not experienced enough to know, my heart raced as he came tword me but he was just interested to get in the next crack and ignored me completely, I was almost hurt (I'm not good enough for a bite?!?!)
We've seen plenty of fish, most of the dive was around 10-20 feet with max depth of 25 feet, it was cool, I actually had the time to look very closely at corals and fish and was at a touching distance from everything.
Second dive was aroun 12:00PM, for about an hour, 20 foot vis most of the time, this dive's highlight was a nice looking ray flying near us, beautiful creature.
Third dive was around 1:30PM for about 45 minutes, 15-20 foot vis most of the time, no highlights other than we were all tired so we decided to take things really easy and just spent a long time on everything we saw, examining really close and for a long time, it was fun and relaxing, like floating on air.. or water..
Checkout was really fast, just gave my number and got my DAN and c-card back.
The water temperature was 78F, I was wearing 3mm and didn't feel it was hot.
