Florida Keys.. Any Dive Charter Advice?

[scuba_junkie]

My dive buddy and I are heading to Florida the week of December 6th through the 13th. We are visiting one of my customers who lives about 20 minutes North of Key Largo. We will be there all week, and will mix up the days with diving and some deep sea fishing. I am just wondering what any of you would reccommend for good dive charters or destinations. This will be the first salt water dive (aside from snorkelling) that either one of us has done, so anything will be new to us. All of the diving we have done so far has been wreck diving up here in the Great Lakes and inland lakes of Michigan. We are trying to make this a fairly inexpensive trip, so price is a factor. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[HarleyDiver]

http://www.bluewaterdiver.net/

Great crew, Good size boat, never a cattle boat. Very flexible as to locations. Great guide/teacher ( I would recommend a guide for your first ocean experience).

Have a great trip

 

[Orlando Eric]

The absolute best dive boat I have ever been on is "It's a Dive" in key largo. They are a PADI Five star golden Palm and located at the Marriott Five Star Resort. The Marriott is WAY outside of my spending Budget but the dive boat was around $45.00 a trip. the boat is a flat deck cat which makes for lots of space, easy entry and exits. The crew are all experienced divers and I have never had better service anywhere. When you exit they of course help you up by the tank valve but then they support your tank from behind and you shrug off the Whole rig and they mount it on a new tank while you get a nice cold drink and a snack. One thing we learned in the KEYS is that the surface interval is in minutes and that is only the short hop to the next reef. The depths are very shallow 35' to 20'. That is most of the diving that we did. We did do some other dives at 80' but the Keys is full of fantastic diving at 30'. I also got a tip a dive buddy. I was on my honeymoon It's a dive sells five dive cards at a steep discount. I bought two cards and of course made sure we had at least two left. Now I can talk the wife into going since we have a FREE dive left. When we got there I bought another card....... My buddy has been doing this for years. I dove several other boats there Looe Key, Amy Slate's, Captain Slates but none of them gave me the white glove service I got there. Let me see if I can find the link... http://www.itsadive.com/ (that was kinda obvious.. duh.)

 

[scuba_junkie]

Thanks for the information so far guys! I wasnt sure how much any of this would run, but thats about the right price for a two tank boat dive. That means that we should be able to have a good three days of diving during the week we are there. If I push off the fishing until later in the week, that will fit nicely with the 'no-fly' time.

Thanks again & keep the good ideas coming!

 

[BILLB]

http://diverscityusa.com/

Go with this outfit. They have the best gear including steel tanks and doubles. For experienced divers they will not make you dive a 15 foot reef for your second dive either!

 

[Wristshot]

Key Largo is arguably the best diving place in the Keys. Horizon Divers is located in Key Largo. They are consistently rated very highly in polls and surveys; they were number one in Rodale's rankings last year.

My buddy has used them on two separate trips, and we used them for two days of diving last November. Excellent operation.

They have a deal with the Ramada (and possibly one other hotel in the area) that gets special rates for their divers staying at the Ramada. It was within walking distance and very reasonably priced.

Just one more place to consider.

My two cents, but only because you asked.

Wristshot

 

[Niko714]

I did my open water and Advanced open water at a dive shop in Islemorada which just a few min south of Largo. Its a smaller shop but the people are great I try to get down to see them at least twice a year. They are very good at what they do and have made the whole experience for me very enjoyable. Plus they have a good bar right next door so you can have a couple as soon as you get done

Oceanquestdivecenter.com

 

[scuba_junkie]

Great information everyone. From the sounds of things, my customers neighbor is a diver and wants to take us out to a few places that he knows. Perhaps he will also know the best operations to dive with as well. The ones you have listed look good to me. We have a ton of options now!!

Thanks again!

 

[deepstops]

scuba_junkie once bubbled...
Great information everyone. We have a ton of options now!!

Thanks again!

There's always the one the locals dive with: http://www.diveinflkeys.com

Capt. Joe Miller is the about closest operator to the Duane and his 40 knot machine let's you get longer surface intervals AND they are about $15 less per trip than some of the others mentioned.

 

[JaxDiver]

dove out of Looe Key this summer - very friendly, easy dive on a great reef - saw sharks, cudas, rays, grouper, turtles. Price was ~45 plus tanks. Staff was very thorough and friendly.

http://www.diveflakeys.com/

Big boat - 45 feet took out around 30 people - most snorkellers on our trip, about six divers.