Just home from Key Largo!

[DiveMaven]

My DH and I just returned from a wonderful trip to S. Florida and Key Largo. We did 3 2-tank dives with Paradise Charters and had a wonderful time. I'd recommend them highly. Everyone at Paradise Charters were totally professional, and our DM's were the best! We saw so many sharks, various fishies, gorgeous coral formations, and too many lobsters to count. Unfortunately we were a little early for lobster season, so we had to leave them alone, but we got some good pictures of them.

On our first charter we had 3-4 foot seas and 3 people on our boat got sick. The second and third charters we had only 0-2 foot seas, and the visibility and diving were much better. I've read a few reviews of Paradise Charters and that they limit bottom time to 60 minutes regardless of how much air you have left in your tank. I routinely came up from my dives with between 900-1000 psi left in my tank, but definitely didn't feel like complaining about being under for 55 minutes at a time. My DH would be down to 500 psi at the end of 55 minutes, and since he's my buddy, I would have surfaced anyway.

As newbie divers, it was nice to have a DM leading the group so we could enjoy the scenery and not worry about navigation. It became quite clear during our 2nd charter that navigation in the Keys is pretty easy as we paid more attention to the boat and where we were going under water. Visibility was generally very good, not the 125+ feet of Maui, but at 60+ we really couldn't complain much!

Looking forward to diving on our Caribbean cruise in December now. :10:

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Nice report. Where are you cruising in December?

 

[DiveMaven]

We're doing an Eastern Caribbean aboard Celebrity. Stops will be Bahamas, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Tortola BVI, and Key West. We're planning to dive in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and definitely Tortola (want to dive the Rhone). We were considering Key West, but after speaking with some of the divers in Key Largo, we decided to save our money.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

There are a couple of wrecks off Key West worth checking out - Cayman Salvager and Joe's Tug if I remember correctly. Not too shabby but most of the reef diving was very shallow. The Rhone is definitely the highlight of the USVI/BVI area but you will probably have to charter a boat to do it. When I cruised with Celebrity to St. Thomas they did the Navy barges right in the harbor. Not a bad dive but definitely not the best diving around. I can only assume that they will do something similar for the Tortola stop. If you stop in New Providence skip the ship sponsored op and see if you can line up a shark dive with Stuart Cove's. Well worth the money and effort.

You are gonna love the food on Celebrity! Its one of our favorite cruise lines. They really do dinner right. Bring a little extra cash and play with the wine list. Verrry nice.