One of my friends and I went diving for the first time in the Florida Keys last August. We started our week-long trip at the Looe Key Reef Resort, where we stayed for 3 days. While the first day of diving with them was fun, it quickly got rather boring. The boats were completely packed (about 30 snorklers and 15 divers), and as a result very cramped. Although you theoretically have 1 hour for each dive, the 5 minute surface intervals (all the dives are done on the same reef, just few hundred feet away) significantly cut into that amount. Although the dives were cheap ($60/3 dives), I would not recommend them -- you really do get what you pay for.
Following our 3 days with LKRR, we went to Islamadora (sp?), where we dove with Lady Cyana -- what a huge difference. We had 6 divers on a sizable boat, and the service was a world apart. We saw the Eagle wreck that day -- what a great wreck dive!
Next day, we dove the Spiegel Grove with "Skip" Dawson from Island Reef divers (tel: 305-453-9456,
www.islandreefdiver.com) in Key Largo. There were 6 of us on the boat. That was also a fantastic dive, and the outfit although small was very professional and a whole lot of fun. As with Lady Cyana, I would difinitely recommend them.
After that, we dove with AquaNuts in Key Largo. Their "resort" had the best accomodations (especially after the free upgrade we got when they realized that my friend and I were not planning to share a twin bed
). The dive operation was definitely safety oriented, to the point of being somewhat annoying -- I think at one point or another they were rumored to have left a couple divers out on the reef overnight.
All in all, we had the best experience with Lady Cyana and Skip. In fact, we may return to the Keys this May, and try diving with them again.
Hope this helps and good luck on your trip!