Key West/Key Largo in January 2004?

[colonelchuck]

Hi folks. After a quick trip to Florida last march, my non diving wife and I were considering making another trip down to the Keys in January.

Is the diving any good? As a Pacific Northwest diver, cool is not a problem, but I was wondering about current, visability and other factors which might make January a bad idea (or better yet, a good idea).

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[cudachaser]

January is a kind of sea saw time...can be really for one or two days...then super nice for 2 or 3. Water temps will be predictably in the very low 70's

Last New Years I ran a class there...my plan...dive Sunday and NY's eve....conditions sucked NY's eve, ended up diving NY's day getting to the boat at 7:30 AM!

 

[CBulla]

I dove down there on Jan 4 of this year and I had to check my log book to refresh my memory. Air temp was 65, water ranged 70-75 depending how you caught the current. By the time we came up from the second dive, the sun was just hitting the horizon and thats when the temp outside dropped noticably. I know, your saying "yeah, only 55-60°" but when your wet, in a wet suit, and you were in water 10-15° warmer, you start shivering real fast.

Visibility was very low for KL to, we were down to 25' or so on the Ben Wood and 40' on 5 fingers.

I did have some freaky dive buddies (retired royal marine, retired commercial diver with 1 leg, an insane NJ loberster hunter) that I was exploring with and that made up for the cold and low vis with the entertainment value alone... and the things I learned.