Key West

[dfitchtx]

I'm planning a trip to Key West some time in August. Can anyone suggest a particular dive company or dive site? This will be my first dive at Key West.

Thank you

David

 

[tx.lakerats]

You might want to post this to the Florida board as they will have more info in their area then we would..

 

[Lukiedukie]

If the florida board does nto give you the info your looking for you alos might want to check out the june 2005 scuba diving mag. It has a huge artical on the keys. Right down to what is the best dive combos if you have limted time.

 

[TxWingnut]

I'm planning a trip to Key West some time in August. Can anyone suggest a particular dive company or dive site? This will be my first dive at Key West.

Thank you

David

I was there last month avoid the eastern portion of the Key West all dead coral and no real reef life. The west side has several wrecks and better coral.

Later,
Bruce

 

[mike_s]

I dove Key West in June 2002. Dove with Sub Tropic and was happy with their service. I'd dive them again. There are also other good operators that people here will talk about.

As for the Coral, I wasn't all that impressed by it. Seen better diving in many other places. Key Largo for example, just 100 miles down the road, has much better coral diving.

 

[Padipro]

Avoid Key West, the diving isn't that good. Even the locals recommend diving somewhere else. I was just there in November and was told to dive off Big Pine Key about 30 to 40 minutes north of Key West. The Adolphus Bush wreck is a great wreck and Looe Key is a nice reef.

Dive Report

 

[keyshunter]

Avoid Key West, the diving isn't that good. Even the locals recommend diving somewhere else. I was just there in November and was told to dive off Big Pine Key about 30 to 40 minutes north of Key West. The Adolphus Bush wreck is a great wreck and Looe Key is a nice reef.

Dive Report

I agree. I lived in Key West for about 14 years (dived there for 20), and watched the coral go steadily downhill. Looe Key, off Big Pine, has been a protected area for many years and the coral is much better.

 

[Spamsonite]

I dove Key West in June 2002. Dove with Sub Tropic and was happy with their service. I'd dive them again. There are also other good operators that people here will talk about.

As for the Coral, I wasn't all that impressed by it. Seen better diving in many other places. Key Largo for example, just 100 miles down the road, has much better coral diving.

I agree with both of these points: I dove with Sub Tropic in April of 2003, and they were a great, professional outfit. I wasn't that impressed with the diving at the first site they dropped us off at (Joe's Tug), it was a rather uninspiring, small, highly degraded wreck.

The second dive was great, though, they picked a neat patch of coral that had 25' deep channels between outcroppings and a moderate surge. We descended on top of an old Spanish wreck, where only the ship's anchor remained. There were lots of fish around, a huge turtle, and it was fun to settle to the bottom and be still for a moment - all the lobsters would slowly emerge to check us out. I tried afterwards to get them to tell me the name of the dive site so I could record it and request it next time I'm in the area, but after corresponding with them for some time, the closest guess I could get from them was "Nine-foot Stake", the description of which doesn't seem to match perfectly with the site. Oh, well - it was great.

I've heard that it's best to dive wrecks in the upper Keys and reefs in the lower Keys, and even though everyone seems to rave about Molasses Reef (Key Largo), what I saw of it was sandy, somewhat barren, and brown. I've seen several dive magazines rate it as the second best site in the USA, though.

 

[mike_s]

Molasses reef has some good diving on it. but on the edges of it there are some bare spots. There are like 20 mooring bouys on the reef. You might have been on one that was on one of the "edges".

 

[frogman_5]

Key West Diving Society (12 pack boat) and Dive Key West (16 pack boat) are both good. Try to avoid the cattle boats. Diving around Key West is OK the first time or two, but all of the operators pretty much go to the same reefs and artificial wrecks. If the plan is to party on Duvall St. and do a little diving, go for it. If your main focus is diving, go for the middle or upper keys.

Rich
aka frogman_5