Looking for Keys advice for late May-Early June

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

darook

Contributor
Messages
809
Reaction score
472
Location
Northwestern Wisconsin
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm looking at doing a trip with my daughter to the Keys after her college school year wraps up this Spring. She has dived Bonaire, Cozumel, Curacao and Hawaii but been out of the water for a few years. I will get her in the pool before we go but her preference is always easy, shallow, fishy dives. I have not been to the Keys before but would like to give them some post-Irma love and would like to get recommendations on where I should look at to base ourselves and good operators. I know Key Largo is diving central but was unsure if looking further down the chain got us better or less crowded reefs. It sounds like they are still recovering above and below the water from Irma as you go out towards Key West. From what I can discern, it is boat diving with typically two dives during the day. Are the runs so long that two a day is all that is reasonable? Any guidance is appreciated. We will likely fly to FLL on a Sunday afternoon and drive on down and go home the following Saturday.
 
Most all operators run 2 trips a day , and each is a two-tank boat dive .
Key Largo is a great place to base yourselves . Port Largo is the main
commercial canal which most operate out of . The Holiday Inn , Courtyard
Marriott , and Marina Del Mar are all located on the canal for a hotel stay .
Spring is a great time in the Keys .

Sea Dwellers
 
Most dives are two tank dives and most operators make a morning and afternoon run, so you can get 4 total dives done per day. If the operator also is doing a night dive, you can get a 5th dive in. I've done that a few times.

I like Key Largo and Islamorada the best for diving. I've heard Loe Key is spectacular but every time I've tried to make a dive, the operator has cancelled due to poor marine conditions. After 3 attempts, I've given up since its almost impossible to find an alternative dive boat/plan if the cancellation is last minute. For me, Marathon diving was only so-so, pretty enough but not as nice as Key Largo and Islamorada and the vis has been worse. Key West's only real dive attraction is the Vandenberg in my opinion . That's why I like the upper keys, many beautiful shallow reefs, some good deep reefs and four really great deeper big wrecks.

I can only speak from my experience, but it sounds like you might enjoy Rainbow Reef, they put guides in the water. They post their schedule on-line and regularly run to the shallow reefs and deep wrecks. The only real down side is that their boats can be crowded since they are so popular.

If you don't want a guide, I'd also recommend Conch Republic: they visit some sites other operations don't get to very often, like Conch Wall, one of the deeper and gorgeous reefs. I've made many trips with them and think highly of the staff.

If you like a really small boat, try Quescence. They run six packs and give you a lot of flexibility with site selection.
 
Hello Divers,

I will be heading down to the Keys in March, this would be my second trip to Key Largo. Last time I dove with Rainbow Reef in and had a great time. Although, I have to agree the farm boats are quite busy.

Any recommendations for another operator in the upper keys combination of reef and wrecks, not too busy and smaller boat ? My wife is not a diver and would be nice if she could enjoy a nice local and natural beach while I am diving away.

Thanks for the tip!
 
I went out with Key Largo Dive Center a couple a times in December and had a great time. They have a good size boat but limit the number of divers to six. Key Largo Dive Center | Reefs To Dive For

I also went out with Conch Republic in December and second the comment above. Here is their Home page. They put more divers on their boat than Key Largo Dive Center does but the boat is well laid out and the captain and crew were great.

I would dive with both operations again without any hesitation.

win
 
Thanks, this is helpful. Not a fan of large « farm » boats it takes too long to get in and out of the water.

Any suggestions for local beaches?
 
Thanks, this is helpful. Not a fan of large « farm » boats it takes too long to get in and out of the water.

Any suggestions for local beaches?

As I age I have become more sensitive to boat rocking and some nausea so now prefer the large boats. I have dove with several in the Keys, especially Ocean Divers. Have not seen any issues with getting in or out of the water. Plus its is a big ocean and once in one just goes off in the direction they want to go
 
I'm looking at doing a trip with my daughter to the Keys after her college school year wraps up this Spring. She has dived Bonaire, Cozumel, Curacao and Hawaii but been out of the water for a few years. I will get her in the pool before we go but her preference is always easy, shallow, fishy dives. I have not been to the Keys before but would like to give them some post-Irma love and would like to get recommendations on where I should look at to base ourselves and good operators. I know Key Largo is diving central but was unsure if looking further down the chain got us better or less crowded reefs. It sounds like they are still recovering above and below the water from Irma as you go out towards Key West. From what I can discern, it is boat diving with typically two dives during the day. Are the runs so long that two a day is all that is reasonable? Any guidance is appreciated. We will likely fly to FLL on a Sunday afternoon and drive on down and go home the following Saturday.

If it happens to be rough when you get down there and the boats do not go out, or if they do it looks rough, and it is not Monday, you can always go over to Jules for a practice dive or two. It is not a coral reef and the viz is less but you do see a few pretty fishies and it is better warmup than a pool.
 
I'll second KLDC, we went out with them last June. There are five of us, so we chartered the boat, ended up a couple dollars cheaper, and we had the boat and crew ( Capt and guide) to our selves. They have a nice little retail shop, friendly and knowledgeable staff quality rental gear. It's a six pack operation on a boat that could hold 10-12 so plenty of room.

Edit,
We were renting a house in Marathon, and dove there with Abyss, also a six pack, but no guide in the water unless you want to pay for one. Clean boat quality rental gear captain gave accurate detailed site briefings. Did a couple days there shallow unmarked reef sites, nice coral plenty of fish and saw some turtles and really big nurse shark. Sombrero beach in Marathon as good as keys beaches get.
 
Last edited:
Go to Islamorada. Dive with Sea Monkeys Dive Shop. They are right next door to Breezy Palms Resort. There is great diving 5 minutes from the hotel. Dove with them and stayed at Breezy Palms many times. We're heading down there the 1st week of Feb and staying with them.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

Back
Top Bottom