New Divers looking for Key Largo advice

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!

I read the Keys are also having problems with sewer hook ups and I don't know if that played into their rest rooms being out of service.

Monroe County dropped the service of emptying holding tanks on all commercial boats around one year ago. It has been a problem ever since.

They will do private boats.
 
Having a private guide in the water is great, particularly for new or inexperienced divers but that is not what they would be getting with RR unless they hire a private guide (which is what I did since it was my first diving postcert and I did not want to instabuddy). RR is a great op (at least when I went with them years ago) but it is true that the boats carry a lot of passengers and it can get quite crowded on some of the dive sites. Whether you use them or not, give a lot consideration to hiring a private DM/dive guide. Can significantly improve your diving experience.

This is incorrect information. Rainbow Reef Dive Center includes a qualified dive guide on every dive unless you tell them you do not wish to dive with a guide.
 
A guide is free but you are supposed to let them know when you make the reservation whether you want to use the free guide. They do this so they know in advance how many divers plan on diving with the guide and can then plan on having enough guides on any given trip
 
This is incorrect information. Rainbow Reef Dive Center includes a qualified dive guide on every dive unless you tell them you do not wish to dive with a guide.

You are correct that RR offers free guides for every dive. They do a nice job, in my experience, of trying to divide up the guided groups by experience and gas type. That being said, what I think jejton was referring to was that the free guides are not private guides who only dive with you/your dive group.
 
the free guides are not private guides who only dive with you/your dive group.

That is correct. The "free" guides will generally guide a group of 6 on deep dives and as many as 8 on shallow reef dives. You need to ask for the guide when you sign up and not wait until you get on the boat as there may not be enough guides scheduled to be on the boat to accomodate you.
 
@Dan G Yes, I think a couple folks missed that point when I made it earlier in this thread.

There's a big difference between a guide for 6-8 people and a private guide, sometimes I think that gets misrepresented or understood.

The sunk cost for a diving trip makes paying for a private guide pretty inconsequential for the difference.
 
A guide is free but you are supposed to let them know when you make the reservation whether you want to use the free guide. They do this so they know in advance how many divers plan on diving with the guide and can then plan on having enough guides on any given trip
When I dove with them, the guide wasn't optional. That is, unless you went on their smaller boat that runs more advanced dives.
Wife and I are getting OW cert in Curacao next month. Planning next trip for AOW cert in Ft Lauderdale over Thanksgiving. After spending 2 months lurking on Scubaboard.com, I see 2 of the popular resorts/dive outfits in Key Largo are Amoray and Marriott with Rainbow Reef. Cost are similar, anyone have comments on the experience with these 2 outfits? Being new, I like the idea of having a DM/Guide (for extra fee) with Amoray
Rainbow Reef seems to be a well oiled machine. Can any of the more experienced divers give me some advice thinking back when you were brand new and which one of these outfits you would recommend?
Thanks!

Side note, will not have car so dive operation on site is key
I've done the Marriott/Rainbow Reef combo several times. I've had both good and bad experiences. Usually they'll get you to the dive site and give you an hour in the water with a guide and a handful of your closest acquaintances. Boat rides are generally short in the keys, so start getting your gear ready before the boat leaves the dock.

When RR is good, they're good. When they aren't they're really bad.

The bad: (2012) I was on one of their boats when the captain ran it aground trying to cut out of a channel in order to save time. I guess the tide was lower than he thought and we got stuck. One of the other divers (didn't know him) hit his collarbone on a railing. Looked broke to me but I'm no doctor. RR had sea-tow take us divers back to shore since they couldn't pull the boat out of the seagrass. The sherriff boat showed up, presumably to give the cap'n a ticket for driving on the seagrass. It was a great story, and they did give us a refund for the non-dive. I dunno what became of the guy who got injured. I don't know this to be true, but I would assume that captain got fired. Who knows though. The guy wasn't drunk or anything. I'm willing to overlook it and have used them since this incident without problem.

Also, they refused to fill my tanks with nitrox claiming they would only fill their own tanks. I had to go down the road for nitrox fills. I've since had others on SB tell me that they now do fill nitrox.

The good: It's SUPER nice to get off the boat and be right that at your hotel! I've never stayed/dove anywhere closer including resorts in Mexico and Honduras. The convenience can't be overstated. Also, I like Marriott hotels - whenever I travel I try to use their brands. Rooms and beds are always comfortable. This particular hotel lacks a restaurant. That's kind of a bummer.

If you've got a car, they have a parking garage! That's not super common in FL and it's nice to get into a car that's not 200 degrees.

There is LOTS of staff since this operation does a lot of DM/Instructor training. They've got oodles of young divemaster candidates that will schlep your gear on/off the boat and generally do all stuff you don't want to do. I bring heavy steel tanks with me and always enjoy it when they haul the tanks for me. I'm guessing you won't since you're coming from way up north.

My experience with their captains and divemasters has all been positive save that moment a captain had bad judgement that I described above.

Big comfortable boats well configured for diving and diving only.

I've done 3 trips with them, two week long and one 3day weekend. On all the occasions I went, the boats were not jam packed. That could very well have changed since everyone is flocking to Florida right now due to international travel restrictions.

Worthy of note. They have their rules and are sticklers. If you forget your c-card, you aren't going to talk them into taking you out. If you don't have AOW, they aren't going to take you to a site that's deeper than 60' unless you pay them for an AOW card. If you don't book in advance, the boats do fill up regularly and I saw them turning people away every single time I was there... and that was before the post-covid rush.

Also, I read that they recently bought another dive operation in the area. If you book with them and are staying at the Marriott, make sure you tell them that you want to be on the boats that dock at the hotel. From what I've read there are some other boats they now own that aren't quite as conveniently located.

Another dive operation I've enjoyed in the area is Florida Keys Dive Center aka Flakey's. Their boat was pretty much identical to the big Rainbow Reef boats. Not right at a hotel unfortunately.

Something to note about the keys. Cabs can be difficult to find, especially at night. I've never been able to find an uber driver down there but I haven't been to the keys since 2019. If you're planning to be out past 8pm, you may really want to rent a vehicle. My dive group had to rent a limo once because we went to a restaurant for drinks and didn't leave till 10. We couldn't get any cab companies to send a car out. Split a limo we found in the phone book, which was fun but expensive.

Also, it's very humid down here. You might enjoy your room a little more if you bring a chemical dehumidifier such as damp-rid. I'm a fan of these things for traveling. I use an electric dehumidifier at home.
 
If you don't have AOW, they aren't going to take you to a site that's deeper than 60' unless you pay them for an AOW card.

That is not entirely accurate. if you can show experience with a logbook or explaining your experience diving deeper than 60 feet they will allow you to dive on the 100 foot wrecks.

I have heard the story of the grounding...I take that route everytime if I am headed north and the tide is high.
 
Also, I read that they recently bought another dive operation in the area. If you book with them and are staying at the Marriott, make sure you tell them that you want to be on the boats that dock at the hotel. From what I've read there are some other boats they now own that aren't quite as conveniently located.

Just for clarity sake for others reading this thread who have never been and may be planning a trip. And BTW I am no expert on RR but I was there last month so I do have some relatively current info. Pick the boat for the schedule/dive sites that interests you and do not base it on where the boats may be located. Both locations are on the same canal and roughly across from each other. The north side one, located closet to the Marriott is the easier walk (unless you are lugging tanks). The other is a bit longer but still walkable with the gear most of us carry and no tanks. You will get a call the night before on your cell confirming your trip, the boat and where the boat will be located. I am guessing the location of the boat could change from day to day. It makes no sense to sign up for a boat simply because it may be on the side that is a little closer. You traveled all this way already. Another couple minutes on the walk should not be a factor.

I had a car and most if not everyone going down to Key Largo. If you have a car it is a simple 1 minute drive to the location on the other side of the canal and make sure you use the cut through in the Holiday in Parking Lot on the way to the boat/shop.) RR and the Marriot front desk can tell how to navigate the drive through the Holiday Inn which avoids having to go out onto RT 1 which could be a PIA depending on the time of day and how you leave the Marriott. Coming back to the Marriott is easier because it is a simple right hand turn onto RT 1 N.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

Back
Top Bottom