Planning a trip to Florida - Need some advise please.

[dstrawhorn]

I am planning a trip to the keys this summer and wanted a little advice. There will be both divers and non-divers going. I get the impression the best diving seems to be around the middle/upper keys (largo, etc). Is there much nightlife, restaurants, and other things to do around these areas so the non-divers get to have some fun too?

I'm also wondering if anyone has any lodging suggestions. It would be great to rent a house on the water for a week.

Any suggestions, comments, or links to other websites with info would be great.

Thanks for the help!

 

[CBulla]

Now thats an intersting question. With the keys being so long, I've not had much opportunity to pause in between and learn more about the middle areas, however, I can say that the upper keys has some great divng and kind of quiet compared to the "southern most point" which seems to rarely sleep. Look under the Florida Conch Divers site or do a search about Keys diving, there are quite a number of threads in there from us FL divers about it

Capt. Jim, one of the club web masters, is also a dive instructor with a boat out of mile marker 21 - He may be able to point you in the right direction for more information as well.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm planning a Keys trip with my grown daughter, her hubby, my sister - who is not into outdoor activities, a 10 year old, and a 1 year old. I love the Keys, for wreck diving, reef diving, and the variety of sub-cultures along the 100+ mile Over Seas Hiway, and I want them to have a taste of of it all.

I'll be diving every morning, but none of the others do, or will this year. We serached various internet sites for other things for them to do mornings, up an down the OSH, and for things for us all to do, and found a great variety. Here's a few to get you started...

http://www.fla-keys.com/

http://thefloridakeys.com/

http://floridakeys.com/

We're looking at staying at a cute little bungalow motel that I always enjoy, with a beach on the back bay - no waves:

http://www.sunsetcoveflorida.com/guestbook.html

But only for 2 or 3 nights, as we explore the upper keys. Then we want to relocate to the lower keys, so we won't have to drive up and down the road 2 days in a row.

And of course, there's Key West. I've never heard anything to brag about on the Scuba there, so I haven't made it down that far in years. But these folks have never seen the overdone town, nor the lovely sunsets, so we'll have to do it at least one afternoon.

I'm sure we'll rent two different cars, and keep our cell phones handy, so we can explore seperately at times, and regroup.

Those are my thoughts, anyway - :cool1:don

 

[scubaspider]

While on the subject of flordia diving, can anyone tell me about dive shops/charters in Pensacola, Fl.? I'm going to visit my uncle and I would like to do some diving while there, but dont want to incovience him to drive me too far to dive. So, is there anything in Pensacola?

 

[ScubaScott]

While on the subject of flordia diving, can anyone tell me about dive shops/charters in Pensacola, Fl.? I'm going to visit my uncle and I would like to do some diving while there, but dont want to incovience him to drive me too far to dive. So, is there anything in Pensacola?

Spider - I haven't dived in Pensacola, but off Destin, which is about 30miles away. There are lots of artificial reefs, natural limestone reefs, and wrecks to dive. There are a couple members on the board who live in this area and could provide more info - Genesis and Stone.

Other than that, one link that can give you a start is http://www.florida-scuba.com/pensacola.htm.

When are you in Pensacola?

SS