Planning a trip to the FL Keys in April

[scubastefan]

Need some advice

We are planning a trip to the Keys the first week of April. Any recomendations on places to stay, dive shops, tours, and things to see?

We will be arriving Sunday night and leaving Wednesday late (by car). We would like to dive all three days. We are both PADI AOW divers and this is our first trip to the Keys.

Any thoughts or experiences positive (and/or negative) would be much appreciated.



Thanks in advance,

Stefan

 

[100days-a-year]

We spend 6-8 weeks a yr in the middle keys(staring from Marathon down to Little Torch.The only dive shop we use is Underseas.Go to the various websites the chambers of commerce have for lodging and call around to find accomadations that suit your tastes(we rent a house that comes out to $100 a day)The upper Keys have more options and so does Key West,but there are tons more divers too.Looe Key is a must see dive ,esp. at night.The reef along this area attracts quite a bit of variety from Macro to beeeg animals.

 

[kwesler]

I always dive with Tavernier at MM 90. A great crew and comfortable boat. They consisently receive high ratings. Great shallow reef dives: Davis ( great night dive too), Molasses, Hammerhead, Davy Crocker. Deeper/wall dive: Conch Wall. Wrecks: The Eagle, Duane and Bibb depending on your experience/comfort level.

There are several places to stay at each comfort/treatment/cost level-what are you looking for?

Also, places to eat: Ballyhoos, Islamorada Fish Company, Morada Bay.

Ken

 

[scubastefan]

Thanks so much

I just ordered "Diving Guide to Underwater Florida (10th Edition)" off of Amazon.

I hope to familiarize myself with the areas you mention.

 

[Triton]

We were there last year for a week of diving and we also went with Tavernier.

We actually took our AOW with them and had a really good time.

They have a very helpfull staff and really know their dive sites.

The Duane and The Eagle were two of my favorite dive.

Hope you have a great time.

Here is their site in case you want more info.

www.tavernierdivecenter.com

 

[Stone]

I have a list of Key Largo Boats listed on my webpage. You can click on my URL below and use the "Dive Documents" link to "Key Largo Boats." The list has a summary of prices, links to the operators' websites, and links to ScubaBoard members' comments. Several of the boats have package deals with local hotels.

 

[kwesler]

First time I looked...kewl!

 

[NJdiver85]

I was down in the Keys late April last year, with 3 days for diving. I stayed at Kelly's on the Bay - excellent accomodations, with pool. I dove with Kelly's on the first day, with Amoray's on day 2, and with Ocean Diver's day 3. The main reason I jumped around was to do the dives I wanted. For example, Kelly's only did the Duane one day per week, and that didn't coincide with my schedule, but Ocean Divers did. Also, Kelly's wasn't running a night dive on my second night, but Amoray was. By the way, all three dive operations were top notch. My advice is to pick one place to stay, but be prepared to dive with a number of different operations in order to get the dives you want, given that you won't be down there a full week.

 

[scubastefan]

Thanks for all of the info - I appreciate the resources and recommendations

 

[blawler1]

We are planning to be in Key Largo April 6 through the 10th (Saturday through Sunday). The best deal I could find on a hotel was the Bayside Resort. (I believe it is around MM 100) We will probably dive with Paradise Charters the first day and move between Amoray and Ocean Divers the other days for the reasons mentioned in the previous posts.