Suggestions/Key West Diving?

[Buoyant1]

Better yet...FInd a friend that lives there and stay FREE!

(although that arrangement is ending shortly...my friend is being transferred OUT)

Sunset Key is the BOMB St.! We had dinner out there once and THAT'S living! hahaha!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Hey Ber...IS Strikezone a good operator? I'm looking for a good alternative to dive Looe Key. I was going to check out Capt. Wyatt's operation, but it looks like they may not be open when I'm down... (his site says closed through March, his answering machine message says closed until March 5...so I'm going to call tomorrow and see what's what)

My other option is to go further up and hit Marathon for Sombrero Reef... I want to start my trip off VERY conservative to get ack into the swing...

Thanks!

We had actually booked through Underseas Inc. but since we were the only divers they had they put us on Strike Zone's boat. According to Underseas the shops share customers when they don't fill their boats that way they don't have to cancel your dives just because the boat isn't full. Strike Zone's boat was comfortable and they sell beverages and candy bars on board for $1 each if you didn't bring a snack and want one. They have a cooler with ice to put your own beverages/snacks in and large dry box compartments for your clothes, etc. Sandra was the DM for us and she was thorough on her briefings. The only unusual thing was being asked to surface half way through your dive to give the boat an "OK". It's no big deal since the dive is so shallow and it is a good way to make sure you don't wander so far from the boat that you can't get back easily. Make sure you take a watch along, they tell you what time to be back on the boat and they expect you to show up on time. There was one other diver on the boat in rental gear and his regulator ended up having a leak from the pressure gauge that got worse as the dive progressed so he had to abort. I'm not sure if he got the gear from Strike Zone or not. Sandra gave him another regulator and he was back in the water with us for the second dive. If you do end up in a threesome and one diver runs low on air or needs to abort for any other reason they just ask that you bring them back to the boat then you can continue your dive as long as you have a buddy. It's definitely not a fancy operator but they did a good job. They also offer some interesting cruise/picnic options for families as well as chartering fishing boats. I'd go out with them again and I'd feel safe taking my students out with them.


When we dove Key West we stayed at the hotel that's across the street from Dive Key West. It's called The Blue Lagoon Motel. It's not fancy by any stretch of the imagination but it's affordable, we paid $109 per night which isn't bad by Key West standards. You'll need a car to get to Duvall street though, the hotel is on the north end of the island.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Buoyant1]

Hey Ber, thanks for the info! I've actually heard that DKW does the same thing if they can't fill a boat. (have a cousin that uses them when he's down) I haven't tried them yet, I've been using Captain's Corner with no difficulties, their dock is very convenient for either my wife to pick me up, (after hitting the Conch Farm for a few beers afterwards) or my friends who work for Sebago Catamaran's to pick me up when their done with their trips. (same deal with the beers, except THEY buy!)

I may give them Strike Zone a call and book a dive, it doesn't look like the other place is going to be operating when I'm down, and I really want to hit Looe Key since I've heard it's one of the nicest reefs down there. (my other alternative is going further up to Marathon, and diving Sombrero Reef, which I hear is also just as nice)

Thanks again for the info!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

We did a day of diving there with Dive Key West and I would definitely recommend them. We dove "Joe's Tug" and a reef site called "Marker 32" and both were very nice sites and Joe's Tug has an interesting story behind it. Dive Key West was recommended to us by a DM from Strike Zone Charter who said Dive Key West is the only shop she would work for down there. We dove Looe Key with Strike Zone and even though they mix snorkelers and divers we enjoyed the operation. My husband and I and one other diver had the entire back of the large pontoon style boat while the snorkelers were up front. Diving Looe Key is definitely worth the 30 mile drive from Key West to Big Pine Key. We saw 3 large nurse sharks on one dive and a lot of barracuda on both dives.
Ber :lilbunny:

Mandoes that bring back memories! I did my open water certification with Strike Zone way back when. Glad to see they are still around. I can second or third the recommendation for Subtropic. I was very happy with them but found the diving around Key West to be just average for the Caribbean.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Your quite welcome :biggrin: DKW was using a rental boat when we were down there, their boat is being re-done at the moment and is supposed to be extremely nice once the work is finished (I believe that should be soon). I liked the fact that we set up our bc's and reg's at the shop then they hauled it to the boat for us. They also hauled all of our gear back to the shop so we could rinse it in their tank and hang it up on their racks to dry while we went to dinner. They would have stored it overnight for us even though we only dove one day with them but we were leaving early in the morning and wouldn't be to wait until the shop opened to pick up our gear.

I would definitely go back to Looe Key, my husband said it was just as nice as it was the last time he dove it which was 20 years ago. He inquired about Strike Zone's fishing charter rates and they were really good.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Tuckster]

See any big stuff ...any shark dives ???

 

[Ber Rabbit]

We saw three big nurse sharks on one dive. One of them was laying out in open in the sand and was longer than me. There was also a 4 foot green moray out of his hole swimming to another spot on the reef.
Ber :lilbunny: