Sirto
Contributor
Key Largo Trip 7/23 - 7/29/2005
Stayed at Hungry Pelican at MM99.3. 2 Double beds, kitchen and SMALL BR for $100/night + tax. Nice, kitschy place (lots of statues of African animals around the property) with a small man made beach. Bring water shoes if you want to go into the water since the bottom is covered with grass. They have canoes and kyacks for guest use at no charge. Continental breakfast is included. I've stayed here twice and have enjoyed it.
Dove with Silent World MM103.2 . They have nice, small, fast boats
that accomodate up to 14 divers. We had 7 - 14 divers on th boat
during the week. With a full complement of 14 diveers it gets a little
tight. I was happy with their service and would recommend them to
others. We did 6 - 2 tank dives for $240 each.
The weather during the week was very hot and humid during the day and
there was a thunderstorm almost every day around 4pm but it only lasted
15 - 30 minutes. Seas were extremely calm all week. Vizability was
around 30 - 35 ft.
My favorite dive during the week was Molasses Reef. The coral here was
in very good condition and there was lots of fish life. However, the
current was rather strong here.
The coral in the reefs closer to Largo were not in great shape. There
ws lots of white coral.
At Grecian Rocks we saw two Spotted Eagle Rays and saw another one
swimming alone earlier in the week at a different location.
We saw a good selection of sealife during the week including:
Lobsters, French Angelfish, Queen Angelfish, Grey Angelfish,
nursesharks, baraccuda, spotted eagle rays, stingrays, trumpet fish,
juvenille drum fish, scraweled filefish, squirel fish, parrot fish,
stop light parrot fish, blue parrot fish, trunk fish, cow fish,
groupers, sharp nosed pufferfish, jawfish, gobis, french gunts, blue
headed wrasse, hog fish, pork fish, rock beauties, flamingo tongues,
nudibranches, moray eels, damselfish, harlequin bass, yellow goatfish,
rock hind, yellowtail snapper, sergent majors and a whole lot of the
smaller , hard to identify fish.
At the Benwwod wreck I saw the tail end of a large moray eel disappear
under a steel plate. His name is Goliath and he is supposed to be 7 ft
long.
Most of the diving around Largo is in less than 40 feet of water. We only went deeper than 40 feet once during the week.
We had dinner at several of the local restaurants. Here are my
impressions.
Cracked Conch - Disappointing . Overly swee coconut shrimp and conch
fritters that were almost all cornmeal. The honey buscuits are fried
balls of dough and not too tasty.
Fish House Encore - Pasta dishes with seafood were good as was the
blackened mahi-mahi.
Fish House - Less atmosphere than the Encore. Prices about the same.
Large portions. Pretty decent.
Senor Frijoles - The flank steak was good but didn't work well with the
beans in the steak fajita burrito. Sangria was good but the margarita
was lousy. Overall a so-so mexican place.
Bayside Grill MM99.4 bayside - Conch fritters were very good, coconut
shrimp was good and wasn't sweet like the ones at Cracked Conch. They
could have used a different dipping sauce besides the tarter and
cocktail suce offered. There is a nice view of a sunset if you sit by
the windows.
Denny's Latin Cafe MM99.6 next to Denny's Discount liquor - Good Cuban
food (and I'm Cuban). We selected several appetizers in lieu of a main
dish. These were very inexpensive and some of them had huge portions.
We spent $14 for two of us and had enough left over for lunch the next
day. The masitas de puerco (chunks of fried pork - a very large
portion for $4.50). We also had yuca , a root vegetable with the
traditional citrus and garlic sauce , two orders of tamales which were
served wrapped in corn leaves and stuffed plantains as well as two cafe
con leches (like lattes). We didn't like the stuffed plantains but
everything else was very good . I recommend this restaurant highly.
Stayed at Hungry Pelican at MM99.3. 2 Double beds, kitchen and SMALL BR for $100/night + tax. Nice, kitschy place (lots of statues of African animals around the property) with a small man made beach. Bring water shoes if you want to go into the water since the bottom is covered with grass. They have canoes and kyacks for guest use at no charge. Continental breakfast is included. I've stayed here twice and have enjoyed it.
Dove with Silent World MM103.2 . They have nice, small, fast boats
that accomodate up to 14 divers. We had 7 - 14 divers on th boat
during the week. With a full complement of 14 diveers it gets a little
tight. I was happy with their service and would recommend them to
others. We did 6 - 2 tank dives for $240 each.
The weather during the week was very hot and humid during the day and
there was a thunderstorm almost every day around 4pm but it only lasted
15 - 30 minutes. Seas were extremely calm all week. Vizability was
around 30 - 35 ft.
My favorite dive during the week was Molasses Reef. The coral here was
in very good condition and there was lots of fish life. However, the
current was rather strong here.
The coral in the reefs closer to Largo were not in great shape. There
ws lots of white coral.
At Grecian Rocks we saw two Spotted Eagle Rays and saw another one
swimming alone earlier in the week at a different location.
We saw a good selection of sealife during the week including:
Lobsters, French Angelfish, Queen Angelfish, Grey Angelfish,
nursesharks, baraccuda, spotted eagle rays, stingrays, trumpet fish,
juvenille drum fish, scraweled filefish, squirel fish, parrot fish,
stop light parrot fish, blue parrot fish, trunk fish, cow fish,
groupers, sharp nosed pufferfish, jawfish, gobis, french gunts, blue
headed wrasse, hog fish, pork fish, rock beauties, flamingo tongues,
nudibranches, moray eels, damselfish, harlequin bass, yellow goatfish,
rock hind, yellowtail snapper, sergent majors and a whole lot of the
smaller , hard to identify fish.
At the Benwwod wreck I saw the tail end of a large moray eel disappear
under a steel plate. His name is Goliath and he is supposed to be 7 ft
long.
Most of the diving around Largo is in less than 40 feet of water. We only went deeper than 40 feet once during the week.
We had dinner at several of the local restaurants. Here are my
impressions.
Cracked Conch - Disappointing . Overly swee coconut shrimp and conch
fritters that were almost all cornmeal. The honey buscuits are fried
balls of dough and not too tasty.
Fish House Encore - Pasta dishes with seafood were good as was the
blackened mahi-mahi.
Fish House - Less atmosphere than the Encore. Prices about the same.
Large portions. Pretty decent.
Senor Frijoles - The flank steak was good but didn't work well with the
beans in the steak fajita burrito. Sangria was good but the margarita
was lousy. Overall a so-so mexican place.
Bayside Grill MM99.4 bayside - Conch fritters were very good, coconut
shrimp was good and wasn't sweet like the ones at Cracked Conch. They
could have used a different dipping sauce besides the tarter and
cocktail suce offered. There is a nice view of a sunset if you sit by
the windows.
Denny's Latin Cafe MM99.6 next to Denny's Discount liquor - Good Cuban
food (and I'm Cuban). We selected several appetizers in lieu of a main
dish. These were very inexpensive and some of them had huge portions.
We spent $14 for two of us and had enough left over for lunch the next
day. The masitas de puerco (chunks of fried pork - a very large
portion for $4.50). We also had yuca , a root vegetable with the
traditional citrus and garlic sauce , two orders of tamales which were
served wrapped in corn leaves and stuffed plantains as well as two cafe
con leches (like lattes). We didn't like the stuffed plantains but
everything else was very good . I recommend this restaurant highly.
