PatW
Contributor
Like Semo Scuba, I have used Quiesence for diving in Key Largo. They run 6 packs. Their boats are on the small side. They take out a maximum of 6 divers and/or snorklers on a trip. My wife and I reserved a place with them. We showed up that morning and no one else did. They still took the 2 of us out. Quiesence takes divers to small spots that the boats hauling piles of divers can not really fool with. They took us to a tiny patch reef one that I believe gets almost no diving.
At Key Largo, I would think that you could dive patch reefs at 30', four times per day and never repeat a dive in four days. Also, Key Largo has the deep wrecks like the Spiegel Grove in deep water and lots of current. If you don't like deep wrecks, they have the Benwood, which is a very nice dive. It went down in 1942, so it is well encrusted and in something like 50'.
Compared to the Caribean, Key Largo does not have really healthy hard corals. Key Largo has a marl bottom which limits the visibility. The visibility is not bad (often 40' to 60') but it is not like other places which routinely have 90'. However, the marine parks in Key Largo have effective protection. Marine parks in the Caribean often have heavy fishing pressure so large grouper and snapper are virtually absent. Key Largo has populations of large grouper and snapper, nurse sharks, sting rays, eagle rays and so on.
Key Largo, at the right places, has the Conch Republic vibe. There are a fair number of people who live and work there. My wife claims that the majority of the populations down there is on some sort of psychotropic medication and she could be right. It isn't a bad sort of thing, just WEIRD is normative. But, hey I LIKE that. Who wants to go on vacation and see the normal work a day world? In the Keys, you meet people who could give a rip about what year it is.
At Key Largo, I would think that you could dive patch reefs at 30', four times per day and never repeat a dive in four days. Also, Key Largo has the deep wrecks like the Spiegel Grove in deep water and lots of current. If you don't like deep wrecks, they have the Benwood, which is a very nice dive. It went down in 1942, so it is well encrusted and in something like 50'.
Compared to the Caribean, Key Largo does not have really healthy hard corals. Key Largo has a marl bottom which limits the visibility. The visibility is not bad (often 40' to 60') but it is not like other places which routinely have 90'. However, the marine parks in Key Largo have effective protection. Marine parks in the Caribean often have heavy fishing pressure so large grouper and snapper are virtually absent. Key Largo has populations of large grouper and snapper, nurse sharks, sting rays, eagle rays and so on.
Key Largo, at the right places, has the Conch Republic vibe. There are a fair number of people who live and work there. My wife claims that the majority of the populations down there is on some sort of psychotropic medication and she could be right. It isn't a bad sort of thing, just WEIRD is normative. But, hey I LIKE that. Who wants to go on vacation and see the normal work a day world? In the Keys, you meet people who could give a rip about what year it is.
