more keys questions

[Buoyant1]

I don't wish to rain on anyone's parade, but my feeling is that other than the wrecks, the Keys are over rated.

I've dived most of the sites in the upper Keys, and my experiences have been less than stellar...I find them to be largely devoid of aquatic life, with large areas of dead or dying coral, quite often the surge is up, and this makes the visibility poor especially on the more shallow reefs. I find the Bahamas to be the same, at least Nassau...although the shark dive and the DPV dives on the wall were unique experiences although probably not worth repeating.

After diving in places such as Cozumel, and St Maartin...well for seasoned divers who have been around a bit, there's just no comparison.

In fact my sister who lives in Fort Lauderdale doesn't even dive locally anymore, she says it's just not worth it. When I first started diving and would visit her and she would complain about the dive conditions I just didn't get it. Now I do.

Wow is right....you've obviously been on the WRONG reefs down there! Just this past trip alone, Snapper's ledge off Key Largo, and Looe Key Reef were just amazing dives! I did some reef dives off of Key West a few years back, and will agree that those reefs are abused and a mess. Hopefully with the Vandenberg they will get a chance to rest and rejuvenate themselves, but Looe Key was LUSH with soft corals and life, and the amount of fish I saw on Snappers Ledge was amazing!

Other places I've been down there was Sombrero Reef, Molasses Reef, and the Doughnut and there was PLENTY to see.

The wrecks are great, but don't discount the reefs!

 

[schu1842]

I was in Key Largo in late July and thought the dives were great. We had two families share a house. My buddy had not dove in a while and we used the shallow reefs to warm up for the Spiegel later in the week. The Carysfort Reef area was one of my favorites. The reef area is mixed with a deeper ledge/wall dive. The City of Washington and Benwood had plenty of interesting things to see. If you require something deeper you can spend the whole week on the Spiegel and still not see everything. I love Cozumel, Grand Cayman and many of the other islands but don't sell the Key Largo area short. You will have a great time.

 

[idocsteve]

Maybe the days I dove the keys because the surf was up the shallow reefs were not at their best. I have dove most of the reefs mentioned in this thread and my experiences were nothing like those stated here. I recall one dive in the keys, at "The Hole in the Wall"... the swim through was nice but there was literally nothing to see, I ended the dive early after practicing shooting a bag and doffing and donning my gear because there was nothing else to do.

Who knows? All I can say is that I found my experiences in the Key Largo and Islamorada area to be less than stellar, and somewhat boring...and my sister who lives in Ft Lauderdale won't dive in Florida anymore for those very same reasons.

 

[kidsdream]

yea, I never seem to be able to see anything but occasionally my camera seems to capture some of the flora and fauna.

No fish on the Duane

Not a big Sting Ray

These aren't a bunch of Eagle Rays at Mo'

Don't know where these fish came from (more Mo')

Carysfort with terrible sea conditions.

Nudes - yes we have Nudies in the Keys if you look closely.

While some areas of the Keys don't have the color or certainly the dramatic structure of places like Coz - the quantity of mid to small size fish in the Keys IMHO makes much of the Caribbean seem like lonely moonscape.

Have a great holiday one and all.

Maybe the days I dove the keys because the surf was up the shallow reefs were not at their best. I have dove most of the reefs mentioned in this thread and my experiences were nothing like those stated here. I recall one dive in the keys, at "The Hole in the Wall"... the swim through was nice but there was literally nothing to see, I ended the dive early after practicing shooting a bag and doffing and donning my gear because there was nothing else to do.

Who knows? All I can say is that I found my experiences in the Key Largo and Islamorada area to be less than stellar, and somewhat boring...and my sister who lives in Ft Lauderdale won't dive in Florida anymore for those very same reasons.

 

[idocsteve]

Maybe I should spend more time looking though my camera lens.

 

[lmorin]

Maybe I should spend more time looking though my camera lens.

Well, you should try Pillars because it is a dive like those further south in the Caribbean. You should also have a look at a great revival garden of elkhorn coral at North North Dry Rocks. It's also curious that my camera has apparently recorded many of the same fish as captured by kidsdream. Even 7 spotted eagle rays in one pic at Eagle Ray Alley on Molasses. There's always something.:cool3:

 

[idocsteve]

After reading the responses on this thread I am going to have to give the Keys another try.

Maybe I just had some bad diving conditions on the days I was there.

Those pictures are certainly amazing and very impressive.

 

[TLB2]

I'm not expecting to see the numbers or variety of fish that we saw in the Philippines this summer, but I am hoping for some better conditions than my last two trips to Marathon. I'm two for two on arriving right behind a tropical storm or depression in early June Planning a spring break trip (around March 13-20) with my daughter and hopefully my dad will also join us so we can have three generations diving together.

What are the typical water conditions in mid-March? My daughter and I just got our advanced certifications, so I am hoping that will allow us a little more flexibility in dive sites to avoid some of the surge and visibility problems we saw on our last couple of trips. Also, we are looking at diving in or at least closer to Key Largo instead of out of Marathon in the hopes that if there is any vis issues, being closer to the gulf stream might help clear out the bad vis a little faster in the waters off of Key Largo than it seems to in the Marathon area.

 

[DebbyDiver]

I've been diving the Keys up to Palm Beach County since the mid-1970's (snorkeling until 1980 and SCUBA after). Yes, I've been on some boring dives and some bad dives, but those have NOT been the norm.

Here's an example. About 1998 or so I went to Roatan with my dive club. We had a really great time. Saw lots of cool stuff.

A month later, the same group dove Biscayne National Park. I'd have to go dig out a logbook to remember the exact details of why that dive was so cool (it involved some majorly large aquatic wildlife) but I came back to the boat and said "so, tell me why I spent $1,500 to go to Roatan to see the same stuff that's in my backyard?"

Another tip, if you aren't having good dives (i.e. your sister) change dive operators. I HIGHLY recommend Sea Experience II if you are diving Broward and there are other great operators from the Keys on up to Jupiter. A captain who knows his reefs makes all the difference.

Besides, a bad day of diving is better than a good day at work. I'm just sayin'.

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

After reading the responses on this thread I am going to have to give the Keys another try.

Maybe I just had some bad diving conditions on the days I was there.

Those pictures are certainly amazing and very impressive.

Good on you.

I find the Keys an interesting marine environment compared to everywhere else Ive been around the world. On a good day, its simply amazing. On a bad day, it can seem very dull and banal as you described.

I think its because its shallow. When the sun is out - the colors 'pop' and it all looks beautiful. When the viz is down or its overcast, you just cant see the beauty of the coral.

Funny - many of my customers say 'dont take me to the statue! Anything but the friggin statue!" But the other day I was looking at the damn statue for the millionth time when a 8ft bull shark brushed past me. Then, as all the customers were getting back on the boat, I was hanging underneath looking at a big Southern ray in the sand. I looked up and a huge great hammerhead swam past. It went around a coral head and came back, swimming right under the divers on the tag line. I watched it do this 3 times before I got back on the boat grinning from ear to ear.

A scientist told me that the fish count in the FKNMS is higher than ANYWHERE in the Caribbean. I cant prove or add weight to his claim or reference any study, but the Marine Sanctuary seems to have more fish in it than cozumel or anywhere I have been in the islands. Shame we dont have huge drop offs and the viz of the Caymans, but we do have fish.

Give it another try (in summer)