Thanks everyone for the replies and guidance - it's been very helpful!
For now, I've decided to hold off doing AOW in Florida - I was interested primarily so that we'd be able to dive the Duane and Spiegel Grove, but it probably makes sense to wait until we're a bit more experienced.
I've booked 5 dive trips with Rainbow Reef:
1) Benwood Wreck + French Reef (other option I considered was City of Washington + Elbow Reef, but all of the other Benwood trips are combined with Spiegel Grove during the days we're in KL)
2) Night dive (should hopefully be fairly straightforward despite us being new OW divers...)
3) Hole in the Wall + Fire Cave in Molasses (other option I considered was Molasses Deep, but the person on phone recommended against it given our inexperience)
4) Conch Wall + Pillar Coral (other option I considered was Horseshoe + Minnow Cave, but seemed like Conch Wall + Pillar Coral might be more interesting based on the trip reports I read here)
5) Snapper Ledge + Pillar Coral
We have one more day in Key Largo that I haven't booked any dives yet (RR only had more Molasses trips besides deep wreck trips that day). Originally, I was considering going down to Looe Key but that looks like a pretty long day trip (probably can do that in a future trip with Key West and Marathon). Instead, I'm considering diving Carysfort + Elbow with the Pennekamp operator (they're the only ones I've seen with Carysfort in their weekly schedule - I guess Ocean Divers stopped going there after merging with RR) and/or going to Islamorada to dive with Key Dives (Davis/Alligator/Victory/Hens&Chickens Reef all seem to be good options for us). If it's possible, I might try to do the Islamorada dive in the morning and the Carysfort one later that same afternoon.
We will also have ~36 hours in the Pompano Beach area before our return flight, so might be able to squeeze in one more dive trip there or Boynton Beach.
For now, I've decided to hold off doing AOW in Florida - I was interested primarily so that we'd be able to dive the Duane and Spiegel Grove, but it probably makes sense to wait until we're a bit more experienced.
I've booked 5 dive trips with Rainbow Reef:
1) Benwood Wreck + French Reef (other option I considered was City of Washington + Elbow Reef, but all of the other Benwood trips are combined with Spiegel Grove during the days we're in KL)
2) Night dive (should hopefully be fairly straightforward despite us being new OW divers...)
3) Hole in the Wall + Fire Cave in Molasses (other option I considered was Molasses Deep, but the person on phone recommended against it given our inexperience)
4) Conch Wall + Pillar Coral (other option I considered was Horseshoe + Minnow Cave, but seemed like Conch Wall + Pillar Coral might be more interesting based on the trip reports I read here)
5) Snapper Ledge + Pillar Coral
We have one more day in Key Largo that I haven't booked any dives yet (RR only had more Molasses trips besides deep wreck trips that day). Originally, I was considering going down to Looe Key but that looks like a pretty long day trip (probably can do that in a future trip with Key West and Marathon). Instead, I'm considering diving Carysfort + Elbow with the Pennekamp operator (they're the only ones I've seen with Carysfort in their weekly schedule - I guess Ocean Divers stopped going there after merging with RR) and/or going to Islamorada to dive with Key Dives (Davis/Alligator/Victory/Hens&Chickens Reef all seem to be good options for us). If it's possible, I might try to do the Islamorada dive in the morning and the Carysfort one later that same afternoon.
We will also have ~36 hours in the Pompano Beach area before our return flight, so might be able to squeeze in one more dive trip there or Boynton Beach.
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