planning a weekend trip and need guidance from some pro's

[sportxlh]

I agree about sticking with Key Largo for diving reasons. I have dove Key Largo many times and never been disappointed. I dove Key West for the first time last month during a three day weekend that my wife took for a little R&R. Fitting a morning of diving into a mini-vacation in Key West worked out well since we were in town primarily to sight see, have fun on Duvall St. watch the sun set in Mallory Square etc. etc. However, I am not sure I'd make the drive to KW on a regular basis just for the diving. Key Largo is much less of a hassle to get to and the diving is wonderful and there are many many shallow and beautiful reefs for new divers.

So, if you primary plan is to dive and then toss in a few actives on the surface: I'd stick with Key Largo. If your plan is to experience surface activities with a few dives thrown in, KW is a pretty fun, charming (in its own way) and zany place to hang out.

As someone mentioned, the sunset over Mallory Square is well worth seeing if you go to KW, but I've also enjoyed watching the sunset in the northern Keys while eating at the Route 88 restaurant in Islamorada.

 

[ozorowsky]

Thank you all very much for sharing your experiences! I am pricing out places in key largo to do my advanced open water cert and get a fun day or two of diving in as well.

There are a few places that only want $275 for advanced open water down there but many want $375. Not quite sure why such a large gap in price difference.

I am thinking of going with Scuba Do here in July. Any thoughts on them?

 

[KeyLargoScubaShack]

I would also recommend staying in Key Largo, I do really enjoy Key West but you have a much better variety of dive spots in Key Largo. As a beginner diver we would like to tell you a little about what our shop offers. We have a free guide on all dives (actually instructors) we take a max of 6 divers per boat. So no overcrowding and plenty of personal attention. We can take you on some the the most beautiful shallow reefs and wrecks in Key Largo and make sure you have an unforgettable experience! Feel free to contact me at the shop if you have any questions!

Kim
Key Largo Scuba Shack

PS. Special shoutout to LynnB from Savannah for all the positive recommedations!

 

[discokat]

Hey all,

My fiance and I just got certified. We live in Tampa, FL and I am itching to dive. We are doing the state parks and local dives here weekly, and I want to hit up the keys soon.

Please tell me your thoughts. I am looking to do this as inexpensive as possible and thinking of doing this over a long weekend.

What I am considering is the following:

Friday: Drive from Tampa to Key Largo, FL (5 hrs) stay the night.
Saturday: Dive Key Largo then drive 2 hrs south to key west.
Sunday: Dive key west spend the night.
Monday Drive 2 hrs north to key west back to key largo and dive.
Tuesday drive home.

Now I haven't done the math, but would that be too much diving?

Any recommendations on packages that would make more sense/places to go?

I'm going to go against the grain here with my suggestions.

If you don't mind driving a couple hours, which is not really a lot, even after a nice 2 tank morning drive. It's also a good way to check out some of the local areas that might not be so local to you. A long weekend is a perfect way to do it.

I recently took a dive trip to Key Largo and was scheduled to be there for 5 days. It was rather rough and while Key Largo Scuba Shack was great to us, we felt we might want to see how the other areas close by were going. So we did our first 2 dives in Key Largo then drove a couple of hours to West Palm Beach to see how things were there.

I've dove both places before but the Marine Forecast was slightly better for WPB then Key Largo so we took the risk. We were extremely happy with the risk since it paid off awesomely. We had a wonderful time over the next 3 days diving and couldn't have asked for more, except maybe an extra 10 feet of visibility.

If you don't mind driving a couple of hours and you can deal with drift diving, West Palm Beach areas is tops in my book for diving in Florida. You almost always get to see a ton of fish, large and small (I have yet to dive there without seeing more fish than I have seen over in the Keys), and there are a number of great dive shops over there.

My wife and I usually go with ScubaWorks or Narcosis (no particular order). Narcosis has a fast big boat with great crew. ScubaWorks has a lot of spearfishers and operates out of the Jupiter area. For this trip we went with Scuba Adventures and they were awesome. Very professional, harmonious crew in a nice big boat. Not as fast as Narcosis but they are a good crew too. Saw a ton of stuff and had an awesome dive every time. I don't think you can go wrong with WPB area and I keep finding it outdoes the Keys with number/variety of marine life.

If you have the time and wherewithal I would suggest you try it out.