Which is best diving: Key Largo or Ft. Lauderdale area for

I am coming to south Florida next week, May 19-24 and I need some guidence. Which is better diving to view lots of big fish? Key Largo or off the Ft. Lauderdale shore? I always enjoyed the marine park in Key Largo. Am I missing something?

Terry

They are both excellent and you will see big fish in both locations. You have a better chance of seeing big fish diving the Gulf or Palm Beach.

Is there a dive resort or operation in Palm Beach?

Several. I recommend Narcosis out of Riveria Beach.

Also for BIG FISH - dive in Jupiter.

Asking which place is better is liking asking Florida football fans if Florida or Flordia state has a better football program. It's really a "homer" question.

IMO, if you want wrecks and artifical reef systems, I would think Ft. Lauderdale. There are wrecks to dive in Key Largo, but nothing like that stretch from Miami on up (just check out the web for dive sites, amazing). YES, there are nice natural reefs along the east Florida coast. Repeat...yes, there are natural reefs along that coast. However, if you want an abundance of natural reef systems, warmer water and the chance that viz could hit 80 - 100 ft when wind and current are right, then choose Key Largo. Remember, the closest points to land for the Gulf Stream are in the upper keys. Big fish? last November there was a 600 lb. Goliath (PC term) Grouper on The Eagle, a wreck out of Islamorada.

As for after the dives, I love Ft. Lauderdale but you just can't beat the easy pace and relaxing atmosphere in the upper Keys. You just feel like you're in the tropics.

Whatever you choose, you absolutely can not make a wrong decision. Ft. Lauderdale or Key Largo? I think that's a problem we would all love to have.

We saw a fair bit of life doing drift dives in Boynton (just north of Ft lauderdale) last august. The huge blue parrot fish, biggest nurse shark I've ever seen, a huge green moray as well as smaller ones, barracuda, lobster, etc. The reef itself is stunning, lots of color with large basket corals everywhere.

These are a few pics that Howard took during these dives:

This eel has huge!









The viz was surface to bottom, which meant 60 to 70 foot vertical viz. Really, really nice dives.

Until my last trip to the Keys for Cinco de Mayo, I had not had one day there that compared to the diving I had on the FL east coast or even West coast on the same sort of "oh, yes, the conditions are right" moments. In all honesty, the Keys are not as good a dive unless you have the opportunity to go away from the commonly dived favorite 10 spots.. My best 2 dives in Largo are off of Pickles Reef with the next nearest boat some 1/2 mile away..

Conversely I have had nearly all of my dives off of Lauderdale and Jupiter with fairly good visibility and always an abundance of wildlife.

Then again, Spring time dives and early Summer in the Gulf are amazing!

You shoulda been with me yesterday, Colin. I saw a 10 - 12 ft Sawfish in 88 feet of water on Crocker Reef off Tavernier.

Ft Lauderdale has plenty of easily accessible reefs and wrecks that are at various depths for differing diver training levels, but the more varied and substantial reef structure is in the Keys (French Reef, Molasses Reef around Largo are two favorites with lots of structural features with fish hideouts and swimthroughs. The wrecks in the keys seem to be pretty deep while up off Ft Lauderdale you can find some wrecks in 60-70'

If I was coming down here as a tourist I would go to both areas! :14: