Good operator in Key West?

I've found a lot of good info on here for Key Largo I can use. Now, I'm looking for a good operator in Key West to book a few dives with. My wife and I'm heading down there next week for almost two weeks. I'd like to try to book a few dives before I get there since it's going into Memorial Day weekend. Any suggestions?

How's the shore diving down there? I wouldn't mind just renting a few tanks and walking off a dock or the beach somewhere. Any pointers?

Thanks,
Jason

Not much in shore diving in the keys...

As for key west diving, you'll find the diving in the other parts of the keys better. Key West is more for partying and drinking.

As for good operators, I used SubTropic and was happy with them and would use them again. There are some others that are favorites of other folks here too though.

sub tropic is ok depending on who the crew is. as stated before not really any shore diving. i've had good luck with "captain's corner". mostly i go on a private boat so i'm not real familiar with dive ops around here.
dano

I have been out with Southpoint Divers a couple of times...good experiences both. I agree that the diving is better in the upper keys.

Its not just the Upper Keys. There is great diving all through the Keys, but not much in Key West. Try Big Pine Key.

Most of the operations there are stuck on Looe Key which I admit can be good. I just think there is more up around Key Largo & Marathon. Just a humble opinion. I have enjoyed all my diving in the keys, from one end to the other. Have a great trip.

My bride and I got back from a week of diving, dining and drinking on Key West Saturday, May 12. We went down to get our AOW and did a couple of additional dives with Captain's Corner. Key West area diving tends to be cloudy with occasional strong currents. That was absolutely not the case last week.

Vis was great all week (well over 100 ft), the sea was calm (1 - 2 ft max) and the current didn't bother us one bit. We did several reef dives (don't remember any of the names) all of which were in decent shape and the Cayman Salvage Master. We did 4 two tanks (8 dives total) over the course of the week and didn't repeat a single dive.

Since we got our OW (and now AOW) from them, the diving was relatively cheap. Dives that were not part of our AOW were $40.00 for a two tank all equipment included. I think it runs $40.00 for the boat trip + tanks and equipment if you didn't train with them.

While a lot of people like the diving better elsewhere in the Keys (honestly, I wasn't that thrilled with Largo), there are very few places in the world that can compare with Key West for top side silliness. We stayed in an apartment above a coffee shop on Duval Street that was directly across from the 801 club. What great people watching could be had sitting on our balcony when the drag queens were out trying to drum up business for the nightly shows. Where else can you see that, dive every day without repeating a dive, AND feel perfectly safe walking the streets at night?

I've gone out with Captains Corner a few times...nice boat, great crew and very inexpensive...sometimes they take snorkellers and bubble watchers with them, but they attempt to keep them away from the divers as much as possible...

Nice. Sounds like Captain's Corner might be the place to start with. Thanks for all the good info. I'm hoping to make it to a couple different Keys while we're down there. I would love to hit the big touristy wrecks off of Largo.

Dan, thanks again. I'll look you up when we get there.

Jason